My Antonia (Signet Classics)
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List Price:
$4.95
Czech Hotels Travel Price: $4.95
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780451529725
ISBN: 0451529723
Label: Signet Classics
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2005-04-05
Publisher: Signet Classics
Studio: Signet Classics
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Editorial Reviews:
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Lush descriptions of the rolling Nebraska grasslands interweave with the blossoming of a woman in the early days of the twentieth century, in an epic novel that chronicles America's past.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: No surprises, and a little too sweet and sugary for my taste
Comment: Written in 1918, this small novel brought me back to the time of my childhood reading of books like "Little House on the Prairie" and an idealization of farm life before the turn of the twentieth century. I was therefore immediately caught up in the story, written in the first person through the eyes of a boy named Jim who we first meet at the age of 10, who is sent to live with his grandparents in Nebraska after the death of his parents in Virginia. In Nebraska, he first meets Antonia, a girl of 14 who has just emigrated with her family from Bohemia. I found this part of the book interesting as these two young people from different cultures discover the landscape of their new world and I felt real sympathy for Antonia and her family who had to spend their first winter in a sod house with barely enough to eat. We watch them grow through the years, both moving to town as teenagers, he to go to school, she to work as a housemaid for a town family. Always, though, there is the pull of the farm for both of them. The book paints a picture of Americana at that time and along the way we meet some other characters, but always the book focuses on the natural environment and the simplicity of life.
This is an easy read, a mere 286 small pages, and I read the book in a very short time. Frankly, though, I soon found myself bored. Everything was just too sweet and sugary for my taste. There were few, if any surprises, and the people just were too good to be true. The book was written by a woman and I wished she had used a female narrator because it just didn't seem like it came from a male point of view. I did get a feeling about life during this period of history but a book needs more than that to stand the test of time. I therefore can only give it a mild recommendation. That's too bad, because I wanted to like it more.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Timeless Classic!
Comment: I concur with the wonderful review written by Lawyeraau (see below) this novel is truly one of the treasures of American literature. I can't recommend this one enough. Willa Cather spins a tale of such beauty and charm about friendship and unconditional love between the two main characters in the novel - Antonia Shimerda and Jim Burden. It is a coming of age tale that focuses on the positive aspects of the human condition. All of the characters suffer loss, and incredible hardships at times. Yet, unconditional love and the friendships they form with each other save the day and win out in the end. The bottom line, we need more stories like this one! Novels that focus on the positive, rather than the negative. This is a charming little story that really has a great message as well. That friendship and love really does conquer all. After you are done with the story, you can't help but feel a bit saddened that it is over. It is such a great book that it makes you almost wish that it never ended. Antonia is one of my favorite female fictional characters of all time.
Where have all the Willa Cathers of the world gone? The elegant and vivid way she writes makes this novel feel almost like one is reading a long epic poem. I also really adore the colorful way she uses words to describe the rough Nebraska terrain. Cather is simply one of our greatest American writers and this is one of her finest works. It is my personal favorite because of it's charm and eternal lesson of the value of friendship and the importance of unconditional love. This is one of those novels that truly does make you feel happy to be alive and helps to reaffirm ones belief in humanity.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A TRUE AMERICAN CLASSIC...
Comment: 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, having re-read it, 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. 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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