Around the USA in 52 Books discussion

Several of us are planning on reading A Thousand Acres for Iowa as a read-along this summer, so I decided to create a post to get us up and running. The read-along will run from June 17th - until July 17th. I have include a couple questions that I "borrowed" from a few reading group sites that I thought might be helpful to think about while we read the book. They are by no means mandatory :)

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Ginny's narration? Is she able to maintain clarity and candor throughout her chronicling of events? How would the novel differ if told from the perspective of Rose, Caroline, Jess, or Larry?

2. What are the most tragic elements of A Thousand Acres?

3. What do you see as Smiley's debt to Shakespeare's King Lear? What provides A Thousand Acres with its autonomy despite its borrowed plot and characters?

Our read-along is a stress-free romp in the corn fields of Iowa - see you there.

I'm excited to start this book! Im about to hop on an airplane so hopefully i can get some good reading time in.

We're heading out on vacation tomorrow and I am planning on reading it in the car - that's better than watching my husband speed through the mountains :)

Marianne wrote: "I'm excited to start this book! Im about to hop on an airplane so hopefully i can get some good reading time in."
Have a safe trip

** SPOILER ALERT **

I finished A Thousand Acres on our road trip to Niagara Falls which is good because I needed some time to gather my thoughts for this book discussion. About half-way through the book I realized that I knew the ending because I had seen the movie several years ago (which explains why Jessica Lange kept popping up as I read the book). That being said, I didn’t mind the story, but thought it was about 50 pages too long, and I got annoyed with Ginny’s comatose walk-thru-life attitude. I could have dealt with Ginny if I had liked or cared about the other characters. I know you don’t have to “like” the characters in a really good story, but with a story that is about incest and a family’s dysfunction, there should be someone to care about – didn’t feel it. I just felt that there was something missing – left unsaid. I do think that Smiley captured life on a farm and as an Iowa farm wife perfectly. This was a great book to read for Iowa.

One of the questions asks about the similarities between King Lear and A Thousand Acres. I think there is a connection, but a very loose one. While they both have the storyline about a father who is going to split up the family inheritance, but leaves one daughter out King Lear is a much more detailed, meaty story while A Thousand Acres skims the surface.

Overall, I did enjoy reading the book, but I was expecting more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I just finished up A Thousand Acres, mostly by audio book. I suspect this is a book not meant for plowing through, which is exactly what I did. It's a thick book, in both page count and story. 400 pages isn't a huge book (especially compared to reading Stephen King) but man it was work to get through. On my drive home from Oklahoma to Texas, I put my thoughts on this book into pros and cons, which helped me deal with the context of the book and the messages being sent.

Pros:
- Very well written. Jane Smily has great prose and her descriptions were very vivid and thorough.
- The information in the book was well researched. I have family in the ranching business and a lot of the information helped make the images more real and the cost of running a hog operation and crop costs led the reader to understand the gravity of the debt Ginny's family was racking up.

Cons:
- The story was heavy for the fact no action happened until the last 100 pages. I blame the fact that I primarily read zombie action fiction right before reading A Thousand Acres, but it seemed there was a lot of extra written about things that didn't really aid the plot.
- Ginny's attitude, especially at the end, dragged the story down a bit in my opinion. That being said, if the book were written in Caroline's or Rose's POV, I think the book would have been unreliable in the narration. Ginny's view is even questionable, since the entire book has every character implying Ginny is manipulatable. The part of the book that seemed strange to me was Ginny admitting to the attempted poisoning of Rose. Even the actual act of her creating the poisoned meal seemed random to me.

I will admit that I read King Lear a very very long time ago in school and don't remember much about it. I refreshed myself on the plot after finishing A Thousand Acres but I am still not a great expert on it. I can see the connections, but it didn't seem like a complete retelling.

I enjoyed A Thousand Acres in general, though it seemed more like a study in farm life in Iowa vs a family feud Shakespeare retelling. It's not a book i'd hang on to, but i'm glad I read it. I agree with Jayme, it is about 50 pages too long. It was a great read for Iowa, unlike my other books this really painted a vivid picture of the state and it was almost like I was there (which was even more vivid listening to the audio book driving through fields in Oklahoma!).

Marianne wrote: "
SPOILER ALERT!!!


I just finished up A Thousand Acres, mostly by audio book. I suspect this is a book not meant for plowing through, which is exactly what I did. It's a thick book, in both page..."

I think we both had the same take on the book. I'm glad I read it though. What should we read for the fall? :)

SPOILER ALERT

I just finished this a couple of days ago. I felt it dragged out a little too much as well, but really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars.

I grew up and still live in a rural environment so I enjoyed the landscape and operational descriptions. My family also experienced big issues with the passing on of land owned by 5 generations which brought out inexcusable behaviour (but nothing near the abuse in this novel)so I could identify with some of the issues.

More generally, what rang true (sadly) was the role of tradition, lack of communication and the keeping up of appearances; such debilitating effects.

I am not familiar with King Lear so really can't comment on the comparison. I also found Ginny's attempted poisoning of Rose a little bizarre.

Lesley wrote: "SPOILER ALERT

I just finished this a couple of days ago. I felt it dragged out a little too much as well, but really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars.

I grew up and still live in a rural environmen..."

You brought up a good point about the isolation and role of women on the farms. It also seemed like each farm was it's own little island. I wasn't aware of that dynamic having never lived on a farm.

Lesley wrote: "SPOILER ALERT

I just finished this a couple of days ago. I felt it dragged out a little too much as well, but really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars.

I grew up and still live in a rural environmen..."

I wondered what this book would be like to someone more familiar with a rural lifestyle. I know that in my family, I have aunts and uncles that own land, and the tradition around the farm and how everyone was to act is followed to the dot. The women have food ready like clockwork and the men do the work around the farm, etc. I guess fortunately for them, none of them own enough land to really create issues within the family. I'm glad you liked the book!

Jayme wrote: "Marianne wrote: "
SPOILER ALERT!!!


I just finished up A Thousand Acres, mostly by audio book. I suspect this is a book not meant for plowing through, which is exactly what I did. It's a thick b..."

Hmmmm, I have no clue what to read for the fall! I'm up for anything really, I really enjoyed the group read-along this month! This got me back on track with getting back into the USA, I am still pretty far behind but I am finally making progress again :D