A bittersweet novel about the decline of the family farm, the lack of choices for farm women, the scrutiny of the small town and the destructive secrets kept by families. ( )

This is the story of a farm - 1000 acres in Iowa - and the challenges that arise as the farm's owner, Larry Cook, passes the land on to his daughters, Rose and Ginny. Although the plot may sound simple, Smiley weaves in rich insights about human nature, relationships, and progress as the characters struggle to figure out what comes next in their lives and to deal with injuries from the past.

I have to admit that I read this book in short stretches over the course of 6 or 7 weeks. This is not because the book is not good, or did not hold my interest. On the contrary. Smiley captures the emotional ups and downs of these characters so well that the book felt too intense for me to read it straight through. I live in Iowa. I grew up on a farm in Missouri. I know people and situations like the ones about which Smiley writes. And usually that makes me more intensely critical of an author - quick to point out scenes that do not ring true. But Smiley writes with insight, showing multiple sides of complex situations and creating characters that are not caricatures but multi-dimensional and true. This is not an easy book to read, but it is beautifully written.

As a Pulitzer winner and member of the 1001 list this book has been on my tbr list for quite some time. I found the family dynamic fascinating and disturbing but also beautifully written. I still have Moo by Smiley on my shelf at home and hope that I find it as enjoyable as this one. ( )

It's been a long time since a book has made me hate a character (Larry Cook) and his actions so much, yet made me still want to keep reading. Told in a King Lear-esque fashion, this is a story of farm life in Iowa, and so much more.

This is the first of Smiley's that I've read, and I will definitely be reading more. ( )

Readable, and I quite liked Smiley's prose—particularly when it was describing the land on which the family lived, the ocean that lies beneath the farm land of Iowa—but overall this didn't work for me. There was a disconnect for me which only made sense when I found out that Smiley based A Thousand Acres on King Lear: it feels like there are plot details which have been shoe-horned in to the development of the novel purely so that it can echo the events of the play, and it's too artificial. With the exception of the main character, Ginny, Smiley also fails to make explicit or believable the motivations of the other main characters, I think relying on the reader to map the play onto the novel. Ultimately disappointing. ( )