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Loading... A Thousand Acresby Jane Smiley
  
» 53 more Books Read in 2016 (171) Unread books (160) Top Family Stories (83) Top Five Books of 2018 (253) Tour of Iowa (1) Female Author (233) 100 New Classics (20) METAfiction (6) Family Drama (12) BBC Radio 4 Bookclub (28) Female Protagonist (277) Best family sagas (139) Books Set in Iowa (18) 1990s (31) Small Town Fiction (38) Top Farm Stories (13) Towns and Villages (14) Older People (19) Favourite Books (10) Women Writers (11) 20th Century Literature (990) Top Domestic Fiction (56) Books Read in 2015 (2,548) Top Women's Stories (87) One Book, Many Authors (250) Favourite Books (1,505) No current Talk conversations about this book. "King Lear" among Iowan farmers is more than a gimmick. Smiley's version of the old tale not only sheds light on the less developed characters of Shakespeare's story but is a fascinating character study of its own. The novel's world is believable, exciting and well-constructed. (  ) missjudgment | May 19, 2020 |  Trashy Trashy Trashy. I never would have picked this up on my own, but won't disclose the party responsible for recommending it. reg_lt | Feb 7, 2020 | So many ways for a person to be measured; by the acreage they farm, by the cleanliness of the vinyl flooring, by the size of a mortgage, by the ability to keep up appearances at any private cost. A remarkable and unsentimental exploration of a family's and farm's measurement. (  ) 77nanci | Nov 17, 2019 | This was a tremendous read with incredible characters and a vivid sense of place. Coming from a country background I've seen first-hand how the question of farm inheritance (who? when? how?) can be so difficult to navigate smoothly, between sibling jealousies and parental inabilities to let go of the reins. It's a fantastic plot base for a novel, and Smiley handles so deftly the repeated misunderstandings and horrific family skeletons in the closet that gradually seep under the doors of the families involved like filthy rising water, soaking into every aspect of their daily lives until everything is rotten. Much too great a book for me to ever have a hope of doing it justice in a review, so I'll leave it there. 4.5 stars - gripping and much deserved of it's Pulitzer award. (  ) AlisonY | Oct 6, 2019 | Three daughters in the Midwest. Barren, beautiful tale. One suffers from being raped by her father. Very worthy. JoshSapan | May 29, 2019 |
 Does this sound familiar? At the opening of Jane Smiley's latest novel, "A Thousand Acres," the narrator, a woman named Virginia Cook Smith, describes the farm in Zebulon County, Iowa, that she and her two younger sisters, Rose and Caroline, have grown up on: "Paid for, no encumbrances, as flat and fertile, black, friable and exposed as any piece of land on the face of the earth." And then comes the shock of recognition. In 1979, the three sisters' father, Laurence (Larry) Cook, decides to form a corporation out of his farm holdings and give each of his daughters a third of it. What do they think of the plan? "It's a good idea," says the oldest, who is called Ginny. "It's a great idea," says the second daughter, Rose. "I don't know," says the youngest, Caroline, who is a lawyer. "You don't want it, my girl, you're out," says Larry to Caroline. "It's as simple as that." So the farm is divided into two instead of three, with Ginny and Rose to take turns looking after Larry. And a tragedy of ingratitude, madness and generational conflict begins. . . . Was inspired by
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