My Antonia

Introduction by Jane Smiley

No cover

Willa Cather: My Antonia (2018, Random House Publishing Group)

352 pages

English language

Published April 6, 2018 by Random House Publishing Group.

ISBN:
978-0-525-56287-0
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4 stars (14 reviews)

5 editions

Review of 'My Antonia' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is only the second of Willa Cather’s novels that I have read. The obvious autobiographical content about the Nebraska prairie in the 1880s, her interest in the importance and meaning of a place, and her rich nostalgia all contributed to my enjoyment of this great work. I also found it interesting that she felt the need to make the narrator male after reading about her life.
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My only complaint is the inclusion of the old ludicrous story of the wolves attacking sleighs during a winter in 19th-century Russia. I wanted to accept this as just a story that the characters might have believed then, but two of the characters have had their lives traumatized by their involvement in this fiction. Oh well, nothing is perfect.

Review of 'My Antonia' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I expected more, I guess; this being a classic, and all. I found Antonia to be a bit two-dimensional and unappealing other than the fact that she seemed to be so appealing to so many. The foundation of that attraction is not explained convincingly.

It is an interesting picture of frontier life in the late-19th century and has some lovely snippets of Nebraska love, but not enough of either to overcome its other weaknesses.

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Subjects

  • Nebraska, fiction
  • Fiction, westerns