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mdevlin923's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Jim Burden recounts his memories of Antonia Shimerda, an immigrant from Bohemia whose family farmed the land neighboring his grandparents farm in Nebraska during the 1880s.
No real plot, but there are mini plots that help build the character development of Jim, Antonia, and their friends.
No real plot, but there are mini plots that help build the character development of Jim, Antonia, and their friends.
milosilva's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
mcnallyswife's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
annalieegk's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
4.0
You might have heard it several times before but Cather can cut you most beautiful pictures of American West through her words. Not only the people but the very place come to life in these pages.
There isn’t much of plot in it, it is just people living out their destinies. Cather’s genius lies in creating little moments which spark of poetry of life. The story is written from POV of Jim, a guy who is not much unlike the author but for some reason, Cather seems to prefer writing from a male POV.
The emphasis in the title is on the word ‘My’. It is not really so much about Antonia. Antonia has nothing particular about her, just another of poor immigrants making best of whatever little luck may fell into their unlucky lives. No, it is about Jim’s relationship with her.
We all have our Antonias, don't we? Those childhood best friends whose destinies were not same as ours, yet we feel a certain kind of possession over them:
..We are interested in their lives, want them to do well even though life at times makes us drift apart from them, sometimes when angry resolving never to contact with them again, but whom we still end up searching for anyway, and whose mere sight, with all the changes their appearances might have gone through, reminds us of innocent times of our shared childhood. We look at them and wonder how different our lives come out to be – whether it was anything more than luck that set us on our paths. Jim shares this relationship with Antonia. May be Jim is attracted to her but that is all speculative. In the end, he finds peace in that ‘We will always have Paris’ kind of thought:
There isn’t much of plot in it, it is just people living out their destinies. Cather’s genius lies in creating little moments which spark of poetry of life. The story is written from POV of Jim, a guy who is not much unlike the author but for some reason, Cather seems to prefer writing from a male POV.
The emphasis in the title is on the word ‘My’. It is not really so much about Antonia. Antonia has nothing particular about her, just another of poor immigrants making best of whatever little luck may fell into their unlucky lives. No, it is about Jim’s relationship with her.
We all have our Antonias, don't we? Those childhood best friends whose destinies were not same as ours, yet we feel a certain kind of possession over them:
“He went into the next room, sat down at my desk and wrote on the pinkish face of the portfolio the word, "Ántonia." He frowned at this a moment, then prefixed another word, making it "My Ántonia."
..We are interested in their lives, want them to do well even though life at times makes us drift apart from them, sometimes when angry resolving never to contact with them again, but whom we still end up searching for anyway, and whose mere sight, with all the changes their appearances might have gone through, reminds us of innocent times of our shared childhood. We look at them and wonder how different our lives come out to be – whether it was anything more than luck that set us on our paths. Jim shares this relationship with Antonia. May be Jim is attracted to her but that is all speculative. In the end, he finds peace in that ‘We will always have Paris’ kind of thought:
“Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past.
bibliocinephile's review against another edition
3.0
honestly i need to stop reading books that define women's worth majorly by their looks and use that as part of their personality and like. aren't boring
beautifulminutiae's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
dars's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0