My Antonia by Willa Cather

'Widely recognised as Willa Cather's greatest novel. My Antonia is a soulful and rich portrait of a pioneer woman's simple yet heroic life. The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, Antonia must adapt to a hard existence on the desolate praires of the Midwest. Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tagedy, she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that formed a nation, My Antonia is also a hauntingly eloquent celebration of the strength, courage and spirit of America's early pioneers.'

Judith said...
I 'sort of' enjoyed this book.Despite the praise heaped upon Cather, her writing style didn't engage me overly and it wasn't until Will moved away from the country that the characters and their actions became more believable.Could have done without the learned treatise at the beginning of the volume. It seemed to me that there was a lot of very pretentious supposition in it. It was truly difficult to believe in a young man, in the throes of ardour for Antonia and temptation in Lena, who nevertheless appears to remain virginal.In short a fairly interesting story but 'wooden' characters 2.5/5

Judith said...
Having said what I did, I should add that, for me, the best of this book lies in the lyrical descriptions of the countryside

Tuesday Evening Book Club Rating