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My Ántonia Audiobook
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(3.93) - 14 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Widely recognized as Willa Cather’s finest book and one of the outstanding novels of American literature, My Ántonia tells of the life of early American pioneers in Nebraska.
Through Jim Burden’s endearing, smitten voice, we revisit the remarkable vicissitudes of immigrant life in the Nebraska heartland with all its insistent bonds. Guiding the way are some of literature’s most beguiling characters: the Russian brothers plagued by memories of a fateful sleigh ride, Ántonia’s desperately homesick father and self-indulgent mother, and the coy Lena Lingard. Holding the pastoral society’s heart, of course, is the bewitching, free-spirited Ántonia.
Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Ántonia is a deeply moving portrait of an entire community and its way of life.
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"I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get through this book, it being a classic book, but I loved it. I loved the way it was written, it was so descriptive and beautifully written... I could just picture everything so vividly in my mind. "
— Ashley (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“No romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so beautiful as My Ántonia.”
— H. L. Mencken -
“Opening the first page and reading it is like tossing a perfect paper airplane off a cliff and watching it soar. Every time, you’re reassured there can be simple beauty in the world.”
— Patton Oswalt -
“My Ántonia is packed with the feel of the country. A scant paragraph sets you out on the plains, and the breath of the wind that billows the long grass never leaves your face.”
— Chicago Daily News -
“In Antonia, Willa Cather portrays one of the great women of literature: strong, capable, and honest. My Ántonia is a book to read to children to show them what women can be, or to read—and remind—yourself.”
— Erica Bauermeister, 500 Great Books by Women -
“Soulful and rich...Nothing short of a rhapsody in prairie sky blue.”
— Amazon.com, editorial review -
“My Ántonia is one of the best-loved classics of American literature, read by generations of American high school students, with good reason…The structure of the novel is beautifully wrought, the writing and character development excellent. Cummings’ narration is also well-done, with changes in accents and dialects reflecting the adjustment of the characters to their changing lives.”
— Kliatt (starred review) -
“Willa Cather was born and raised on the Great Plains and her novel stands as a celebration of the landscape and its settlers (specifically Ántonia, the stoic daughter of a struggling Bohemian family)…A clear-eyed salute to the resilience of the human spirit and the innate hardiness of the immigrants who came across the ocean to start afresh in the golden west.”
— Guardian (London)
Awards
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A KLIATT Editor’s Choice Audiobook for 2007
My Ántonia Listener Reviews
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" Love the style of Willa Cather. Good book about the west and enduring friendships. "
— Cdenning5, 5/22/2011 -
" Excellent story about early American pioneers and the human condition.<br/>Easy to read- hard to put down. "
— Rbmead, 5/21/2011 -
" It took me too many years to finally read this book. I had a different story in mind. This was wonderful. Strong women. "
— Kathy, 5/19/2011 -
" Don't know how I missed reading this book when I was in my pioneer phase. Great book. "
— Edie, 5/17/2011 -
" I love this book. I've read it three times over the past 15 years. The writing is poetic, realistic, and moving. You need to read it - especially if you've ever lived in the Midwest. "
— Katie, 5/15/2011 -
" I think the title is completely wrong for the book. If I think of it as a love story of the narrator's home land/town, it would be much more appropriate. I never felt like I could connect with Antonia and therefore found it a little unfulfilling. "
— Lauren, 5/14/2011 -
" She is a beautiful writer. She develops the characters fully. Probably high school "
— Lynda, 5/13/2011 -
" I must have never finished this book. I can't remember the ending, however I do know I was bored! "
— Andrea, 5/12/2011 -
" I loved this book. I felt like I'd lived on the ranch and know how it is there! Such a wonderful, lovable character and an interesting life story well told. The last 2 meeting had me in tears. A very heart warming story! "
— Chris, 5/12/2011 -
" Just a lovely book. Warmly captures a particular place and era in American history and a complex, eminently likable cast of characters. "
— Emily, 5/11/2011 -
" Great book. Very interesting for me because the main character Antonia and few other characters in the book as well came to Nebraska from Bohemia ( Czech Republic from where I am from) "
— Lilly, 5/11/2011 -
" This book wasn't on the reading lists when I was in school and after hearing a review of it on NPR I decided to read it. I found the story as spacious as the prairie itself. I have an appreciation for the subtleness of the plot and the picture of the times it created. "
— Katherine, 5/10/2011 -
" The pictures that Willa Cather paints of Nebraska in the spring and the summer are breathtaking. An easy, gentle read. "
— Mary, 5/10/2011
About Willa Cather
Willa Cather (1873–1947), the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of more than fifteen books, is widely considered one of the major fiction writers of the twentieth century. She grew up in Nebraska and is best known for her depictions of frontier life on the Great Plains in novels such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and Song of the Lark. In 1944 she was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours.
About Jeff Cummings
Jeff Cummings, as an audiobook narrator, has won both an Earphones Award and the prestigious Audie Award in 2015 for Best Narration in Science and Technology. He is also a twenty-year veteran of the stage, having worked at many regional theaters across the country, from A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle and the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta to the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and the International Mystery Writers’ Festival in Owensboro, Kentucky. He also spent seven seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.