A Thousand Acres Audiobook

" Exhausting book to read. So many repressed emotions. So much cleaning. So much emptiness. "

" Jane Smiley is so gifted. I read her with a pencil and post-its nearby. One of the best books I've read. "

" Classic Smiley, very good, very controlled writing "

" One of my all time favorite! "

" Been a while since I read this book but momentsmfrom it still crop up in my mind from time to time. Wide scope but great depth and detail. Very unique. "

" Excellent book ... extremely sad ... kept me wanting to read further the same way Barbara Kingsolver did with Poisonwood Bible. "

" I don't enjoy reading about incest. The story seemed to go on, and on, and on. Without any real structure. "

" Unadorned writing and a marvelous family drama. Resonate and intrigued with the question asked by the protagonist - "where did it all start to go wrong?". "

" A contemporary reworking of Shakespeare's tragedy, King Lear. Meh, it was okay. "

" OK. I liked this book - until I realized what the plot was. And then I disliked it. Not because it wasn't well written (because it is a beautiful book) but because it made me so sad and angry. "

" Set in Iowa in the 70's, a family farm is signed over to 2 daughters & their husbands. Quite a downer of a book but interesting nonetheless. It's a modern re-telling of King Lear so if you've read that this book isn't going to shock you but it will most likely disturb you. "

" One of my favorite books. Now I know it starts out slow...but give it time. You won't forget those characters. "

" The book description is far better than the book. This was a disappointment all the way through. I could not get into the characters at all and the story was just too depressing to be believable. I wouldn't bother with this one. "

" This book was much rawer than I had anticipated; talk about dysfunction! It kept my attention! "

" The second best book I ever read next to The House of Scorpion. "

" very negative - no redeeming value "

" Ranks among my all-time favorites-epic isn't enough of a word to describe this work. "

" Engaging all the way through. "

" I love this modern rendition of "King Lear." "

" This was a great American story. "

" Incredibly well-written. Now I understand why it won a Pulitzer Prize. "

" A good read for those times when you want a longer, drama filled book. Smiley does a good job of making all her characters flawed and likeable at the same time. "

" I loved the first hundred pages or so, but then the story turned into something different than I had expected. Also, somewhere near the end I had a dream about how to resolve the conflicts in this book (spoiler alert: the answer is direct communication). "

" negative stars. the literal equivalent of the movie view from the top. "

" so tragic, so good. "

" My book club read this together with King Lear, Smiley's inspiration. The combo made for long reading, but it was interesting to compare the two works and see how A Thousand Acres came from King Lear. "

" The sad story of a farm family at the pinnacle of dysfunction... "

" I just LOVED this book. The protagonist is an anti-hero for me. I don't want to give away the ending, but personally, I feel her life is redeemed at the end. Opinions, you other folks? "

" Well it was pretty Oprah-esque dark and twisted family story. However, if you don't read them too often then it doesn't get old and its a great story with interesting characters "

" i would give this book 10 stars, i loved it. haunting, beautiful, sad, a little scary in the evilness of some of the characters. layers to peel back. "

" Been a while since I read this book but momentsmfrom it still crop up in my mind from time to time. Wide scope but great depth and detail. Very unique. "

" A good read if you like reading about a disfunctional family who are not very likeable people and manage to lose everything, including their relationships with each other and everyone they know. Not my thing. "

" Probably easier to read than Shakespeare's version of King Lear. Disfunctional families are always good fodder. "

" Unnecessary themes at the end--the book was strong enough till that point, then the end just destroyed it for me. "

" It has some weird issues in the book that I wasn't expecting I guess. By the end of it I was SO beyond ready for it to be over it wasn't even funny. "

" Timely for my read. Dealing with family issues. Sisters, fathers, mothers, patterns, trust, living on the surface, communication or lack of it, going through the motions..............I am glad I read it. Not great but it had plenty of nuggets. Wish it had a happy ending but that's life. "

" Great writing and a good story. "

" I'm still rather undecided on this one. "

" Felt it was an unfair representation of the Midwest by an outsider. King Lear parallel is of interest. But canned meat processed to kill was a little over the top to this ex-farm gal. "

" There's a reason why a book wins a Pulitzer. Deep, dark themes about human nature and motivations. Very good. "

" Good story except for the feeling I got that she's saying many farmers are insane. :( "