A book that feels like a summer breeze

Occasionally you read something that leaves you in a warm state of nostalgia and melancholy. As I closed the page on My Antonia, I felt that. The book rolled over me like a warm gust of summer wind, leaving me with that tantalising, bittersweet feeling of something missed or lost. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that left me feeling a little sad, but also content at the end of my 16th book of 20.

Plot summary

Recently orphaned, Jim Burden is sent to live with his grandparents in rural Nebraska. He befriends Antonia Shimerda, a recent immigrant from Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic). The story follows their lives as the grow closer and then further apart.

The book was written in 1918, but is set in the late 1800s, wrapping up shortly before World War One (as far as I can tell). I believe you can see elements of the author’s own childhood in this book, but certainly it doesn’t dominate.

What I liked: the most beautiful language

This book was full of delightful language. Willa Cather paints vibrant word pictures, so bright you can see them clearly in your mind and can sometimes even smell the hot summer corn fields of Nebraska. The story itself was compelling, even though it was only following the lives of very ordinary people. This is not a book full of intrigue and action. But I liked that. This book invests you in it’s characters simply because their lives are so very ordinary. You can see yourself in them, more so than in some of the more fanciful literary people.

What I struggled with: nostalgia made me miss things

I don’t know if this is a bad thing. This book is steeped in nostalgia, looking back at what went before and how it shapes the present. On finishing the book, I sat feeling a little sad for the way it had ended and sunk in my own personal nostalgia. Is that really a bad thing? I think not, but it did make for a mildly gloomy Thursday morning!

Have you ever read a book that made you feel summer nostalgia? Let me know in the comments.