My Ántonia

I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this book! There were some really beautiful thoughts and passages within.

This is my second read of it and it's one of those books that when you're finished you're sad and sure you will never love another book this much. It makes me nostalgic for a time and place I've never been.

What do you have when you have a male protagonist who is rarely competitive, never aggressive, not jealous of another man being with the women he loves and is prone to flights of fancy about stage decorations? You have Jim. The only straight guy in the world who is completely passive about women, is satisfied with the occasional kiss or heart to heart talk by the river and never wants anything more.

The descriptions of the West were nice, simple and poetic, but not much happens in the book. None of the main characters ever really change... I don't know. I think if this book wasn't so hyped up I'd have been able to enjoy it more as a simple, beautiful book about normal people in the expanding West, but I expected a lot more and didn't feel like it ever really got great.

Book Discussion Book