Helpful Score: 1
This is Willa Cather's most famous masterpiece, published in 1918. I think Cather's goal was to show what life was like on the plains during the frontier days. Her writing is beautiful and almost poetic; her characters stay with the reader long after the last page. She reminds us of where we come from and the sacrifices of the people who came before us.
In many ways, this is a simple story about a young boy, Jim, who befriends a slightly-older girl, Antonia, fresh from Bohemia (part of Czechoslovakia). Both they and their families live in the rich fields of Nebraska. Cather tells the story in such an evocative way that the reader longs to return to those days of simplicity and gentler natures. She tells the story more through the eyes and lives of the women pioneers, who struggled mightily to bring civilization to the rough lands of America's past.
The story is so powerful because of its simplicity and beautiful descriptions of an unspoiled America. By the end of book 4 (there are 5 books in this story), I was misty-eyed and ready to cry. Part of it is my grief over finishing this incredibly powerful story.
In many ways, this is a simple story about a young boy, Jim, who befriends a slightly-older girl, Antonia, fresh from Bohemia (part of Czechoslovakia). Both they and their families live in the rich fields of Nebraska. Cather tells the story in such an evocative way that the reader longs to return to those days of simplicity and gentler natures. She tells the story more through the eyes and lives of the women pioneers, who struggled mightily to bring civilization to the rough lands of America's past.
The story is so powerful because of its simplicity and beautiful descriptions of an unspoiled America. By the end of book 4 (there are 5 books in this story), I was misty-eyed and ready to cry. Part of it is my grief over finishing this incredibly powerful story.
