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82,768 words (5 hours 1 minute) with a reading ease of 80.31 (easy)

№ 3 in the Prairie Trilogy set.

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Written in the style of a memoir, My Ántonia chronicles Jim Burden's friendship with the daughter of a Czech immigrant family. Recently orphaned, he moves west to Nebraska to live with his grandparents. Riding the same train is the Shimerda family, who are also on their way to settle in the area. The Shimerdas have a difficult life as pioneers: living in a sod house, working the fields, and running out of food in the winter. Jim soon becomes smitten with Ántonia, the eldest daughter, as they grow up and explore the landscape around them together. Through his eyes, we see both how she shapes the land around her and is shaped by the rigors of poverty.

Similarly to Jim, Willa Cather spent her early years in Nebraska but most of her adult life in Eastern cities. She pays homage to her homeland with her Prairie Trilogy of novels: O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia. They are tinged with her characteristic straightforward language, reverence for nature, and nostalgia, even as she acknowledges the hardships of the past.

Published in 1918 to great enthusiasm, My Ántonia is considered one of Cather's finest works and a defining point in her identity as a writer.

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My Ántonia, by Willa Cather - Free ebook download

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82,768 words (5 hours 1 minute) with a reading ease of 80.31 (easy) № 3 in the Prairie Trilogy set. Written in the style of a memoir, My Ántonia chronicles Jim Burden's friendship with the daughter of a Czech immigrant family. Recently orphaned, he moves west to Nebraska to live with his grandparents.

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Willa Cather's novel "My Antonia" captures the pioneering spirit in America as the country began expanding. The life in the prairie was told in great detail by Ms. Cather. With "My Antonia", she gave us a look what it was like to be a settler in a strange land where everything seems to go against you.

This film, which was shown recently on cable, had a look of a movie made for television. As directed by Joseph Sargent, who has worked extensively in that medium, the movie takes us back to the Nebraska that Ms. Cather wrote about.

We are shown two different families living in the Nebraska of the last part of the XIX century. The Burdens, who evidently have been around for quite a while, are seen in sharp contrast with the immigrating Shemardas, who came from Bohemia. The Burdens have taken roots in their land whereas the Shemardas are trying to make a living in their property, without much success. Jimmy Burden likes Antonia, the young woman who is his neighbor. They form a bond that seems to be sealed, but life intervenes. Jimmy can never make his mind about the love he feels for Antonia and destiny never let them consummate that love. At the end, we watch as Jimmy goes back to visit Antonia, who has her own family and appears to have made it, after all.

Elina Lowensohn makes an impression with her Antonia. This actress should be seen more often. She is always an interesting figure in whatever film she is in. Neil Patrick Harris was a product of television. As such, he is at a disadvantage playing opposite Ms. Lowensohn. Besides, he doesn't seem to register much emotion. Mr. Harris has been doing theater lately, which might help him in the acting department. Jason Robards Jr. and Eva Marie Saint play the older Burdens, and Anne Tremko is fine as the Swedish beauty, Lena.

We would recommend to read Ms. Cather's novel, which is a fine piece of work in the American literature.

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Willa Cather's novel "My Antonia" captures the pioneering spirit in America as the country began expanding. The life in the prairie was told in great detail by Ms. Cather. With "My Antonia", she gave us a look what it was like to be a settler in a strange land where everything seems to go against you.