Book 151: My Antonia by Willa Cather.

“Now I understood that the same road was to bring us together again. Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past.” 

My Antonia is a book that I have avoided since my first read as an incoming high school freshman. It was one of three books we were required to read before the year started (the other 2 were Ender's Game and The Count of Monte Cristo), and it was a novel that my entire class hated. I've actually written about that experience before, back when I read Cather's O Pioneers! as book 25. 

At the time, I think my read of her novel came at the wrong time. First, it followed two books that blew me away with action and plot. And if you've read My Antonia, you know it is a much quieter book.

I also think I fell victim to the pressure of my peers to hate the book. Because I while I remember being frustrated with the novel, I don't think it was until I was in class talking about the book that I hated it.

In all reality, My Antonia is a book I should have loved back then. I have always been fascinated by life on the prairie and the lives of those who went west with the expansion of the United States (as proven by my love for Laura Ingalls Wilder and the fact that my American Girl doll was Kirsten-the pioneer). I suppose I can chalk up my previous experience with Cather to being a stubborn teenager, and to the book finding me in the wrong time and place.

For this read, I was excited to begin. After loving O Pioneers! so dearly, I had high expectations for this, especially because I could barely remember it. I decided to dive in during The Classics Club Readathon, and I wasn't disappointed by the story.

Yes, My Antonia is a quieter story. At its heart, it is a perfect example of picaresque literature. There are small stories that connect together in small ways, but they all come back to the narrator's reflections of Antonia.

“But she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture that somehow revealed the meaning in common things. She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last. All the strong things of her heart came out in her body, that had been so tireless in serving generous emotions. It was no wonder that her sons stood tall and straight. She was a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races.”

The writing is absolutely divine. Cather paints a portrait of life on the American prairie and the challenges those individuals face. And while the read certainly gets to know Jim Burden, the narrator, we also get to know the community he grew up in and how Antonia fit into that world.

The beginning of the novel has some of my favorite descriptions. It is early on in the novel that Jim comes west to live with his grandparents, and the enormity of the landscape almost overwhelms him at times.

“There were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disk rested on the high fields against the horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. On some upland farm, a plough had been left standing in the field. The sun was sinking just behind it. Magnified across the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out against the sun, was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; the handles, the tongue, the share—black against the molten red. There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun.”

From Jim's appearance on the prairie, there is also the appearance of Antonia and her family-a strong-willed group of immigrants who struggle to survive amidst the hard conditions. Reading about their struggle brought back a lot of images related to the other "pioneer" novels I have read. And like the others, Cather touches on the violence of the conditions, but also the beauty of a land more devoted to nature than human influence.

“There was nothing but land; not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.” 

The novel also continues to grow with the characters. Jim and Antonia grow up and change-moving to town and discovering loves of their own. Their growth, as well as the growth of the prairie, are central to the entire novel. While they shape the land around them, it also shapes who they become.

In all, it is a beautiful novel, but quiet. It merely reflects on the life of the pioneers-those brave individuals and families who forged the western half of the United States. It does so eloquently and with a quiet strength.

And, it was most certainly wasted on my 14 year-old self. But, I am glad I took the opportunity to read it again as an adult, and to cherish it.

 “The earth was warm under me, and warm as I crumbled it through my fingers...I kept as still as I could. Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.”

Book 25: Finished.

I think it might be official. Willa Cather is totally one of my girls now. I fell in love. And I feel guilty because when Mrs. P was trying to get my little ninth grade self to understand the beauty of Cather's language, I may have mentally told her some things that I cannot repeat here (sorry Mom).

Yes, I have fallen in love. And even though the story might not have been the strongest, the language and the beauty of Cather's writing totally made up for it. This slim little novel sucked me in and wouldn't let me escape. So yes, I am a Cather fan through and through and now I cannot wait to go and read My Antonia so that I can offer apologies to Mrs. P for doubting its excellence.

The beauty of O Pioneers is in its simplicity. The story begins uncomplicated and seems to remain so until the climax. Even with that issue, the book and characters remain simple and pure. I love that.

I also loved that this offered a snapshot of life in America at this time. Being the huge history nerd that I am (I do have a history degree), I can appreciate this representation of American life on the frontier. With the passage of the Homestead Act, so many individuals strove to become successful as farmers and to own their own land. For those who came from Europe, this was the chance to make a life for themselves and to own their own property. So when Cather says,

"The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman," (35)

you know she is speaking the truth. The United States grew on the backs of dedicated men and women who were striving for new lives and success.

And I love that Cather captured this. This novel truly is a representation of the American frontier.

"There are always dreamers on the frontier," (157).

I also wanted to share a few of my other favorite lines. Like I said before, Cather has a gift with language. She has the ability to say exactly what she means in a very simple way. I wish I had that ability.

"'There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years,'" (63).

"'I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do,'" (78).

I can truly appreciate that language and the images it provokes.



I need to also say before I close out this entry that I read this novel in part for the LOST books challenge. As part of that challenge, I am supposed to draw comparisons between the book and TV show. However, I had a really hard time making any connections other than the characters' names: Alexandra and Carl. I even talked it over with Matt and he had nothing else to offer as well. I suppose I could attempt to draw comparisons between all of the characters and the idea of being on a frontier, as the island is a new place to many of them, but that seems so shallow I won't develop it.

Happy Reading!

Book 25: A Change of Opinion.

One of the reasons I am starting to really love this process of reading and rereading the classics is that it is giving me the opportunity to go back and try again. So often we read things and dislike them, without understanding why. This is why I am a huge fan of rereading books in general.

Usually on the second time through, I find a lot more to cherish in books I love, and perhaps can find something to like in books I hated. Unless it is, of course, Great Expectations. I am afraid I will never be fond of that monstrosity.

But even authors and books I thought I would hate have become dear friends in this process. I was wary of Crime and Punishment but I ended up loving it. I also have fallen back in love with some old friends, like The Odyssey, Ethan Frome, and Much Ado About Nothing.

Then there is this novel by Willa Cather-O Pioneers. I swore to myself, way back in ninth grade to never read anything by Cather ever again since I hated My Antonia so much.

And now I sort of feel like I am cheating on my poor little ninth grade self because I am starting to fall in love with Cather's writing. It could be that it reminds me of those books I read over and over and over again as a little girl. I'm talking about The Little House on the Prairie novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Those books WERE my childhood. My grandma had old editions that my aunts read when they were kids and I read those until my mom bought me my own copies. I love the description of the farms and the way of life. I wanted to be a pioneer.

I am seeing the same in O Pioneers. While Cather doesn't have all the tiny details down like Wilder did, it is still magnificent. I love tales of the West. I love the bravery of the people who decided to move there with the passage of the Homestead Act and tried to make something of the land. It was an incredibly inspiring time and I wish I could have lived in it.

But I also love that Cather takes the relationships between her characters much more seriously than Wilder ever did. They are far more real and tangible. Their struggles and relationships are what make this little novel so powerful (and I am only 3/4 through).

So I have learned from Cather that she is a good writer. I bet my ninth grade self just couldn't appreciate the beauty of her descriptions. I have to remember that at that time in my life, I didn't have a degree in history and didn't appreciate literature the way I do now. My tastes have changed, but Cather has not.

It really does just reaffirm my belief that books have to be read at the right moment, and sometimes, try as you might, that book is not meant for that moment. That is not to say that there are not books that are ever right, but sometimes, you just have to give them a second chance and a change of opinion.

Thanks Willa. You're my home girl now. :)

Book 25: O Willa....

Way back in the summer before ninth grade, I had a reading assignment to complete. Since I was attempting to be an over-achiever, I signed up for Honors English. That last few weeks of school in 8th grade were a bummer once we all found out we had to read three assigned books before the beginning of school.

Those books were The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, a choice between Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card or David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (I wisely chose Card's book unlike 4 of my classmates), and My Antonia by Willa Cather.

I decided to bring these three books with me on our annual summer vacation up to my grandparent's cottage. I have many great memories of reading up there in the summer while lying on the end of the dock, or sitting in the boat, and that summer is no exception.

Things start off well. I decided to read The Count of Monte Cristo first, since it seemed to be the heaviest of the three. I actually ended up loving the revenge and violence of the book and flew through it in 2 days. Then I decided to read Ender's Game. I had not read any science fiction at that point, but reading that book launched my love affair with the genre. By this point, I was ecstatic. If all Honors English was like this, I was going to be amazing. My teacher was going to love me and I knew I was going to rock in my class and show off my mad reading skills.

But I had one book left, and that book was My Antonia by Willa Cather. When we went to buy a copy, it definitely didn't seem intimidating. After all, it had a pink cover. I figured it was a girly romance and I could fly through it, no problem!

That is where it all went downhill. For some reason, I HATED Cather's novel. It was all I could do to force myself through it, page by page, moaning and groaning the entire way. I can vividly remember sitting in the back of the boat, book in hand, and trying not to chuck it in the water and be done with it. Somehow, I managed to finish it and I vowed that I would never read it ever again.

On the first day of ninth grade, however, the world's scariest English teacher, Mrs. P, gave us the lecture that scared us for the rest of the year (I was actually petrified of her until 12th grade when she subbed for us. Then I realized she was actually an awesome lady). She told us on that first day that the first month of school would be devoted to those three books and we were going to discuss every detail.

She also told us that she had no problem letting us struggle under water for as long as we needed to, and she was the kind of person to only dive in and get you if you actually drowned. It was a scary speech for a freshman.

We managed to discuss the other novels and there was a general consensus that everyone like the book choices. After all, they were pretty entertaining. But when it came time for My Antonia, no one said much of anything. In fact, the only thing I can really remember about the book is the "red grass" and that was all my classmates could remember. We discussed that red grass blowing in the wind so many times that I swore that if I ever saw red grass in my life I would scream (I haven't so I haven't had to embarrass myself yet).

It was pure luck that I was not assigned to the group that had to do a final project on My Antonia. We all felt bad for those poor kids (I got to do my project on Ender's Game).

So, you can understand why I have reservations about reading Willa Cather again. I mean, she ruined my summer and I don't even remember why! However, I am a believer in that a book has to come to you in the right moment for you to click with it (unless it is Dickens because I will never click with Dickens) and perhaps at 13 I just wasn't ready for Cather. I am willing to give her another chance and see if age has helped, especially since it has been 11 years since that experience.

Here is to second chances and red grass!

Book 25: Book Stats.

Title: O Pioneers!
Author: Willa Cather (1873-1947)
First Published: 1913

My Edition: Barnes and Noble Classic Edition
Pages: 176

Other Works Include: The Song of the Lark (1915), My Antonia (1918), One of Ours (1922-Pulitzer Prize Winner), A Lost Lady (1923), My Mortal Enemy (1926)

This novel was partially inspired by Walt Whitman's poem, "O Pioneers, O Pioneers!"

For my reading challenge, I will be reading this as well as My Antonia. I read My Antonia in high school, but have never picked this up.

Reading this is also counting as a book for the LOST Books Challenge as one of the five books I am reading before the series ends in May.