Rating: 
Summary: An unmistakable classic
Review: An exceptional story with some of the most simple yet powerful characters created in the history of prose. We follow the two main characters Antonia and Jim from the moment they arrive in a new dwelling and watch as they follow their dreams and find the meaning of life, love and family. I recommend this to anyone who is starting a journey to go and begin life in somewhere new and foreign. I hope it will inspire you as it did me
Rating:
Summary: What a classic is all about
Review: This book should be regarded as a classic for so many reasons. The story of Antonia, a Bohemian immigrant girl who meets the narrator Jim when they both move to Nebraska around the same time is moving without being mawkish. As we follow Jim and Antonia through childhood to adolescence, moving from country to town, there is a interesting narrative to follow, and it can be read simply as a story if you want. However, the true power of this book is that through the narrative and the characters, the reader is asked to explore many elemental themes - how our childhood forms us, human motivation and emotions, and themes of belonging among others - without ramming these points down the readers throats. The really amazing thing is that this book was first published in 1918 (i think?) and still reads as fresh and relevant today.The other strenght of this book is the title character - though Antonia is continually dealt blows by fate, she continues to shine with a faith in life and other people that is truly inspiring. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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Summary: Cather shines as a writer--Antonia shines as a character
Review: My Antonia establishes Willa Cather as one of the preeminent writers of the twentieth century, and among the upper echelon of female writers of all time. The imagery of this novel foreshadows the impact industrialization will have on the farms and open spaces of the west. Her characters are likeable and sympathetic. Cather clearly shows the difficulties of immigrants in the late 19th century--the prejudices they faced, the cons and swindles they could easily be duped by. The hardest part of this novel for me was facing the reality of what Antonia, that strong, intelligent girl, becomes when she is grown up. I wanted her to go to college right along with Jim Burden. However, Cather wrote an realistic novel about life on the prairie in the late 1800's--there is no fantasy here. This is beautifully written. A story that will stick with you forever.
Rating: 
Summary: turned out interesting
Review: I had to read this book as a requirement for my 10th grade summer reading. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I did enjoy reading it and I didn't think this would be "my type", but it turned out intriging. For some reason I was interested in it and I encourage others to give it a try. A well-written book.
Rating:
Summary: An Important American Novel
Review: "My Antonia" is a book to savor and appreciate. It is not a book to read on a quick airplane flight or to fill some time. It should be read slowly and treasured.
The book tells the tale of Antonia, a young Bohemian immigrant in the plains of Nebraska, and her friendship with Jim, an orphan from Virginia who lives with his grandparents on a neighboring farm. The book delves into class structure: Jim clearly comes from a far higher, more educated class and even on the plains of Nebraska, such stuff matters at this time.
"My Antonia" traces the dual lives of Antonia, both of whom embody different versions of the American dream. Antonia goes into service in a household, becomes a farmer's wife, and gradually sees prosperity after years of hard living. But she never loses her spirit-the spirit of the American immigrant. Jim attends university, first in Nebraska and then at Harvard, and ultimately leads the life of an East Coast lawyer. Both rise from their beginnings. But both never lose the spirit of the land.
I would recommend this book for individuals who enjoy American literature. The word "classic" has become a cliche; however, "My Antonia' is a classic. As I noted earlier, I wouldn't recommend this book for individuals looking for a light read. "My Antonia" is just too importan.
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Summary: A well-told frontier story set in the American West
Review: This is a tale of frontier Nebraska as told through the eyes of an adolescent boy. The subject of the book, a young Bohemian immigrant girl named Antonia, is meant to symbolize the frontier experience and epitomize the life of many frontiersmen and women. The story is told by Jim Burden, who grew up in Black Hawk, Nebraska, when the land was wild and untamed. His neighbor was Antonia Shimerda, four years older than he. They grew up together, and as Jim tells the story of his friendship and love for Antonia, the whole of the frontier experience is captured within the narrative.
This is a great American Western novel. Willa Cather is an excellent writer--easy and enjoyable to read. Her writing (in this and other books) teems with beautiful and sublime descriptions. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and gave it only four stars simply because the plot seems to move kind of slowly at times. Despite this minor imperfection, however, My Antonia is a great book that will leave the reader with a deep impression of life on the Western American frontier.
Rating:
Summary: Curl up with a good book----this one
Review: This is a perfect book to read by the fire on winter break. When holidays roll around, people already tend to wistfully reminisce about their childhood days...and that is exactly what Willa Cather does throughout the majority of this semi-autobiographical novel. Even if you didn't grow up somewhere remote out in the country, you feel like you're right there with Cather's characters, on a prairie. You see the blizzard, you hear the insects, you smell the soil. More importantly though, you feel the characters and become attached to them. With plenty of action to keep the plot moving, this novel is definitely one of the more enjoyable "classics."
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Summary: My America
Review: My Ántonia by Willa Cather. Recommended. Willa Cather is known as the chronicler of the American prairie and frontier, having written such novels as O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and Death Comes from the Archbishop. My Ántonia is also set in the prairie midwest, Nebraska, where the Jim Burden finds himself living with his paternal grandparents after the death of his parents in Virginia and where Ántonia Shimerda and her family find themselves in search of a better life than that offered by their native Bohemia. The tale, or series of tales, are told by lawyer Jim Burden as his remembrances of Ántonia. Tellingly, when he hands over his manuscript to a journalist who also knew Ántonia, he adds the "My" in front of her name, which "seemed to satisfy him." My Ántonia is an episodic novel, and Ántonia herself is often absent from the story. In many ways, she did not seem to me to be a clearly defined, real character or even a part of the novel named for her, but more of a symbol of the westward expansion and growth of America. Ántonia-daughter, sister, lover, wife, mother-seems to be an everywoman. She is sensual and maternal, intelligent and hard working, naïve and shrewd. While narrator Jim Burden finds her attractive and desirable, their relationship never extends beyond friendship. This is an interesting point, since the framing narrator does not find much to praise in the woman Jim Burden marries, whom he describes in oddly masculine terms: "handsome, energetic, executive, but to me she seems unimpressionable and temperamentally incapable of enthusiasm." She may be Mrs. Burden but she is not my Ántonia. Ántonia's family, the Shimerdas, are a reminder that, despite snobbery on the part of long-settled families, there is no American who didn't originate elsewhere. One character says, "So it's Norwegians now, is it? I thought this was Americy." Americy, poor and wealthy, rural and urban, is a society built not around a common history, past, or ethnic background, but around the land. For Ántonia's father, Mr. Shimerda, the bleak land of winter cannot replace the richness of the camaraderie of his Bohemian friends at home. Even the Bohemians in the new country cannot compensate for the loss-they are, after all, now Americans. Fittingly, Mr. Shimerda rests at a crossroads, where man marks where the four directions meet. Small-town America is no less provincial than its European prototype. In Blackhawk, Ántonia and the other "country girls" bring what the new country needs to grow as Jefferson envisioned: youth, enthusiasm, and unfettered sensuality that threatens the newly settled middle class. As in other Cather novels, most notably The Song of the Lark, no matter how fond characters may be of their rural roots, opportunity in America lies elsewhere-for Jim Burden, as a lawyer working for a western railway and living in New York, far removed from Blackhawk and his life on his grandparents' farm. Ántonia, however, after a disastrous sojourn in Denver, finds herself back in the country, doing what many American women had done before and have done since-raising the future generations the new country needs. While Jim contributes to industrial growth, Ántonia is Earth Mother, producing the future. There may be a feminist dig here; Cather and her characters are well aware that, for now, the nature of opportunities for men and women are worlds apart, as is the nature of what they can accomplish. Indeed, the topic troubles Burden as he watches the activities of the country girls. In the end, he marries the woman the framing narrator does not like while Ántonia the sensualist seems spiritually free in her earthy existence. My Ántonia is the story of America-written by those like Jim Burden, but also written by Norwegians, Swedes, Bohemians-and Africans, as Cather works in the story of the blind piano and his "instrument," a double entendre for his piano and his sensuality. To understand America and her story, you must understand Jim, Ántonia, Ántonia's grasping brother and mother-and Mr. Shimerda, too. Each is the evolution of the new land born of the old. Diane L. Schirf, 24 May 2003.
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Summary: Do not buy the "Bookcassette Edition"; poor product quality
Review: I purchased this new audio cassette version from Amazon and it was a complete waste of money. The tape requires one to shift the balance of the stereo entirely to the left or the right. Apparently two different parts of the story play on the tape simultaneously so you have to either listen to the left earphone or the right (or the left speaker or the right). This is quite unusual and difficult to get used to. I could not entirely block out the second track by shifting the balance of my car stereo. Apparently one is only supposed to use these audio tapes on a top quality home stereo system. Am I the only person who buys audio books for the car? If I'm at home, I'll just read the actual paper book. This is a horrible concept for an audio book.
I might have gotten used to the bizarre stereo settings except that the magnetic tape inside the first cassette broke just after Antonia's family moved into the run-down house. Now, my car stereo is clean and has _never_ eaten a tape. I listened to two Amy Tan books on tape just after this happened with no similar occurences; I am inclined to believe this was just a shoddy product. I was very, very disappointed in the quality of these tapes. I have no idea how good the story is because of the poor quality of the tapes. I would strongly recommend that you buy a different audio version of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad after all.
Review: I was able to sink into the story after getting past the first few chapters. It took that much time for me to open up to the early twentieth century language. Once into the rhythm of the story, the only thing left was to imagine; an easy task given the writing ability of Willa Cather. As I reflect on the story, I'm certain that it was the strength of the characters that kept me interested. Antonia's voice is, now, as familiar to me as a close friend's. I won't bother with a summary of the story, plenty has been written about it over the years. I will say that I have been enriched by the experience and much better informed about the life of early settlers of the Western planes. While I'm not a big fan of the 'Classics" in general, this one held its own. No need to rush out and buy it, but put it on your list and be sure to get to it.
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