My Antonia

Having grown up in Nebraska, I feel ashamed that I made it through high school without having read any of Willa Cather's writing. I took my re-education into my own hands and downloaded My Antonia to my kindle. Though it wasn't my favorite book ever, I do appreciate how clearly she showed me life for the early settlers of Nebraska and life in Red Cloud. 

I read in one of the comments on Amazon, that Cather in explaining the book to a friend, plunked a vase or something onto the table and explained that it represented her heroine, and her goal was to show her from all angles. Alas, my (little) scholarly research won't substantiate the story, but if that was her intention, then she accomplished it. Antonia (or Tony) is not the main character, but we see her through the eyes of the narrator throughout the course of their lives. 

The writing in My Antonia is rich and dense. Cather really knows how to turn prose into near poetry. And she creates lasting images, like an abandoned plow on the horizon magnified at sunset. Here are a few words I gleaned from the novel:

gelding - a castrated horse.

grizzled - hair streaked with gray. 

lassitude - fatigue or languor.

disapprobation - disapproval on moral grounds.

freshet - the overflow of a stream due to melting snows.