Review: My Ántonia by Willa Carther

Narrator: Jeff Cummings
Genre: Fiction
Series: Yes last of the prairie trilogy
Copyright: 2007 (first published 1918)
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Buy: Amazon


Summery:
Told from the point of view of Jim Burden, who has just arrived in Nebraska as a young boy to live with his grandparents. Ántonia and her family arrive on the same train in Blackhawk as Jim. Ántonia is 14 and Jim 10 and they become friends from the first time they meet. They are neighbors out in the country. There are many characters from the old country out in the country that Ántonia and Jim visit. Ántonia's family suffers greatly in the first years they are there but they make it through by their own hard work. The story follows Jim on his way to being a lawyer in New York were we are first introduced to him in the introduction.

Feelings:
I liked and disliked the narrator Jeff Cummings. The language in the book was beautiful but I didn't always like the accent that he used for the Bohemians. It didn't seem completely authentic.  I really enjoyed listening to this book. I had heard about it before but it was never a book that I picked out at a bookstore to read. This book was an exploration of the country from a young boy's perspective. The heroine Ántonia, from Jim's perspective, is a strong girl who has a hard life. This is a story of friendship over time. What really drives the book is the language rather than plot or action. The grasses of Nebraska are described lovingly as are the sunflowers that line the roads. The characters are strong and enjoyable. It has been a while since I read/listened to a book in the first person. I was very aware of it being first person and that I was being told everything from Jim's perspective. I enjoyed the insight into life in the early years of settlement in Nebraska, yet I felt disconnected from many of the events that took place. I would recommend My Ántonia only to people who enjoy the beauty of language.