My Antonia by Willa Cather, 1918

Willa Cather has been floating in and out of my orbit for a while now as one of those "great American writers" that I just must read. And it feels like I've always known a little about her what with her Nebraska roots. One of Cather's most famous works is titled O Pioneers! Come on. Given my weakness for all things Little House on the Prairie, she seems like my kind of gal. So when my brother Matt picked up his Calvin and Hobbes at the Harvard Bookstore, I decided to be sophisticated and purchased My Antonia, a novel of Cather's that is sometimes heralded as her finest work.

And before I go any further, it should be noted that Antonia actually has an accent over the first A, but my keyboard skills are hurting so please tolerate its absence. Also, I spent the better part of this read debating exactly how one pronounces Antonia (with an accent). Thoughts?

Jim Burden is the narrator of this novel. He tells his personal history of leaving Virginia as a boy after the passing of his parents and riding a train to Nebraska to live with his grandparents. On the train is where Jim gets his first glimpse of the book's namesake Antonia. The Shimerda family is completing the last leg of their long journey from Europe and settling in the sweeping plains of Nebraska. Jim begins tutoring Antonia in English and a friendship is soon formed. Through the many hardships of life on the plains in the late 19th century, Jim and Antonia grow into adults and into Nebraskans.

Remember all that stuff I said about being prone to nostalgia? Well, My Antonia is the perfect book for a Midwestern girl who spent a little time on the east coast and is longing for her homeland. It is heavy with yearning for not only a place out of reach but a time and a person. To our narrator Jim, Antonia is his youth, his Nebraska, his past. And these days, it is always out of reach. Similarly, Antonia spends the better part of her life missing her village in Europe, missing her father. This book is a celebration of the past and an acknowledgement that you can never truly go back.

Again, to someone like me who gets a heavy heart reminiscing, this book is a great read. However, I can see where it might grow a bit tiresome for those who can't handle maudlin nostalgia. Also, it has  that very plot driven, simplistic prairie style of writing without flowery language or metaphors. I suppose some of Cather's motivation for writing My Antonia was her personal experience. After all, she was born in Virginia, raised in Nebraska, and spent most of her adulthood in and around New York. Jim Burden is Willa Cather. And I, for one, can always appreciate a champion of the Midwest.

I've been thinking about naming a future child Willa. She would be strong and of the prairie. I suppose it's better than Herman (Melville) or Bram (Stoker).

*Thanks again for the image BarnesandNoble.com!