1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
My Antonia as Literature, May 2 2002
This review is from: My Antonia (Paperback)
"My Antonia" is about the life of immigrants in our country in the early 1900's, in particular, is Antonia and her family who emigrated from Bohemia. Her family settled in the Nebraska plains where she meets the neighbor's son, Jim Burden. It is Jim who tells the story about Antonia authored by Willa Cather. Here he tells about the life on the farm, after the farm, and how he thinks of her in later life and meets again with here many years later. It is a spell binding adventurous novel about life in the prairie. It brings the characters to life in the way Willa Cather describes them in everyday life.
In this story Jim Burden expresses his feelings about Antonia throughout the book about her beauty as she matures. You get the sense that he is in love with her however, he is unable to confirm his own feelings for her. Eventually, they both move on pursuing their own goals in life, but Jim never forgets Antonia and is able to write a story about her and their childhood together. The emotions flow heavily throughout this piece.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
enjoyable reading, April 29 2002
This review is from: My Antonia (Paperback)
My Antonia, written by Willa Cather, is a powerful and adventurous book. It takes you on a journey through the American vision of modernism. The work invokes a sense of disillusionment with modern society, a feeling of fragmentation and despair at the trends toward industrialization and urbanization. At other times the novel presents an idealized view of a pre-industrialized and still "innocent" society. My Antonia follows the path and offers a vision of the idyllic world of the American West. Cather idealizes the American frontier and depicts it as a perfect alternative to the corrupt world that we now live in. Cather also glorifies the values of independence, hard work, asceticism, as she contrasts it to the isolation and laziness of modern society. This novel is an excellent way of understanding what it would be like if we were not all accustomed to a developed and technologically advanced society. It takes you a few steps back in time, and demonstrates the importance of independence and self-reliability. It shows the developing of a young boy, searching and battling with growing up.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A TIMELESS AMERICAN CLASSIC..., July 30 2009
I first read this book when I was in junior high school. I admit that, at the time, I did not appreciate the strengths of the book and the quality of its writing. I am quite glad that I decided to give it another chance, as I now understand why it is considered to be a classic in literature. It is simply a beautifully written book, covering many of the themes that one stumbles across in life and coalescing them into a work of extraordinary breadth.
The book is the story of two young people, Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda. They meet for the first time when Jim is ten years old and Antonia is fourteen. Recently orphaned, Jim has moved to the Great Prairie to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. Antonia, on the other hand, has been wrenched from her homeland in Bohemia, emigrating with her parents to the United States and finding herself in Nebraska. Jim and Antonia's chance encounter on a train sets the stage for the forging of a friendship and unconditional love that time will not diminish.
The book relates the harshness of immigrant life through the eyes of Jim, who narrates the events contained in the book. There is a relentless stoicism about the book, which is written in spare, clear prose. With intense imagery and descriptive exactitude, late nineteenth century Nebraska comes to life. It also relates the paths that each of the characters choose to follow, as well as the vicissitudes of life that mold and shape them in ways that no one would have imagined.
The focus of the book, which is also a coming of age tale, seems to be on the female characters and their strengths. Consequently, the book has a faintly feminist undercurrent to it, as all the women in it seem to be survivors, despite the hardships that they encounter. This is, without a doubt, a life affirming book, wrought with great feeling and a decided sense of time and place. Yet, despite its poignancy, the book is surprisingly unsentimental and straightforward. It is a testament to the author's literary talent that this book has emerged as a timeless classic. Bravo!
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