The Professor's House

De: Willa Cather

Narrado por: Sean Runnette

A lyrical and bittersweet novel of a middle-aged man losing control of his life that's a brilliant study in emotional dislocation and renewal—from one of the most highly acclaimed authors of the twentieth century.

Professor Godfrey St. Peter is a man in his fifties who has devoted his life to his work, his wife, his garden, and his daughters, and achieved success with all of them. But when St. Peter is called on to move to a new, more comfortable house, something in him rebels. And although at first that rebellion consists of nothing more than mild resistance to his family's wishes, it imperceptibly comes to encompass the entire order of his life. The Professor's House combines a delightful grasp of the social and domestic rituals of a Midwestern university town in the 1920s with profound spiritual and psychological introspection.

Brilliant!

Character development was exceptional. I felt like I knew the whole family. Could have been my own .

Reading ar age 75

This book was a great surprise. Captivating extensive description of the Professor and his interior thoughts and feelings. Cather "tells" the reader thru sensual description leaving the reader with sensations, tastes, sounds, textures, and perfect understanding.

surprisingly gay

Interesting. I felt a bit like I was playing a game of spot the gay and misogynistic untones. Which is nice for an English lit fan, as I'd imagine most people reading Willa Cather are. the language was beautiful, and the story plotless but engaging. The 1920s setting is very apparent, and very fun. I think the kids who like The Secret History would like this.

Deeply thought proving

While it could be called a midlife crisis for St. Peters, I felt it more as a coming of age. Returning to himself. To the Kansas boy. As someone thinking about "listening to my life," it was powerful.

Sean Runnette’s excellent reading

Sean Runnette’s superb reading makes The Professor’s House a particular pleasure to listen to. Strongly recommended.

A fine book for anyone contemplating retirement and the arc of a life

This work is remarkable in its description of the trajectory of the life of an highly sensitive, thoughtful, and kind man and much more.

HER FINEST

This is the Cather book that should have received her Pulitzer!

Familiar story with that award.

Gently compelling

There's not a ton of action in this story about a professor who has lost interest in his life and is trying to cope with changes in both the world around him and in his own family life, but the picture that Willa Cather paints of this man still consumed by grief is so poignant.

The middle section, in which the professor's now deceased protege takes center stage, is less interesting to me but contains some beautiful prose as she describes the southwest landscape and Tom's feeling of connection to it.

Don't expect much of a plot and don't expect anything tied neatly in a bow at the end and just enjoy Willa Cather's writing.

Slow start

I found this hard to get into at first. I felt it was slow and difficult to see the plot. I stuck with it and found the narrator to be engaging. It is sentimental story.