Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My Antonia by Willa Cather

I had to read this book for the Republic Branch book discussion.  I think I would have liked it more if we hadn't read The Awakening by Kate Chopin last month.  When I researched, I found that Willa Cather made some very scathing remarks about Kate Chopin's amazing book and it turned me off so much, I had a hard time reading this one without thinking of that. 
It is a classic and I think does a great job of glamorizing the American Expansion across the country.  Cather does a good job of showing how tough it was for immigrants but I don't think she went far enough.  And calling the book My Antonia when Antonia only appears in three of the five "books" of the novel seems odd.  I also think it was pretty contrived when she starts the book pretending to be someone else and pretending that Jim is really the writer.  Whaaa?! 
The first time I read the book, I loved it.  Maybe the third time I'll love it again but not this time.

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