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My Antonia

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My Antonia

By: Willa Cather
Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
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Widely recognized as Willa Cather’s finest book and one of the outstanding novels of American literature, My Ántonia 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, Ántonia’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 Ántonia.

Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Ántonia is a deeply moving portrait of an entire community and its way of life.

(P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

“No romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so beautiful as My Ántonia.”

(H. L. Mencken)

“Opening the first page and reading it is like tossing a perfect paper airplane off a cliff and watching it soar. Every time, you’re reassured there can be simple beauty in the world.”

(Patton Oswalt)

“My Ántonia is packed with the feel of the country. A scant paragraph sets you out on the plains, and the breath of the wind that billows the long grass never leaves your face.”

(Chicago Daily News)

“In Antonia, Willa Cather portrays one of the great women of literature: strong, capable, and honest. My Ántonia is a book to read to children to show them what women can be, or to read—and remind—yourself.”

(Erica Bauermeister, 500 Great Books by Women)

“Soulful and rich...Nothing short of a rhapsody in prairie sky blue.”

(Amazon.com, editorial review)

“My Ántonia is one of the best-loved classics of American literature, read by generations of American high school students, with good reason…The structure of the novel is beautifully wrought, the writing and character development excellent. Cummings’ narration is also well-done, with changes in accents and dialects reflecting the adjustment of the characters to their changing lives.”

(Kliatt (starred review))

“Willa Cather was born and raised on the Great Plains and her novel stands as a celebration of the landscape and its settlers (specifically Ántonia, the stoic daughter of a struggling Bohemian family)…A clear-eyed salute to the resilience of the human spirit and the innate hardiness of the immigrants who came across the ocean to start afresh in the golden west.”

(Guardian (London))
All stars
Most relevant
Loved beginning and ending of story but was horrified by racist description of mixed race pianist in one chapter.

mixed content

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The poignancy of this story and the beauty of the prose is almost unbearable. A low key masterpiece.

A wonderful discovery. E pluribus, unum.

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Wonderfully evocative first hand account of the first settlers in Nebraska. I loved this book.

wonderful

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This it the best audiobook I've ever listened to. Not only is My Antonia beautifully written and full of memorable characters, but the narrator does a fantastic job of bringing the novel to life. He reads at just the right speed (brisk, but not in a rush) and his accents are wonderful. Each time I pressed play I found myself listening for much longer than I'd intended because the plot and storytelling captivated me. Highly recommended.

Excellent

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This story is a semiotic for all of us who grew up in the countryside a long time ago. There were always families like Antonia’s, poor and feckless and scrounging , always families like Jim’s collected and well managed. The countryside is not a tidy place like the suburbs, the weeds grow and detritus no longer usable is left to rot. A good thing as car and farm museums find most of their ancient artefacts from the countryside. My childhood was in Hampshire but this tory will be a remembrance for all countryside childhoods, wherever they were. The Antonia’s of this world always survived well and were loved.

So evocative of all country childhoods

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