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A review by the_weirdling
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
2.0
I picked up a copy of this book due to its regular listing as one of the best western novels ever written. In this regard, I probably had unrealistically high expectations for the book. For whatever reason, the book never spoke to me. The beauty of it’s prose is undeniable. But I found the plot to be long, meandering, and at times seemingly directionless. It seemed more like a pastiche of scenes from the heartland, less like a coherent novel with a tight plan.
The book pretends to be the written reminiscences of Jim Burdon, who moved to Nebraska at the end of the 19th century after becoming an orphan. Primarily written about a neighboring Bohemian couple and their children, much of the skeletal structure of the novel revolves around Burdon’s infatuation with their daughter Antonia. However, from there, it branches off into numerous asides which sometimes read like short stories jimmy-rigged to the spine. While I enjoyed many of these side stories, they eventually give the novel a feeling of being dissed jointed and directionless. It was this feeling that in the end became very distracting, taking the joy out of the book for me.
I would certainly recommend the book for the beauty of its prose. Willa Cather Is rightly lauded for her ability as a storyteller and wordsmith. That said, I really could not recommend the book as an excellent example of the best of what the Western genre can be.
The book pretends to be the written reminiscences of Jim Burdon, who moved to Nebraska at the end of the 19th century after becoming an orphan. Primarily written about a neighboring Bohemian couple and their children, much of the skeletal structure of the novel revolves around Burdon’s infatuation with their daughter Antonia. However, from there, it branches off into numerous asides which sometimes read like short stories jimmy-rigged to the spine. While I enjoyed many of these side stories, they eventually give the novel a feeling of being dissed jointed and directionless. It was this feeling that in the end became very distracting, taking the joy out of the book for me.
I would certainly recommend the book for the beauty of its prose. Willa Cather Is rightly lauded for her ability as a storyteller and wordsmith. That said, I really could not recommend the book as an excellent example of the best of what the Western genre can be.