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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Nelson Public Library.
Oct 07, 2014
My Antonia, written by Willa Cather, is the final novel in what has been called the Prairie Trilogy. It is story of Antonia Shimerda, told (years later) by one of her friends from childhood, Jim Burden, an orphaned boy from Virginia. Though he leaves the prairie, Jim never forgets the Bohemian girl who profoundly influenced his life (though I believes that he realizes this through the writing of the story). Set mainly in Nebraska, Jim focuses his story on the Shimerdas, an immigrant family whose daughter Antonia becomes one of his most dear childhood friends. Structured into five sections, the novel follows both Antonia and Jim from childhood through adulthood and the events that have shaped their lives. Antonia survives her father's suicide, hires herself out as household help, is abandoned at the altar, gives birth out of wedlock, but eventually achieves fulfillment in life and in the land. Jim, a successful East-coast lawyer, remains romantic, nostalgic, and but ultimately unfulfilled in life. This novel is everything you would expect from a Cather novel, straightforward prose, beautiful descriptions of the vastness of landscape and life on the plains and complex engaging characters. 4 ½ out of 5 stars.