Reviews for Playing with fire

The average rating for Playing with fire based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-10-30 00:00:00 John Sholin I was so excited to find this used copy at 2nd and Charles in Ft. Collins. I love Cather's work ( on our first trip to Santa Fe, as we drove from So Cal, I read aloud Death Comes for the Archbishop---Brian and I like to read some pertinent literature when we visit a new place), and I have always wanted to know more about her life. What a fascinating woman! Definitely a woman of contrasts--she wished to be artistic and worldly and sophisticated, well educated, with a voice to be reckoned with. She had a great fondness for science and thought, at one time, of becoming a physician, before she realized that her calling was to write. And yet, her writing focuses on the simple joys and the hard lives of the pioneers with whom she grew up, the immigrants who eked out an existence in a new land, people of faith who truly walked the walk. Her respect for them is genuine, and although her adult life was quite cosmopolitan, her fondness for the simple country life of her youth is evident. The author's writing is not stellar, but her subject is, and that manages to carry the reader through---at least it did for me. Worth reading.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-05-14 00:00:00 Michael Hoenig 3.5 stars. Bits of this can be quite dry and dated (original publication was in the ‘50’s) but it is invaluable for insights into Willa Cather’s inspiration for characters and place in her novels.