anna2029's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It was written so beautifully and easy to understand
okvadus's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
kristenesantos's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
maggie_molly_maestro's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of crazy women running around with knives in those days apparently.
I think that My Antonia is interesting to compare to the little house books, since both authors lived fairly close together and write about similar circumstances, but the moods of the books are obviously very different.
I think that My Antonia is interesting to compare to the little house books, since both authors lived fairly close together and write about similar circumstances, but the moods of the books are obviously very different.
tacis's review against another edition
4.0
I think what I loved most about this book was the lovely descriptions of nature and the awareness of the main character. I also liked the whole growing up story of Jim and his recollections and memories of things later in life.
jeremyanderberg's review against another edition
4.0
“Ain’t it wonderful how much people can mean to each other?”
I first read Willa Cather right before our daughter, Willa, was born. We picked the name sort of randomly — she’s not named after Cather or anyone in the family — but it inspired me to finally read the classic Pulitzer-winning author.
I started with O Pioneers! (1913) and loved it. Alexandra Bergson was immediately one of my favorite characters in literature; my own heritage includes plenty of strong, independent, prairie women, so it was easy to picture my past generations in her place.
That book started Cather’s Prairie Trilogy, though I didn’t go right to the second book, The Song of the Lark (1915), which generally has the weakest reviews of the bunch. My Antonia is probably Cather’s most enduring work, so it’s what I picked up next.
The structure is really interesting and sort of drew me in on its own; narrator Jim Burden has written down his memories of the one and only Antonia Shimerda from their years growing up together in rural Nebraska.
The Shimerdas immigrated from Bohemia and are immediately introduced to the cold, brutal realities of life on the frontier. Winters are unforgiving, rattlesnakes dot the prairies, and life is all about putting enough food on the table.
In the midst of that tough life, though, teenaged Jim and Antonia see their frontier as more adventure than hardship. Eventually Jim’s family moves to the small town nearby, and things irrevocably change for everyone:
When boys and girls are growing up, life can’t stand still, not even in the quietest of country towns; and they have to grow up, whether they will or not. That is what their elders are always forgetting.
Above all, it’s a coming-of-age story, following our main characters over the decades. It’s about how kids grow up on the prairie, how town life impacts one’s identity, how the very nature of years passing by changes things.
I think I enjoyed the plot of O Pioneers! a little better, but Antonia is as memorable a character as they come, and the final 50 pages of the book are as gratifying as it gets.
A great book and a perfect encapsulation of Midwest life in the 19th century.
I first read Willa Cather right before our daughter, Willa, was born. We picked the name sort of randomly — she’s not named after Cather or anyone in the family — but it inspired me to finally read the classic Pulitzer-winning author.
I started with O Pioneers! (1913) and loved it. Alexandra Bergson was immediately one of my favorite characters in literature; my own heritage includes plenty of strong, independent, prairie women, so it was easy to picture my past generations in her place.
That book started Cather’s Prairie Trilogy, though I didn’t go right to the second book, The Song of the Lark (1915), which generally has the weakest reviews of the bunch. My Antonia is probably Cather’s most enduring work, so it’s what I picked up next.
The structure is really interesting and sort of drew me in on its own; narrator Jim Burden has written down his memories of the one and only Antonia Shimerda from their years growing up together in rural Nebraska.
The Shimerdas immigrated from Bohemia and are immediately introduced to the cold, brutal realities of life on the frontier. Winters are unforgiving, rattlesnakes dot the prairies, and life is all about putting enough food on the table.
In the midst of that tough life, though, teenaged Jim and Antonia see their frontier as more adventure than hardship. Eventually Jim’s family moves to the small town nearby, and things irrevocably change for everyone:
When boys and girls are growing up, life can’t stand still, not even in the quietest of country towns; and they have to grow up, whether they will or not. That is what their elders are always forgetting.
Above all, it’s a coming-of-age story, following our main characters over the decades. It’s about how kids grow up on the prairie, how town life impacts one’s identity, how the very nature of years passing by changes things.
I think I enjoyed the plot of O Pioneers! a little better, but Antonia is as memorable a character as they come, and the final 50 pages of the book are as gratifying as it gets.
A great book and a perfect encapsulation of Midwest life in the 19th century.
jodipyle18's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. It is so beautifully and simply written. The sense of place and beauty of the High Plains is well described. I am so thankful to my kids' high school English teacher for assigning this book so that I was in turn motivated to read it.
jerrica's review against another edition
5.0
The blurb written about this novel does not at all capture what the story actually is. It's narrated by Jim Burden, a man who recounts his boyhood in the early days of Midwest settlement. While of course there is a lot of Jim's life, the heart of the novel rests in the Hired Girls, young Scandinavian immigrants who earn money for their families as teenagers by working in other settler's houses.
These girls are the BEST! They're financially independent, they go dancing, they kiss boys, they make their own decisions. Even though people in the town talk about them, they don't even care. They just live their best lives. And obviously there's conflict and whatever, but my girls!!! They make it through. It's not just about Ántonia, who faces a great deal of adversity, but Lena, the Marys, Tiny...ugh.
I just feel like this was so subversive. Cather wrote through a man's perspective, I think so the book would sell better, but it's all about the girls.
These girls are the BEST! They're financially independent, they go dancing, they kiss boys, they make their own decisions. Even though people in the town talk about them, they don't even care. They just live their best lives. And obviously there's conflict and whatever, but my girls!!! They make it through. It's not just about Ántonia, who faces a great deal of adversity, but Lena, the Marys, Tiny...ugh.
I just feel like this was so subversive. Cather wrote through a man's perspective, I think so the book would sell better, but it's all about the girls.
inagreenshade's review
5.0
I loved this book so much. I'm not in any state to discuss it right now, but it helped to reaffirm my love of fiction.