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Our Lady Of The Prairie
A sharp and bitingly funny novel about a professor whose calm-ish midwestern life gives way to a vortex of crises—and her attempts to salvage the pieces without going to pieces herself
In the space of a few torrid months on the Iowa prairie, Phillipa Maakestad—long-married theater professor and mother of an unstable daughter—grapples with a life turned upside down. After falling headlong into a passionate affair during a semester spent teaching in Ohio, Phillipa returns home to Iowa for her daughter Ginny’s wedding. There, Phillipa must endure (among other things) a wedding-day tornado, a menace of a mother-in-law who may or may not have been a Nazi collaborator, and the tragicomic revenge fantasies of her heretofore docile husband.
Naturally, she does what any newly liberated woman would do: she takes a match to her life on the prairie and then steps back to survey the wreckage.
Set in the seething political climate of a contentious election,Thisbe Nissen's new novel is sexy, smart, and razor-sharp—a freight train barreling through the heart of the land and the land of the heart.
In the space of a few torrid months on the Iowa prairie, Phillipa Maakestad—long-married theater professor and mother of an unstable daughter—grapples with a life turned upside down. After falling headlong into a passionate affair during a semester spent teaching in Ohio, Phillipa returns home to Iowa for her daughter Ginny’s wedding. There, Phillipa must endure (among other things) a wedding-day tornado, a menace of a mother-in-law who may or may not have been a Nazi collaborator, and the tragicomic revenge fantasies of her heretofore docile husband.
Naturally, she does what any newly liberated woman would do: she takes a match to her life on the prairie and then steps back to survey the wreckage.
Set in the seething political climate of a contentious election,Thisbe Nissen's new novel is sexy, smart, and razor-sharp—a freight train barreling through the heart of the land and the land of the heart.
357 pages, Hardcover
First published January 23, 2018
About the author
Thisbe Nissen
15 books78 followersThisbe Nissen is the author of three novels, Our Lady of the Prairie (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), Osprey Island (Knopf, 2004), The Good People of New York (Knopf, 2001), and a story collection, Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night (University of Iowa Press, 1999, winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award). She is also the co-author with Erin Ergenbright of The Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook, a collection of stories, recipes, and art collages. Her fiction has been published in The Iowa Review, The American Scholar, Seventeen, and The Virginia Quarterly Review, and anthologized in The Iowa Award: The Best Stories 1991-2000 and Best American Mystery Stories. Her nonfiction has appeared in Vogue, Glamour, Preservation and The Believer, and is featured in several essay anthologies.
She has been the recipient of fellowships from the James Michener-Copernicus Society, The University of Iowa, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony, and was the 19th Zale Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University. She has taught at Columbia University, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Brandeis University, The New School's Eugene Lang College and in the low residency MFA program at Pacific University. These days, she teaches undergrad, MFA and PhD students at Western Michigan University.
She and her husband, Jay Baron Nicorvo, are parents of two rescue cats, many sprightly chickens, and one intriguing human child. They dream, one day, of raising goats.
She has been the recipient of fellowships from the James Michener-Copernicus Society, The University of Iowa, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony, and was the 19th Zale Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University. She has taught at Columbia University, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Brandeis University, The New School's Eugene Lang College and in the low residency MFA program at Pacific University. These days, she teaches undergrad, MFA and PhD students at Western Michigan University.
She and her husband, Jay Baron Nicorvo, are parents of two rescue cats, many sprightly chickens, and one intriguing human child. They dream, one day, of raising goats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
December 23, 2017
"So much of this life we spend holding ourselves together, when all we're really looking for is someone who might undo us completely."
Theater professor Phillipa Maakestad is finally settling into her life. Married for years to fellow theater professor Michael, they struggled for years with their daughter, Ginny, who suffered from mental illness and drug addiction. But now Ginny has finally stabilized, and is set to marry a young man she has known since childhood.
And then, much to Phillipa's surprise, while teaching a semester in Ohio, she falls madly in love with another man—Lucius, a history professor. When they finally succumb to their passions, their affair consumes her. She can only think about being with Lucius, which is problematic, considering she needs to return to Iowa for Ginny's wedding. But how can she pretend that everything is fine, everything is the same, when absolutely everything has changed?
"What I won't back down from is this: Lucius and I met and we were a twister. We tried to keep ourselves apart, but some forces are too great. Some forces are beyond control."
Phillipa confesses her affair to Michael just before her return home, but they vow to keep up appearances for Ginny's sake. That should be easy, right? Well, Phillipa wasn't counting on a wedding-day tornado, Michael's strange request for getting revenge for her unfaithfulness, and her continually disapproving, obstinate mother-in-law, whom Phillipa thinks might have been a Nazi. It's more than any one person can handle, much less one already dealing with an intense love for another man.
Our Lady of the Prairie is a slightly zany, poignant, and periodically frustrating look at one woman who decides the best way to deal with her midlife crisis is just to let everything around her implode, whether intentionally or accidentally. It's a story about being caught between the life you want and the life you're obligated to. It's also the story of how when we try so hard not to hurt anyone we often wind up hurting everyone, including ourselves.
Thisbe Nissen does a terrific job in painting a portrait of a woman who was so deliberate through so much of her life that when she finally throws a little caution to the wind, the results are disastrous. Phillipa has spent so much time taking care of her daughter, her husband, her mother-in-law, even her students, but she doesn't really know how to take care of herself, or even understand that she, too, is worthy of happiness of her own. She's not the most sympathetic character but you understand many of the choices she makes, and given what she has dealt with in her life, you may wonder if she's entitled.
Parts of this book had me laughing aloud, and parts had me tearing up. It's set in the months leading up to the 2004 presidential election, when the country was divided in its feelings about George W. Bush, and Nissen captured that mood well.
There were, however, some threads of the story I just didn't understand the point of, particularly Phillipa's belief that her mother-in-law was a Nazi. Any time she interacted with Bernadette, the story lost its appeal, and there's an overly long section in which Phillipa imagines she's living Bernadette's life which almost made me stop reading the book. In the end, I didn't feel that Nissen even resolved this part of the story, so I definitely could have done without it.
I've never read anything Nissen has written, but I was utterly taken by her storytelling and her ear for dialogue. There's a lot to this book, but it's a fascinating, emotional, and often-humorous look at one woman's life in the midst of crisis after crisis (many which are self-inflicted), and you wonder just where Phillipa will end up. It's a little wacky, but it has a lot of heart.
NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
Theater professor Phillipa Maakestad is finally settling into her life. Married for years to fellow theater professor Michael, they struggled for years with their daughter, Ginny, who suffered from mental illness and drug addiction. But now Ginny has finally stabilized, and is set to marry a young man she has known since childhood.
And then, much to Phillipa's surprise, while teaching a semester in Ohio, she falls madly in love with another man—Lucius, a history professor. When they finally succumb to their passions, their affair consumes her. She can only think about being with Lucius, which is problematic, considering she needs to return to Iowa for Ginny's wedding. But how can she pretend that everything is fine, everything is the same, when absolutely everything has changed?
"What I won't back down from is this: Lucius and I met and we were a twister. We tried to keep ourselves apart, but some forces are too great. Some forces are beyond control."
Phillipa confesses her affair to Michael just before her return home, but they vow to keep up appearances for Ginny's sake. That should be easy, right? Well, Phillipa wasn't counting on a wedding-day tornado, Michael's strange request for getting revenge for her unfaithfulness, and her continually disapproving, obstinate mother-in-law, whom Phillipa thinks might have been a Nazi. It's more than any one person can handle, much less one already dealing with an intense love for another man.
Our Lady of the Prairie is a slightly zany, poignant, and periodically frustrating look at one woman who decides the best way to deal with her midlife crisis is just to let everything around her implode, whether intentionally or accidentally. It's a story about being caught between the life you want and the life you're obligated to. It's also the story of how when we try so hard not to hurt anyone we often wind up hurting everyone, including ourselves.
Thisbe Nissen does a terrific job in painting a portrait of a woman who was so deliberate through so much of her life that when she finally throws a little caution to the wind, the results are disastrous. Phillipa has spent so much time taking care of her daughter, her husband, her mother-in-law, even her students, but she doesn't really know how to take care of herself, or even understand that she, too, is worthy of happiness of her own. She's not the most sympathetic character but you understand many of the choices she makes, and given what she has dealt with in her life, you may wonder if she's entitled.
Parts of this book had me laughing aloud, and parts had me tearing up. It's set in the months leading up to the 2004 presidential election, when the country was divided in its feelings about George W. Bush, and Nissen captured that mood well.
There were, however, some threads of the story I just didn't understand the point of, particularly Phillipa's belief that her mother-in-law was a Nazi. Any time she interacted with Bernadette, the story lost its appeal, and there's an overly long section in which Phillipa imagines she's living Bernadette's life which almost made me stop reading the book. In the end, I didn't feel that Nissen even resolved this part of the story, so I definitely could have done without it.
I've never read anything Nissen has written, but I was utterly taken by her storytelling and her ear for dialogue. There's a lot to this book, but it's a fascinating, emotional, and often-humorous look at one woman's life in the midst of crisis after crisis (many which are self-inflicted), and you wonder just where Phillipa will end up. It's a little wacky, but it has a lot of heart.
NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
March 1, 2017
FULL DISCLOSURE: The author of this novel deigned to marry me about a decade ago, so I'm eagerly biased, but the reason she said "I do" was because of my very eager biases.
With that out of the way, OUR LADY OF THE PRAIRIE, a dozen years in the making, is the best, most ambitious fiction Thisbe Nissen has ever written — she's already written outstanding, amazingly ambitious fiction — and I've had the great pleasure, and greater privilege, of reading it all. I suggest you do yourself that same pleasurable, privileged favor by reading her latest masterpiece of a novel.
A torch song from the Heartland that echoes coast to coast, even taking a European tour across the Atlantic, through time and space, to Nazi-occuped France, OUR LADY OF THE PRAIRIE is the resistance novel we need in these collaborationist times.
With that out of the way, OUR LADY OF THE PRAIRIE, a dozen years in the making, is the best, most ambitious fiction Thisbe Nissen has ever written — she's already written outstanding, amazingly ambitious fiction — and I've had the great pleasure, and greater privilege, of reading it all. I suggest you do yourself that same pleasurable, privileged favor by reading her latest masterpiece of a novel.
A torch song from the Heartland that echoes coast to coast, even taking a European tour across the Atlantic, through time and space, to Nazi-occuped France, OUR LADY OF THE PRAIRIE is the resistance novel we need in these collaborationist times.
April 15, 2018
I won this novel in a goodreads drawing.
In the year 2000, a Jewish liberal Iowan woman has a mid-life crisis and goes to Paris. It's humorous, if you still think jokes about George W. Bush are a riot.
In the year 2000, a Jewish liberal Iowan woman has a mid-life crisis and goes to Paris. It's humorous, if you still think jokes about George W. Bush are a riot.
January 27, 2018
From the description, I thought I would really enjoy this book, but it was really kind of a trainwreck. I'm the same age as the protagonist Philippa, so it seemed like the kind of "hen lit" that I've aged into, and it was billed as a funny book. But it was rather depressing instead. Philippa is all over the map with her relationships, her family, and what she wants out of life -- fairly typical mid-life crisis, I guess -- but reading about how she copes with all of this got me down after a while.
There were also very long chapters that didn't really flow -- I think a good editor would have helped -- because I spent considerable time re-reading certain parts to figure out whether I had missed something that would indicate why things went in a certain direction. (The author refers in the acknowledgements to it being a much larger book in the works for 14 years, and that shows -- I think large chunks of it were just taken out, without adding in the transitions that would guide the plot along.)
Maybe some would enjoy this, but given that I'm the perfect demographic for this and it felt so off the mark, I'm not sure what the audience is for this book.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
There were also very long chapters that didn't really flow -- I think a good editor would have helped -- because I spent considerable time re-reading certain parts to figure out whether I had missed something that would indicate why things went in a certain direction. (The author refers in the acknowledgements to it being a much larger book in the works for 14 years, and that shows -- I think large chunks of it were just taken out, without adding in the transitions that would guide the plot along.)
Maybe some would enjoy this, but given that I'm the perfect demographic for this and it felt so off the mark, I'm not sure what the audience is for this book.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Read
November 16, 2017My guess is that we librarians will have some "unappealing narrator" conversations around this one. I thought Philippa navigated her mess of a life in a completely realistic - if not quite admirable - manner, but I can imagine some readers will have trouble getting over her alleged (and freely acknowledged) selfishness. The hardest thing about the book for me, personally, is that the main character has the name of a coworker of mine, the main character's love object has my nephew's name, and her daughter has my stepmother-in-law's name. Definitely refreshing to see a middle-aged female protagonist. I'd recommend this to people who have enjoyed Nissen's previous novels, as well as fans of Karen Russell, Helen Ellis, and Lauren Groff.
May 19, 2018
Sixteen years ago, in 2002, I read a wonderful novel by Thisbe Nissen (a name hard to forget) called, "The Good People of New York. Nissen wrote another novel, Osprey Island, which I also read, but don't remember how I felt about that one. She published a book of short stories, which I own as well. All I remembered was that I loved "The Good People of New York." From time to time I hoped to hear that Nissen had written another novel that would move me. That day has come. In the acknowledgement of "Out Lady of the Prairie," Nissen says she spent fourteen years working on this novel! Imagine that. While she was toiling away, babies were becoming toddlers, elementary school children, and starting high school! This book was worth the wait.
It's difficult for me to explain the plot of the novel. I would be simplifying things to broadly to say it is the story of a fifty year old married woman (Phillipa) having a mid-life crisis, or a fifty year old, well educated, long married (to Michael) professor who, during a sabbatical, becomes enraptured by the very being of a man teaching at the university where she is doing her sabbatical. It is so much more than this. There is an underlying story of life in war torn France, of nazi connections, mysteries left unsolved. It is also the story of mental illness, of a daughter saved, perhaps, by the love of a good man, a lapsed Amish man. Not everyone will love this book. Some may set it aside, never to open it again. I, on the other hand, found it mesmerizing, as will those who do NOT set it aside. The writing is pitch perfect, beautiful, exquisite and so well executed in every way. At times, I loathed the professor who turned her life inside out, a life that was comfortable, except for the mental health issues of her daughter, all because she suddenly experienced a coup de foudre, (a term I read decades ago but never used myself until now, when it is so fitting).
There is a story within the story (but is it real?) surrounding Phillipa's mother-in-law, Bernadette.
I do not enjoy reading about the horrors inflicted by the nazi's, but we can't escape the fact that these horrors took place. Thankfully, there was nothing graphic in the storyline about the nazi invasion of France in the early 1940's, and yet there was a great deal of tension and pain in my heart as I kept reading those pages, never fully knowing if the story, as told, was truth or fiction. Who was Bernadette, if that was even her name? She was Michael's mother, or was she? Who were the children in the photos she claimed were her siblings?
Setting the story in the heartland (rural Iowa) with some of the events taking place in Ohio and a more urban area of Iowa, as well as in France, contributes to the reader feeling as if one were going back and forth in time and place with the characters, and feeling totally spent at times.
This is a modern American novel, should be taught on college campuses in American Lit classes. There is so much to it. Nissen, thankfully, is still fairly young, in her forties. I say, "thankfully," because I hope that we don't have to wait another sixteen years for her to publish a new great American novel, but if we do, the chances are great she will still be in her prime writing years, and I have to believe I will still be astute enough, at eighty, to absorb all she is saying!
It's difficult for me to explain the plot of the novel. I would be simplifying things to broadly to say it is the story of a fifty year old married woman (Phillipa) having a mid-life crisis, or a fifty year old, well educated, long married (to Michael) professor who, during a sabbatical, becomes enraptured by the very being of a man teaching at the university where she is doing her sabbatical. It is so much more than this. There is an underlying story of life in war torn France, of nazi connections, mysteries left unsolved. It is also the story of mental illness, of a daughter saved, perhaps, by the love of a good man, a lapsed Amish man. Not everyone will love this book. Some may set it aside, never to open it again. I, on the other hand, found it mesmerizing, as will those who do NOT set it aside. The writing is pitch perfect, beautiful, exquisite and so well executed in every way. At times, I loathed the professor who turned her life inside out, a life that was comfortable, except for the mental health issues of her daughter, all because she suddenly experienced a coup de foudre, (a term I read decades ago but never used myself until now, when it is so fitting).
There is a story within the story (but is it real?) surrounding Phillipa's mother-in-law, Bernadette.
I do not enjoy reading about the horrors inflicted by the nazi's, but we can't escape the fact that these horrors took place. Thankfully, there was nothing graphic in the storyline about the nazi invasion of France in the early 1940's, and yet there was a great deal of tension and pain in my heart as I kept reading those pages, never fully knowing if the story, as told, was truth or fiction. Who was Bernadette, if that was even her name? She was Michael's mother, or was she? Who were the children in the photos she claimed were her siblings?
Setting the story in the heartland (rural Iowa) with some of the events taking place in Ohio and a more urban area of Iowa, as well as in France, contributes to the reader feeling as if one were going back and forth in time and place with the characters, and feeling totally spent at times.
This is a modern American novel, should be taught on college campuses in American Lit classes. There is so much to it. Nissen, thankfully, is still fairly young, in her forties. I say, "thankfully," because I hope that we don't have to wait another sixteen years for her to publish a new great American novel, but if we do, the chances are great she will still be in her prime writing years, and I have to believe I will still be astute enough, at eighty, to absorb all she is saying!
May 23, 2024
Right in the middle of this book, a new story born from the imagination of a character in the novel, takes over for 60 pages or so. And then we go back to the narrative line of the novel. I just thought it was kind of wonderful! Below is a short review I wrote a few months ago
Apparently, it took fourteen years for Thisbe Nissen to write her new novel, Our Lady of the Prairie. Her story of the process is that she had to cut an 800-page manuscript down to 350. This makes it sound as if this novel should be slow and ponderous. But that is not the case at all! Our Lady of the Prairie moves rapidly through the lives of its characters, some of whom suffer horribly or needlessly, but all of whom have an extraordinary system of support that keeps them going through their pain–almost all the way to joy.
Nissen moved from New York City to the Midwest to go to the famous Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She stayed in Iowa City for many years, learning the quirks of its people and writing her first books, before moving to Michigan to take a job at Western Michigan University. She sees people with the eyes of an outsider who loves them. I particularly enjoyed all the lapsed Amish and Mennonites who populate the novel and keep the other characters, the academics and urbanites, connected to things like quilts and fresh vegetables.
In some ways Our Lady is an academic satire. Nissen has fun with her protagonist, Phillipa, who has both a lover and a probably-soon-to-be ex-husband. These people–who live under scrutiny but also have enormous amounts of free time to pursue what are supposed to be intellectual passions–provide some laughs, but Nissen’s generosity also brings us into their lives and makes us sympathize. Phillipa’s sick daughter finds a way to survive with young lapsed Amish farmers. All of them worry enormously about the 2004 presidential election, convinced that John Kerry’s loss is the beginning of the end. That is actually part of the humor of the book; that election seems almost quaint now, and their reactions overblown.
Nissen handles all of this well, controlling the history and the emotional tone even as she takes us from laughter to tears and partway back. But right in the middle of the book she does something different, something that changes everything: she follows Phillipa’s overwrought imagination into her invented backstory of her mother-in-law’s life. Suddenly, but seamlessly, we have left Iowa and are in France during World War II. It is always absolutely clear that this story within the story is all in the character’s imagination, yet it makes complete sense in its fantasy. After sixty pages, Nissen takes us out of the historical moment and back to the Iowa of her fiction.
It all happens so easily that I didn’t even realize the enormous journey Nissen had taken me on. It also prepares us for Phillipa’s flights of fantasy near the end, where she imagines the perfect happy ending. For a moment all the dead come back to life and do what they can to prop up their children and grandchildren. Nissen brings us back to the reality of her characters–even as she almost subliminally reminds us that they, too, are imagined.
https://annarborobserver.com/articles...
Apparently, it took fourteen years for Thisbe Nissen to write her new novel, Our Lady of the Prairie. Her story of the process is that she had to cut an 800-page manuscript down to 350. This makes it sound as if this novel should be slow and ponderous. But that is not the case at all! Our Lady of the Prairie moves rapidly through the lives of its characters, some of whom suffer horribly or needlessly, but all of whom have an extraordinary system of support that keeps them going through their pain–almost all the way to joy.
Nissen moved from New York City to the Midwest to go to the famous Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She stayed in Iowa City for many years, learning the quirks of its people and writing her first books, before moving to Michigan to take a job at Western Michigan University. She sees people with the eyes of an outsider who loves them. I particularly enjoyed all the lapsed Amish and Mennonites who populate the novel and keep the other characters, the academics and urbanites, connected to things like quilts and fresh vegetables.
In some ways Our Lady is an academic satire. Nissen has fun with her protagonist, Phillipa, who has both a lover and a probably-soon-to-be ex-husband. These people–who live under scrutiny but also have enormous amounts of free time to pursue what are supposed to be intellectual passions–provide some laughs, but Nissen’s generosity also brings us into their lives and makes us sympathize. Phillipa’s sick daughter finds a way to survive with young lapsed Amish farmers. All of them worry enormously about the 2004 presidential election, convinced that John Kerry’s loss is the beginning of the end. That is actually part of the humor of the book; that election seems almost quaint now, and their reactions overblown.
Nissen handles all of this well, controlling the history and the emotional tone even as she takes us from laughter to tears and partway back. But right in the middle of the book she does something different, something that changes everything: she follows Phillipa’s overwrought imagination into her invented backstory of her mother-in-law’s life. Suddenly, but seamlessly, we have left Iowa and are in France during World War II. It is always absolutely clear that this story within the story is all in the character’s imagination, yet it makes complete sense in its fantasy. After sixty pages, Nissen takes us out of the historical moment and back to the Iowa of her fiction.
It all happens so easily that I didn’t even realize the enormous journey Nissen had taken me on. It also prepares us for Phillipa’s flights of fantasy near the end, where she imagines the perfect happy ending. For a moment all the dead come back to life and do what they can to prop up their children and grandchildren. Nissen brings us back to the reality of her characters–even as she almost subliminally reminds us that they, too, are imagined.
https://annarborobserver.com/articles...
April 17, 2018
For once, I left my judgmental self behind and tried to think of Philippa's mid-life crisis charitably. But she's way too dense and self absorbed to know anything that's going on around her. There's also my singular problem of not being very open to romance. Two people falling into bed doesn't equal love for me, and there's nothing in Philippa and Lucius's relationship that tells me it's anything more than a fling. And when Philippa moans about how she doesn't deserve Lucius (who looks like Ed Harris, and I have an irrational dislike of Ed Harris) because she didn't wait to meet him, you could have gagged me with a spoon.
Philippa has a mother in law who may or may not have been a Nazi. There's no evidence at all that she's one or the other, it's all in Philippa's head. Even despite that, I would have loved Bernadette's story. Philippa's daughter Ginny has some sort of obsessive condition that has had her medicating herself until she gets shock therapy. She spirals downwards for a little while after being stable in the beginning of the book, but that's just framing. I would have loved Ginny's POV. I would have loved to understand her better than what I'm led to understand by Philippa's whining. There are other minor characters - Ginny's sister-in-law, a lapsed Amish single mother called Eula; Ginny's best friend Linda and her NA sponsor Randall, a random guy in a bar called Creamer - I would have loved any of their stories to the one I got.
Philippa has a mother in law who may or may not have been a Nazi. There's no evidence at all that she's one or the other, it's all in Philippa's head. Even despite that, I would have loved Bernadette's story. Philippa's daughter Ginny has some sort of obsessive condition that has had her medicating herself until she gets shock therapy. She spirals downwards for a little while after being stable in the beginning of the book, but that's just framing. I would have loved Ginny's POV. I would have loved to understand her better than what I'm led to understand by Philippa's whining. There are other minor characters - Ginny's sister-in-law, a lapsed Amish single mother called Eula; Ginny's best friend Linda and her NA sponsor Randall, a random guy in a bar called Creamer - I would have loved any of their stories to the one I got.
October 27, 2017
Written with a keen wit and clever turn of phrase, Thisbe Nissen’s Our Lady of the Prairie looks at what happens when a 50 year old woman with a life that looks like it will finally be stable after years of upheaval with a very challenged daughter discovers the “love of her life” and jumps into an affair with all the enthusiasm of a teenager who has just discovered sex. Set in Ohio during the campaign for George W. Bush’s second term, the personal chaos that Professor Phillipa Maakestad creates is reflected in the division of the country and the author gives us a few hints of what is coming. Since some of the fall out from Phillipa’s destruction of her long term marriage is fairly sad, I felt a bit guilty enjoying this book as much as I did but I did.
January 30, 2018
Just okay. I wasn't crazy about the protagonist and the WWII dream sequence was...weird.
February 9, 2018
I really liked this Our Lady of the Prairie, despite a couple problems I had with it.
Problems first:
1) This book felt SO long! For whatever reason it took me way longer to read than most 350 page books. This is terrible, I guess, since I liked being in the world of the book, but it felt like it dragged sometimes.
2) WTF was that dream sequence about? I had been forewarned by reading other reviews that a lot of people thought it was weird, didn't feel like it added much, and almost quit the book during that section. So...I skipped it. I guess I can't complain that much about something I skipped, but I did try first. I read a few pages, then skimmed some more, and then I finally gave up. You know how it is excruciatingly boring to have someone else explain their dream to you in minute detail? Well, imagine that happening for over *fifty* pages of a convoluted dream about someone's possible-Nazi mother-in-law. I think I would have been setting the book down every couple pages and might never have made it through. I don't regret skipping it and don't feel like I missed anything, but I felt a little bad when I read an interview with the author where she said that section was the heart of the book. Sorry, Thisbe Nissen, I skipped the heart of your book :-/ But I think I enjoyed it better that way.
In any case, I really enjoyed this novel overall. It was the kind of slightly zany slice-of-life book I can really get into. While I'm normally into books with lots of plot, when I like being in a character's head as much as I did Philippa's, I really enjoy a more character-driven book. I suppose some people won't like Philippa much, but I was delighted by how messy and real and relatable she was, and her inner monologue was what really made this book so good for me.
The writing style reminded me, especially in the first half, of two of Garrison Keillor's books that I loved--Liberty and Pontoon. This may not read as an endorsement, since I know a lot of people find his work irritating, but while I was never a Prairie Home Companion listener, I found both those novels laugh-out-loud funny and charming. The similarity to Our Lady of the Prairie was a certain chatty, wry, midwestern humor, I think--and apparently that style is exactly my cup of tea. The second half of the book was a bit darker and more manic, but had a lot of heart, and everything about it really worked for me.
I very much recommend this book if anything about this description sounds appealing, though I think it certainly won't be for everyone. (And if you get to the dream sequence and have trouble getting yourself through it--feel free to give yourself permission to skip right ahead...)
Problems first:
1) This book felt SO long! For whatever reason it took me way longer to read than most 350 page books. This is terrible, I guess, since I liked being in the world of the book, but it felt like it dragged sometimes.
2) WTF was that dream sequence about? I had been forewarned by reading other reviews that a lot of people thought it was weird, didn't feel like it added much, and almost quit the book during that section. So...I skipped it. I guess I can't complain that much about something I skipped, but I did try first. I read a few pages, then skimmed some more, and then I finally gave up. You know how it is excruciatingly boring to have someone else explain their dream to you in minute detail? Well, imagine that happening for over *fifty* pages of a convoluted dream about someone's possible-Nazi mother-in-law. I think I would have been setting the book down every couple pages and might never have made it through. I don't regret skipping it and don't feel like I missed anything, but I felt a little bad when I read an interview with the author where she said that section was the heart of the book. Sorry, Thisbe Nissen, I skipped the heart of your book :-/ But I think I enjoyed it better that way.
In any case, I really enjoyed this novel overall. It was the kind of slightly zany slice-of-life book I can really get into. While I'm normally into books with lots of plot, when I like being in a character's head as much as I did Philippa's, I really enjoy a more character-driven book. I suppose some people won't like Philippa much, but I was delighted by how messy and real and relatable she was, and her inner monologue was what really made this book so good for me.
The writing style reminded me, especially in the first half, of two of Garrison Keillor's books that I loved--Liberty and Pontoon. This may not read as an endorsement, since I know a lot of people find his work irritating, but while I was never a Prairie Home Companion listener, I found both those novels laugh-out-loud funny and charming. The similarity to Our Lady of the Prairie was a certain chatty, wry, midwestern humor, I think--and apparently that style is exactly my cup of tea. The second half of the book was a bit darker and more manic, but had a lot of heart, and everything about it really worked for me.
I very much recommend this book if anything about this description sounds appealing, though I think it certainly won't be for everyone. (And if you get to the dream sequence and have trouble getting yourself through it--feel free to give yourself permission to skip right ahead...)
December 29, 2017
This wonderful quirky, funny, and ambitious novel was a surprise delight from author Thisbe Niseen. The protagonist, Phillipa Maakestad, is a rich and truly human character. Nissen’s writing made me feel like she was a friend confiding in me her deepest secrets, all tinged with laugh out loud wit. She is one of my favorite characters of recent memory, and I was sad to turn the last page and say goodbye to her.
The story whirls around Phillipa’s family; the husband she just started cheating on, the daughter who survived years of eating disorders and drug using who is about to get married to an Amish man; the mother in law or may or may not have been a Nazi, the new lover who is kind and sexy but you know may not last. Phillipa is a musical theatre professor in the middle of nowhere Iowa, which is an amazing job for a character, but the novel centers around her personal life, which is fraught while she seems to be going through a mid-life crisis.
As I started this book, it felt that maybe it wasn’t for me. I can certainly see older readers seeing themselves in the characters and how lives can veer off during their fifties or older, but nevertheless I was still hooked and found it hard to put the book down. It was a joyful and fast read, one that left me with a full heart and a smile on my face.
The story whirls around Phillipa’s family; the husband she just started cheating on, the daughter who survived years of eating disorders and drug using who is about to get married to an Amish man; the mother in law or may or may not have been a Nazi, the new lover who is kind and sexy but you know may not last. Phillipa is a musical theatre professor in the middle of nowhere Iowa, which is an amazing job for a character, but the novel centers around her personal life, which is fraught while she seems to be going through a mid-life crisis.
As I started this book, it felt that maybe it wasn’t for me. I can certainly see older readers seeing themselves in the characters and how lives can veer off during their fifties or older, but nevertheless I was still hooked and found it hard to put the book down. It was a joyful and fast read, one that left me with a full heart and a smile on my face.
January 31, 2018
This book was so beautifully written - it was both a pleasure to read as well as this incredibly crafted story. Always finding the right balance of humor and seriousness, the main character's struggles to contain the increasingly out of control pieces of her life, set in the backdrop of the Bush/Kerry election. I so felt her "what if's"... I have to say that although I was unsure about the middle narrative at first it ended up being one of my favorite things about the novel and something that changed the entire way I read the book. Highly recommend.
July 25, 2022
Picking up literary fiction when all you’ve read recently has been romance, graphic novels, and children’s lit, is so hard.
Review to come
Review to come
February 22, 2018
I seem to be in the minority, but after the first twenty-five percent or so of this book, I just could not get into it. It was fine at first--the author has an excellent command of words and images. But the more I read, the more I did not want to read.
I liked the professor until she turned into a victim, and a selfish one at that. She actually returned home from a teaching job in another state the day before her daughter's wedding. Then spent that time telling her husband of many years that she had the affair and being "punished" by him in a way that immediately made me want to put the book down. It was totally out of character for the woman I thought the professor to be.
Then the professor started being a real victim. Everything was wrong, although she was the only cause of most of the conditions in her life. She performed so many self-motivated acts that I wanted to scream.
Then there was her daughter. The author had the presence of mind to portray the daughter as mentally challenged, although in the beginning of the book we assumed that she had been "cured" by electroshock. Unfortunately, she did not seem to be cured and, worse, was a terribly arrogant spoiled brat who tried to get pregnant only to decide that it was just not right to bring a child into the world. This change was brought on by the death of her grandmother, the professor's mother-in-law.
The mother-in-law parts of the book were perhaps the most disturbing, simply because there was no reason to include most of the mother-in-law sequences in the book. Some sequences were started but went nowhere. For example, what happened with the pictures the mother-in-law tried to burn?
Stranger still was the idea that no one knew anything about the mother-in-law's past or the identity of her son's father. We assume that the mother-in-law was not truthful in her dealings with the professor and with her own son. But, we are not given a hint to the "truth." Only a very strange dream sequence in which the professor imagined her mother-in-law's former life as a Nazi. Why a Nazi? Who knows. Just because the professor decided it was so.
I suppose there must be some intellectual quality or some deeply hidden meaning in this book that I am just not able to find. I truly hope so.
By the way, I will confess to scanning many, many pages toward the end of the book. There just did not seem to a real reason to read them.
I liked the professor until she turned into a victim, and a selfish one at that. She actually returned home from a teaching job in another state the day before her daughter's wedding. Then spent that time telling her husband of many years that she had the affair and being "punished" by him in a way that immediately made me want to put the book down. It was totally out of character for the woman I thought the professor to be.
Then the professor started being a real victim. Everything was wrong, although she was the only cause of most of the conditions in her life. She performed so many self-motivated acts that I wanted to scream.
Then there was her daughter. The author had the presence of mind to portray the daughter as mentally challenged, although in the beginning of the book we assumed that she had been "cured" by electroshock. Unfortunately, she did not seem to be cured and, worse, was a terribly arrogant spoiled brat who tried to get pregnant only to decide that it was just not right to bring a child into the world. This change was brought on by the death of her grandmother, the professor's mother-in-law.
The mother-in-law parts of the book were perhaps the most disturbing, simply because there was no reason to include most of the mother-in-law sequences in the book. Some sequences were started but went nowhere. For example, what happened with the pictures the mother-in-law tried to burn?
Stranger still was the idea that no one knew anything about the mother-in-law's past or the identity of her son's father. We assume that the mother-in-law was not truthful in her dealings with the professor and with her own son. But, we are not given a hint to the "truth." Only a very strange dream sequence in which the professor imagined her mother-in-law's former life as a Nazi. Why a Nazi? Who knows. Just because the professor decided it was so.
I suppose there must be some intellectual quality or some deeply hidden meaning in this book that I am just not able to find. I truly hope so.
By the way, I will confess to scanning many, many pages toward the end of the book. There just did not seem to a real reason to read them.
September 3, 2017
what a treat to read another thisbe nissen novel -- her characters are sharply drawn and achingly human. this story rings true as both a family drama and (near and far) historical fiction. and i am 100% in favor of magnificent perimenopausal heroines in contemporary fiction.
May 8, 2018
I hated this book and I can't even remember why I stuck it out. It absolutely droned in many parts of the book and I had no sympathy for the main character, she was as self absorbed as a teenager. Awful.
December 13, 2017
OUR LADY OF THE PRAIRIE is a rich, beautifully written novel about Philippa, during a year of crisis and metamorphosis. Nissan begins the novel with unexpected tornado on the day of her daughter's wedding, just a symbol of the change that has blown up her complex life.
Like Joan Ashby, in THE RESURRECTION OF JOAN ASHBY, Philippa faces the loss of self within the complexities of parental love. The complicated relationship she has with her daughter, Gin, often creates an overwhelming pull which cannot be denied. Yet, in both books, it is the mother who is derailed, not the father. The good news is that there is an ultimate triumph of the spirit and the moving back on track.
The catalyst of this change is meeting Lucius, a brilliant scholar with shared interests outside the sphere of her family. Despite all the issues, it is his pull that moves her away from her former unsatisfactory existence.
There is a fascinating story within the book, of Bernadette Maakstead, Philippa's mysterious and awful mother in law. Her death triggers a fantasy about her mysterious life that provides the reader with an intriguing and satisfying view of how this virago emerged in Iowa, from her cloudy European roots.
Obviously, I loved the book. As a mother, historian and voracious reader, it satisfied and enchanted. I do wish the book had taken place during the Trump election. The candidacy of George W. Bush seems so tame compared to the election of 2000.
Thisbe does an incredible job of delivering a portrait of a woman emerging during middle age. It's a love story on many levels and I highly recommend it.
Like Joan Ashby, in THE RESURRECTION OF JOAN ASHBY, Philippa faces the loss of self within the complexities of parental love. The complicated relationship she has with her daughter, Gin, often creates an overwhelming pull which cannot be denied. Yet, in both books, it is the mother who is derailed, not the father. The good news is that there is an ultimate triumph of the spirit and the moving back on track.
The catalyst of this change is meeting Lucius, a brilliant scholar with shared interests outside the sphere of her family. Despite all the issues, it is his pull that moves her away from her former unsatisfactory existence.
There is a fascinating story within the book, of Bernadette Maakstead, Philippa's mysterious and awful mother in law. Her death triggers a fantasy about her mysterious life that provides the reader with an intriguing and satisfying view of how this virago emerged in Iowa, from her cloudy European roots.
Obviously, I loved the book. As a mother, historian and voracious reader, it satisfied and enchanted. I do wish the book had taken place during the Trump election. The candidacy of George W. Bush seems so tame compared to the election of 2000.
Thisbe does an incredible job of delivering a portrait of a woman emerging during middle age. It's a love story on many levels and I highly recommend it.
December 12, 2017
I love this midlife crisis-navigating character Phillipa, stubbornly constructing stories around everything author Thisbe Nissen throws in her path: "I'm no longer sure which lines here are ones I've drawn myself to connect the stars in that vast dark sky to try to make a picture . . ." [p 250]
Phillipa teaches musical theater at the University of Iowa. She feels she hasn't had a distinguished career and she's phoning her work in as she muddles through a perfect storm of life events, annoyed by the chirpy lines from musical numbers that keep intruding and finishing her thoughts. Like all the rest of us fiction readers, however, she's still reaching reflexively for symbolism, character development, back story, climax and resolution.
". . . though there's no sense to be made of that death, or that life, we still attempt--perpetually, eternally, unrepentantly--to reconcile the pieces left us, to connect the most far-flung of stars into a constellation we recognize." [p 330]
This novel starts slowly but gathers steam in a way that will resonate with anyone who's been anywhere close to a midlife spot where the standard filters suddenly aren't working. Political liberals will enjoy Phillipa's thoughts on Nazis and the GW Bush years; conservatives may prefer to pass. "Oh, will humans ever tire of paternal, self-righteous leadership by dilettante pricks?" [p 172]
I read an uncorrected advance proof and will hand it off to the first friend who asks me for it.
Phillipa teaches musical theater at the University of Iowa. She feels she hasn't had a distinguished career and she's phoning her work in as she muddles through a perfect storm of life events, annoyed by the chirpy lines from musical numbers that keep intruding and finishing her thoughts. Like all the rest of us fiction readers, however, she's still reaching reflexively for symbolism, character development, back story, climax and resolution.
". . . though there's no sense to be made of that death, or that life, we still attempt--perpetually, eternally, unrepentantly--to reconcile the pieces left us, to connect the most far-flung of stars into a constellation we recognize." [p 330]
This novel starts slowly but gathers steam in a way that will resonate with anyone who's been anywhere close to a midlife spot where the standard filters suddenly aren't working. Political liberals will enjoy Phillipa's thoughts on Nazis and the GW Bush years; conservatives may prefer to pass. "Oh, will humans ever tire of paternal, self-righteous leadership by dilettante pricks?" [p 172]
I read an uncorrected advance proof and will hand it off to the first friend who asks me for it.
November 29, 2017
This novel starts off with the before, during and after story of protagonist Phillipa being spanked by her husband, after she confesses to cheating. Next, she starts to describe all the dainty details of her daughter's upcoming marriage ceremony. By page 45, I quit reading. As I saw it, since I wouldn't listen to a person in-person talk on and on in such an insipid way, why should I continue reading the insipid internal dialogue of a protagonist in a novel? Three stars for a neutral rating, since I didn't finish the book and never will finish the book.
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
December 26, 2017
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2017/12...
Literary novels about middle aged academics having affairs have never been something I was particularly interested in, but this one grabbed me—at first—with its strong narrative voice. The fact that the narrator is a middle aged Jewish woman theater professor also made this feel a bit fresher, plus the first half of the novel turns on her mentally ill daughter's marriage to an Amish man—so a lot of balls are being juggled, but I found it compelling enough. Things start to drag as the narrator becomes mired in indecision and self pity, and I could have done without a lengthy dream sequence about WWII French collaborators as well as the lengthy retreads of the Bush-Kerry election (the novel is set in 2004 for some reason). I just found this all to be more insufferable the longer it went on. B-.
_
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 23.
Literary novels about middle aged academics having affairs have never been something I was particularly interested in, but this one grabbed me—at first—with its strong narrative voice. The fact that the narrator is a middle aged Jewish woman theater professor also made this feel a bit fresher, plus the first half of the novel turns on her mentally ill daughter's marriage to an Amish man—so a lot of balls are being juggled, but I found it compelling enough. Things start to drag as the narrator becomes mired in indecision and self pity, and I could have done without a lengthy dream sequence about WWII French collaborators as well as the lengthy retreads of the Bush-Kerry election (the novel is set in 2004 for some reason). I just found this all to be more insufferable the longer it went on. B-.
_
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 23.
Read
April 12, 2019Tried to find cause with the main character but it wasn’t possible. She wasn’t a lady of the prairie... maybe a women escaping to a town named Prairie but she wasn’t a lady. Self absorbed, bored, and rather rude, the main character drove from her husband’s bed to a lover’s and then to her daughter’s new home with little regret for the havoc she created.
And if hadn’t been a book club read I would have thrown in the towel when the author placed us in the rambling, opinionated thoughts about the mother in law.
And if hadn’t been a book club read I would have thrown in the towel when the author placed us in the rambling, opinionated thoughts about the mother in law.
February 25, 2018
I was bearing up under the weight of an intensely unlikeable main character. After all, the writing is good and the characters interesting. When the story leapt into the past, however, with a new cast of characters, new plot line, new era, I just could not any more.
July 6, 2018
Try as I may, I could not force my way through the entirety of this book (only got to 35%). Phil, the main character, was just so unlikable. She’s self-absorbed like some sort of spoiled teen, when she’s actually a middle aged lady. I just felt bad for her husband and child.
February 14, 2018
You can read my review of this book in the February issue of The Brooklyn Rail here:
https://brooklynrail.org/2018/02/book...
https://brooklynrail.org/2018/02/book...
March 29, 2018
It was fine. Really just something to keep my going while running errands. There was a lot time devoted to the 2004 election, which just brought back bad memories of the 2016 one!
November 21, 2021
3.5 stars but I rounded up because Nissen writes so well.
This is a book about life in all its messiness and misfires. It is chock full of themes and stories, each rich but a bit overwhelming en toto. Phillepa "Phil" Maakestad is at the center of this whirlwind tale that includes her new lover, Lucius; her confused husband, Michael; her battleaxe mother-in-law, Bernadette; and her adult daughter Ginny, whom Phil has shepherded through mental and physical health crises. The author throws these folks into a year that includes the Bush/Kerry election, a local tornado, unexpected pregnancy, a half-assed theater production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and a hundred-page dream sequence, and sees where everyone lands.
My favorite thread was about Bernadette, who gets some of Nissen's best sentences. "[S]he cultivated the myth of her own infirmity the way some people built tax shelters." "Bernadette sewed the way some people chain smoke, like it was the only thing preventing her from jumping out a window." Belligerent and overbearing toward everyone, and entirely opaque about her own history as well as much of her son's past, Bern is larger-than-life. Which is perhaps why Phil, airsick and semi-lucid on a trans-Atlantic flight, creates a Nazi-sympathizer past for Bern that explains her un-American accent and lack of husband.
This is one story among many that the reader gets the "long version" of. There are Ginny's in-laws, Amish farmers, with a fateful car-buggy accident and Rumspringa baby in the mix. There's an Iowa dairy and the lives of two of its down-on-their-luck employees, each of whom get dozens of pages. And then we have Ginny, a scribble drawing of young life, all outside the lines and trying to settle down.
I was not surprised to read in the acknowledgements that Nissen herself had a bout of hyperemesis gravidarum (the kind of morning sickness on steroids that put Princess Kate Middleton in the hospital for her pregnancies). She writes about the weeks of pregnancy misery that one of her characters experiences with the precision that can only come from experience. When visitors avoid sitting on the gestating mama's bed or even turning on the fan because the least movement -- even of air -- sent her gagging and retching, I felt seen.
I tried to figure out what lesson readers are supposed to take from the story. I think it's less a lesson than an attitude: go whither the wind blows, because what else can you do?
This is a book about life in all its messiness and misfires. It is chock full of themes and stories, each rich but a bit overwhelming en toto. Phillepa "Phil" Maakestad is at the center of this whirlwind tale that includes her new lover, Lucius; her confused husband, Michael; her battleaxe mother-in-law, Bernadette; and her adult daughter Ginny, whom Phil has shepherded through mental and physical health crises. The author throws these folks into a year that includes the Bush/Kerry election, a local tornado, unexpected pregnancy, a half-assed theater production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and a hundred-page dream sequence, and sees where everyone lands.
My favorite thread was about Bernadette, who gets some of Nissen's best sentences. "[S]he cultivated the myth of her own infirmity the way some people built tax shelters." "Bernadette sewed the way some people chain smoke, like it was the only thing preventing her from jumping out a window." Belligerent and overbearing toward everyone, and entirely opaque about her own history as well as much of her son's past, Bern is larger-than-life. Which is perhaps why Phil, airsick and semi-lucid on a trans-Atlantic flight, creates a Nazi-sympathizer past for Bern that explains her un-American accent and lack of husband.
This is one story among many that the reader gets the "long version" of. There are Ginny's in-laws, Amish farmers, with a fateful car-buggy accident and Rumspringa baby in the mix. There's an Iowa dairy and the lives of two of its down-on-their-luck employees, each of whom get dozens of pages. And then we have Ginny, a scribble drawing of young life, all outside the lines and trying to settle down.
I was not surprised to read in the acknowledgements that Nissen herself had a bout of hyperemesis gravidarum (the kind of morning sickness on steroids that put Princess Kate Middleton in the hospital for her pregnancies). She writes about the weeks of pregnancy misery that one of her characters experiences with the precision that can only come from experience. When visitors avoid sitting on the gestating mama's bed or even turning on the fan because the least movement -- even of air -- sent her gagging and retching, I felt seen.
I tried to figure out what lesson readers are supposed to take from the story. I think it's less a lesson than an attitude: go whither the wind blows, because what else can you do?
January 13, 2018
http://cavebookreviews.blogspot.com/
The title of the book, Our Lady of the Praries, is the same as the name of a church in Iowa where the protagonist, Phillipa, lives. The title also could be a sarcastic description of Phil as she seems to be the stereotypical female martyr, a woman who gives up everything for the sake of others. We all know the type. Phil takes care of everyone, her daughter, her husband, her students at U of I, her mother-in-law all while keeping everyone at arm's length.
Phil met her husband, Michael, when she was a grad student in theater. They married and she was granted, through some very odd practice, a job in the theater department. Michael's job was split off to include Phil, much like the rib, Adam gave to create Eve. The couple has a child who is difficult from the very start and their lives revolve around their teaching responsibilities and trying to get their daughter, Ginny, through life. Ginny makes it, with much intervention. They all make it until Phil meets an Ed Harris look alike at the University of Ohio and falls madly and lustfully in love.
The story that follows is long and full of a combination of angst and laughter, the laughter coming from the reader's perspective. Phil really tries so hard to make people happy. But why then does she, at the age of fifty, decide to throw it all away for another man? This is the eternal question all long-married adults must face in fiction, films, and real life.
Ginny is a huge challenge. Her problems are not amusing from a parental point of view. Those of us who have children know the terror of watching our children, even into their twenties, suffering from any pain, heartache, or threat to their well being. I was on the edge with Phil over Ginny but did often lose my patience. Ginny is lucky to have Phil for a mom.
This wild ride of life with Phil from Iowa to Ohio and even to an interlude in France is an exciting novel from a writer who has carefully crafted her work over many years. I wish this work much success!
Thank you, NetGalley, the author, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an e-ARC of this novel with a publication date of January 23, 2018.
The title of the book, Our Lady of the Praries, is the same as the name of a church in Iowa where the protagonist, Phillipa, lives. The title also could be a sarcastic description of Phil as she seems to be the stereotypical female martyr, a woman who gives up everything for the sake of others. We all know the type. Phil takes care of everyone, her daughter, her husband, her students at U of I, her mother-in-law all while keeping everyone at arm's length.
Phil met her husband, Michael, when she was a grad student in theater. They married and she was granted, through some very odd practice, a job in the theater department. Michael's job was split off to include Phil, much like the rib, Adam gave to create Eve. The couple has a child who is difficult from the very start and their lives revolve around their teaching responsibilities and trying to get their daughter, Ginny, through life. Ginny makes it, with much intervention. They all make it until Phil meets an Ed Harris look alike at the University of Ohio and falls madly and lustfully in love.
The story that follows is long and full of a combination of angst and laughter, the laughter coming from the reader's perspective. Phil really tries so hard to make people happy. But why then does she, at the age of fifty, decide to throw it all away for another man? This is the eternal question all long-married adults must face in fiction, films, and real life.
Ginny is a huge challenge. Her problems are not amusing from a parental point of view. Those of us who have children know the terror of watching our children, even into their twenties, suffering from any pain, heartache, or threat to their well being. I was on the edge with Phil over Ginny but did often lose my patience. Ginny is lucky to have Phil for a mom.
This wild ride of life with Phil from Iowa to Ohio and even to an interlude in France is an exciting novel from a writer who has carefully crafted her work over many years. I wish this work much success!
Thank you, NetGalley, the author, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an e-ARC of this novel with a publication date of January 23, 2018.
January 19, 2018
In the opening pages of Our Lady of the Prairie the author throws a whole lot at you – and it escalates from there. Phillipa Maakestad is due to drift into contented late-middle age. She has a career as a professor teaching musical theatre, a stable marriage and her daughter has found equilibrium – and a fiancé – after years of psychiatric problems. Then Phillipa starts an affair, leaves her husband and throws everything into disarray.
What follows is a romp through Midwestern life against the backdrop of the Bush/Kerry election. We see the effect on Phillipa’s husband, of course, and her evolving relationship with her daughter, Ginny, as well as getting a sense of the wider community – as she leaves her middle-class enclave and hangs out in bars and motels. In true musical theatre fashion, there are dramatic set pieces and reversals (invariably when she meets up with her lover, Lucius, you know they are not going to enjoy the uninterrupted intimacy they crave).
I liked the humour and the quirky characters, the odd vignettes (there’s a whole chapter where the narrator imagines/dreams a backstory for her difficult and enigmatic mother-in-law in Vichy France, which also happens to be Lucius’ area of academic expertise) and the willingness to answer questions you never dared to ask. (How do you cope if you have a heavy period while swathed in layers of white tulle on your wedding day? Read on and find out.)
But beneath the frenetic pace, there is a shrewd restraint. There are elements of the story that are left open, leaving the characters room to grow, and the reader space to reflect. Is Phillipa’s affair a reaction to her sudden liberation from caring for a seriously ill daughter, is it a perimenopause-induced rush of hypersexuality, or is it true love?
There is a sense of almost tipping into chaos in this book which mirrors Phillipa’s life, but the author does a great job of keeping the plates spinning while you hold your breath. This is an energetic, earthy, audacious novel asking us about the relationship between happiness, stability, and taking risks to pursue the life you want.
*
I received a copy of Our Lady of the Prairie from the publisher via Netgalley.
This review first appeared on my blog katevane.com/blog
What follows is a romp through Midwestern life against the backdrop of the Bush/Kerry election. We see the effect on Phillipa’s husband, of course, and her evolving relationship with her daughter, Ginny, as well as getting a sense of the wider community – as she leaves her middle-class enclave and hangs out in bars and motels. In true musical theatre fashion, there are dramatic set pieces and reversals (invariably when she meets up with her lover, Lucius, you know they are not going to enjoy the uninterrupted intimacy they crave).
I liked the humour and the quirky characters, the odd vignettes (there’s a whole chapter where the narrator imagines/dreams a backstory for her difficult and enigmatic mother-in-law in Vichy France, which also happens to be Lucius’ area of academic expertise) and the willingness to answer questions you never dared to ask. (How do you cope if you have a heavy period while swathed in layers of white tulle on your wedding day? Read on and find out.)
But beneath the frenetic pace, there is a shrewd restraint. There are elements of the story that are left open, leaving the characters room to grow, and the reader space to reflect. Is Phillipa’s affair a reaction to her sudden liberation from caring for a seriously ill daughter, is it a perimenopause-induced rush of hypersexuality, or is it true love?
There is a sense of almost tipping into chaos in this book which mirrors Phillipa’s life, but the author does a great job of keeping the plates spinning while you hold your breath. This is an energetic, earthy, audacious novel asking us about the relationship between happiness, stability, and taking risks to pursue the life you want.
*
I received a copy of Our Lady of the Prairie from the publisher via Netgalley.
This review first appeared on my blog katevane.com/blog
April 1, 2020
This book is a diatribe of hate. The title “Our Lady of the Prairie” made me think I was picking up a book that would include some personal (possibly religious) growth of a character – it doesn’t. The snippet on the back reads “A sharp and bitingly funny novel” – and I didn’t laugh once. What we have here is the story of a bitter, judgmental woman named Philippa. Philippa hates pretty much everything. She fabricates a story that her mother-in-law is a Nazi collaborator, without an iota of proof. Philippa hates her daughter, who is so mentally unbalanced, she is on a cocktail of medications and has had routine electric shock therapy. (Who would Freud blame here?) (Interestingly, the only character I can’t stand as much as Philippa is Ginny, who is just like her mother.) Philippa hates anyone whose political views differ with hers. Philippa hates people who have large families (unless they are Amish). Philippa hates people who drive large vehicles. Philippa hates anyone who believes in God (again, aside from the Amish). She cuckolds her husband, without whom she wouldn’t have a job teaching at the local college (Did I mention that she hates college students?) while trying to pass herself off as everyone (including the reader’s) intellectual superior when she’s basically a college theatre director. She believes people with guns are the reason for violence when she thinks nothing of storming up to people, getting into their personal space and telling them they are horrible people for not being in lockstep with her ideals.
This whole book read like a vulgar tribute to affairs and bashing a political party. This is why people don’t answer their doors to people holding political clipboards. Regardless of your political opinions, you’ll be giving W a standing ovation during his 2004 re-election in this book!
This whole book read like a vulgar tribute to affairs and bashing a political party. This is why people don’t answer their doors to people holding political clipboards. Regardless of your political opinions, you’ll be giving W a standing ovation during his 2004 re-election in this book!
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