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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is the first Cather novel I've read (save for some excerpts in American Lit in college) and it was beautiful. Quiet, personal, and powerful. After reading this, I could definitely see her influence on some of the contemporary "prairie writers" I enjoy. Cather speaks to the lives of women, of immigrants and of issues of class in this intimate story of a few families in a small Nebraska town. After reading this, I learned that it was the third in a trilogy -- so I guess I will read the whole series backwards. :)
Another I felt I must read because it's in the book depository at the school where I work. I'm not a huge fan of American lit., and especially not of the "life is hard on the prairie" variety. I already know that from firsthand experience. If a person hasn't experienced life in a farming community, this might be a good read.
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A gentle masterpiece that doesn’t beg for attention, My Ántonia is a transformative experience bringing each reader back to its pages again and again.
To write well, and simply, is a remarkable accomplishment. Even greater is the ability to capture both the complex and simple without disrupting the reader. In her novel, My Ántonia, Willa Cather finds a simplicity beyond complexity that envelops the reader in pure, untainted life. Cather brings the rugged beauty of untamed Nebraska into the hands and hearts of every reader, leaving each entirely happy and complete. For “…that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.”
Favorite passage:
[Book II - The Hired Girls - Part XIV]
…
“We sat looking off across the country, watching the sun go down. The curly grass about us was on fire now. The bark of the oaks turned red as copper. There was a shimmer of gold on the brown river. Out in the stream the sandbars glittered like glass, and the light trembled in the willow thickets as if little flames were leaping among them. The breeze sank to stillness. In the ravine a ringdove mourned plaintively, and somewhere off in the bushes an owl hooted. The girls sat listless, leaning against each other. The long fingers of the sun touched their foreheads.
“Presently we saw a curious thing: There were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disk rested on the high fields against the horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. On some upland farm, a plough had been left standing in the field. The sun was sinking just behind it. Magnified across the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out against the sun, was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; the handles, the tongue, the share--black against the molten red. There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun.
“Even while we whispered about it, our vision disappeared; the ball dropped and dropped until the red tip went beneath the earth. The fields below us were dark, the sky was growing pale, and that forgotten plough had sunk back to its own littleness somewhere on the prairie.”
To write well, and simply, is a remarkable accomplishment. Even greater is the ability to capture both the complex and simple without disrupting the reader. In her novel, My Ántonia, Willa Cather finds a simplicity beyond complexity that envelops the reader in pure, untainted life. Cather brings the rugged beauty of untamed Nebraska into the hands and hearts of every reader, leaving each entirely happy and complete. For “…that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.”
Favorite passage:
[Book II - The Hired Girls - Part XIV]
…
“We sat looking off across the country, watching the sun go down. The curly grass about us was on fire now. The bark of the oaks turned red as copper. There was a shimmer of gold on the brown river. Out in the stream the sandbars glittered like glass, and the light trembled in the willow thickets as if little flames were leaping among them. The breeze sank to stillness. In the ravine a ringdove mourned plaintively, and somewhere off in the bushes an owl hooted. The girls sat listless, leaning against each other. The long fingers of the sun touched their foreheads.
“Presently we saw a curious thing: There were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disk rested on the high fields against the horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. On some upland farm, a plough had been left standing in the field. The sun was sinking just behind it. Magnified across the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out against the sun, was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; the handles, the tongue, the share--black against the molten red. There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun.
“Even while we whispered about it, our vision disappeared; the ball dropped and dropped until the red tip went beneath the earth. The fields below us were dark, the sky was growing pale, and that forgotten plough had sunk back to its own littleness somewhere on the prairie.”
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Loved the depiction of life in the west- made me more homesick for open spaces than I already was!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a great book--it was well-written and thought-provoking. I did not give it more stars because it was not my kind of book. I understand its power and its quality, but I understand them almost as outside things, as though I could look at them and appreciate them for what they are, but I did not necessarily feel them. I feel as though I am struggling for words here. I recommend reading this book--there is a lot to love here, but I didn't love it.