A Thousand Acres

Started out good, then the family emotional tangles were stuff I really didn't want to get involved in.
[read 2003-15 yr ago] ( )

A very vivid and well-written book showcasing a rural farming community in Iowa. I did not really want to give it four stars as I could have faced this better as history or sociology than as fiction. I hope it was well researched and based in truth as the picture given showed abuse of all kinds as normal and supported by the community through the isolation of each family. The wider community certainly existed but serving only to assist the already powerful and suppress the human rights of all other individuals. ( )

Excerpts from my original GR review (Mar 2012):
- ..1991 novel of family infighting, set on a huge farm in fictional Zebulon County Iowa, circa 1979. It won her the Pulitzer..
- Near the outset of the story, Larry Cook, long widowed patriarch of the 1000 acre family spread, has suddenly decided to pass along ownership to his three daughters... It is soon clear that his impulsive imperative has set in motion the emergence of family suspicions, resentfulness, and long-concealed grievances.
- Smiley inexorably unfolds for the reader the simmering frictions between spouses, as well as the darker, more malignant issues you feel bubbling to the surface between father and daughters. Ginny relates the story in that uniquely first-person angle that provides the emotional investment the reader doesn't always get with third-person. We experience her evolving relationship with Rose, tough, shirtsleeve-emotioned cancer survivor, whom Ginny has held in obeisance for most of her life. Rose shines the light on sinister truths regarding Larry Cook, the most opprobrious of which may apply to their childhood.
- The third, and youngest, daughter, Caroline, has long past moved on, earning a legal degree and taking a decidedly non-agrarian direction in life... She charms and maneuvers her way back into daddy's good favor.. Unscarred by the same wounds of Rose and Ginny, she fails to understand the disrespect and even contempt shown toward Cook.
-Even given the disintegration of family relations, the novel has time to develop other, yes, dark narratives. Rose's husband Pete has his own demons to face... Another topic invoked is that of poisonous farming practices of the 20th century, whose effects likely burden the fates of both Ginny and Rose. Not all turns out to be entirely redemptive, but I think this is a very well written story, fueled by sharp dialogue and filled with realistic, all-too-human characters. ( )

From Amazon:

This powerful twentieth-century reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear centers on a wealthy Iowa farmer who decides to divide his farm between his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions. Ambitiously conceived and stunningly written, A Thousand Acres takes on themes of truth, justice, love, and pride—and reveals the beautiful yet treacherous topography of humanity.

Why I wanted to read it: It called out to me from a shelf at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro.

I can see why this book won the Pulitzer Prize. It is beautifully and powerfully written from the viewpoint of one of the daughters, Ginny, the eldest, least ambitious, and most timorous of the three sisters. She is a combination of insightful and willfully blind.

I didn’t realize until after I’d finished it and read A Conversation with Jane Smiley by Ron Fletcher in the back of the book that it is a retelling of King Lear. This just proves that I’ve never read King Lear because the story was unknown to me and didn’t ring any Shakespearean bells.

There was an overwhelming sense of doom and futility throughout. There was also an amazing sense of the land and the people who farm it. Strong, dedicated, hard-working; also insular, taciturn, and private.

This book begs to be re-read. ( )

A literary tour de force and a gripping story. ( )