Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
My Antonia chronicles the life of Antonia, a Bohemian immigrant woman, as seen through the eyes of Jim, the man unable to forget her. Jim, now a successful New York lawyer, recollects his upbringing on a Nebraska farm. Even after twenty years, Antonia continues to live a romantic life in his imagination. When he returns to Nebraska, he finds Antonia has lived a battered life. Although the man to whom she dedicated her life abandons her, she remains strong and full of courage.
Synopsis
Widely recognized as Willa Cather's finest book and one of the outstanding novels of American literature, My Antonia tells of the life of early American pioneers in Nebraska. Through Jim Burden's endearing, smitten voice, we revisit the remarkable vicissitudes of immigrant life in the Nebraska heartland with all its insistent bonds. Guiding the way are some of literature's most beguiling characters: the Russian brothers plagued by memories of a fateful sleigh ride, Antonia's desperately homesick father and self-indulgent mother, and the coy Lena Lingard. Holding the pastoral society's heart, of course, is the bewitching, free-spirited Antonia. Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Antonia is a deeply moving portrait of an entire community and its way of life.