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Title: My Antonia by Willa Cather ISBN: 0-395-75514-X Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 21 September, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.84 (219 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A moving portrait of our nation's roots and the open plains
Comment: When I went to write the review of Cather's work, I was surprised to find that most of the reviews were written by high school students who were required to read the book. The strengths of "My Antonia", in my opinion, would not be obvious to most teenagers. Taken at face value, as a fictional story of the struggles of Bohemian immigrants to the mid-west, the story has merits which probably underlie its popularity among secondary teachers.
However, that is not what makes this book special. Simply put, both the characters and setting of this novel are beautiful. Cather clearly loved the land she was writing about, and her passion for the farm country of her youth flowed through her writings. Her narrator, Jim, reveals the life of the immigrant Antonia, his childhood friend. Though most of the book is about their childhood together, it is written from Jim's view as an adult. This is tremendously important, as Jim's observations are clearly bear a mark of maturity that would be out-of-place if the book were written from the point-of-view of a child. Perhaps this is what many teenagers miss. Few of them have experienced the profound bittersweet feelings adults have when looking back upon their youth. These emotions were entwined through the novel from beginning to end, forming a scaffold upon which the story was told. To miss them is to miss everything that makes this novel great, rather than just historical fiction.
Rating: 4
Summary: a must for anyone growing up midwestern
Comment: The words "historical fiction" may inflict the same agony as "pop quiz" or "speeding ticket" to many teenagers, but reading My Antonia is quite painless.
Title character Antonia Shimerda is introduced to the reader and the narrator when she can say only one phrase of English: "We go Black Hawk, Nebraska." On a seemingly endless train ride across a young United States, Bohemian immigrant Antonia and her family meet recently orphaned Virginia-born Jim Burden for the first time. He tells the story of the Shimerdas and his friend Antonia now as a middle aged man, illustrating his respect for the prairie and the woman who embodies it.
My Antonia is a story for the most part told about the youthful years of a select group of opinionated, hardworking, and brave souls. It is unique, and an especially intriguing read for teens, because the novel is told as a bittersweet memory from an old man. The story might make a reader realize that you may actually look back fondly on some of those pop tests or speeding tickets. "The best days, " quotes Cather on the beginning page, "are the first to flee."
Rating: 3
Summary: My Antonia Review Page
Comment: I felt that the book, My Antonia, was an interesting book but needed a little more umph to keep my attention. The characters really worked for the book as well as the time setting but I just felt they could have moved the book along a little faster and skipped many of the tiny details.
The character of Jim was perfect. It fit with the lifestyle of his relatives and he seemed to have a very respective attitude, which was a necessity back then. The character for Antonia, I felt needed to be a little more creative. I felt she was easy to figure out throughout the entire book. Sure, how she was brought up played a major role, but you could always tell she wasn't going to have anything exciting happen to her (Except her father's death).
The minor characters in the book were necessary but none of them seemed to really be involved in anything that happened in the book. The book mainly focuses on Jim and Antonia but some of the characters, such as Antonia's entire family, could have been more involved in the book.
Now the one thing I really enjoyed in this book was the ending. It was perfect. I could tell throughout the book that they weren't ever going to be together completely, but when he went back to see her I was expecting the usual; She falls in love with him all over again. This wasn't the outcome at all and I finished the book satisfied. I recommend this book to everyone but mostly girls. They would be well suited for this book because it is a love story.
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Title: My Antonia (Cliffs Notes) by Susan Van Kirk, David Kubicek, Mildred R. Bennett ISBN: 0764586513 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 15 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: O Pioneers! (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679743626 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 01 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: Death Comes for the Archbishop (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679728899 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather, Doris Grumbach ISBN: 0395345308 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 10 May, 1983 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ISBN: 0684801523 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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