This is one of Cather’s shorter novels; it’s barely over 100 pages in the edition I read. But, while this means that the plot is so simple as to almost be non-existent, it doesn’t prevent Cather from creating one of her most full-blooded characters yet in the title character, Marian Forrester. She’s a lady more at home in the big city among the wealthy class that’s found herself living with her husband in the small Western frontier town of Sweet Water. This is pretty typical Cather stuff, the character with big dreams in a small town, the frustration of ambition and passion through the everyday grind, etc. But Cather really gets in deep with Marian; we see her second hand, through the perspective of the narrator, Niel Herbert, a young boy who develops a serious crush on the older woman. We share in his journey from that youthful blind infatuation to a more mature understanding of Marian as her own person. She’s a compelling character and the book sees her as a somewhat tragic figure; her personality is complex and the circumstances of life seem to dictate what part of her personality becomes ascendant, whether it’s the generous, loving part or the smaller, meaner part. The side characters are also rendered surprisingly vividly; Ivy Peters, a cruel young man of Sweet Water, is probably Cather’s most chilling villain. I’m not really a hundred percent with the ending of this book, but then I suppose it had to make the choice between two endings and I can see why Cather picked the one she did; and ultimately I don’t know that the other ending would have been better really either. It’s a short, breezy book that goes by really quickly, but the characters, particularly that lady of the title, leave a real impression. 4 stars.
tl;dr – short length means little plot, but the character study of the title character is perhaps Cather’s deepest and most complex yet; a quick read, but it leaves an impression. 4 stars.