Comparing the 3 Novels

In my opinion, My Antonia has proven to be the best of all three novels that I have read this summer. I don't know if I liked it best because I was able to learn about the list of books before choosing this one, but I enjoyed it much more than the others.

Although short, The Old Man and the Sea seemed to drag on with unnecessary and dull details. Don't get me wrong, I like simple stories, but this one was way too boring. I was also bothered by the lack of dialogue and characters even though that was the main idea of the novel.

While The Grapes of Wrath was wonderful story that I was able to learn a lot from, it was a little difficult to follow. I understand the importance of the events in the novel, but I would consider some, like the continuous car troubles, to be pointless. It was too long which eventually made me lose interest in the story.

What both the previous novels lacked, My Antonia made up for. This novel was separated nicely by short chapters and into three different books. This was so much nicer than the lack of chapters in The Old Man and the Sea and the very long chapters in The Grapes of Wrath. My Antonia was also easier to read because of the clear English it was written in. John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath with a Southern tone, which neither I or spell check liked. I understand that it was important for the character and story detail, but I think that had to do with why it was hard for me to follow along. My Antonia's story of a Bohemian girl and her heroic life journey was one that I was interested in. I also like how the introduction told that all information in the novel was brought together by a childhood friend of Antonia name Jimmy, proving that the novel was a love story that included drama, tragedy, and adventure.