6/24/2023 0 Comments A thousand acres reviewAfter nearly forty years of dealing with her father’s unreasonable demands, she has her feet firmly planted on the path of least resistance. Except perhaps without the overbearing humidity.Ī loose retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, this novel focuses on middle child Ginny as she is forced to come to terms with the failings of her family. Smiley’s descriptions of Zebulon County and its inhabitants made me nostalgic for my hometown. Iowa is where endless fields meet endless sky, and the weather is fickle on the best of days. Author Jane Smiley does a great job of setting the scene of a farming community. As a child of the American Midwest, I love to see this much-ignored region represented in popular fiction. I was initially attracted to this novel because it’s set in the farmlands of Iowa. They find themselves struggling to cope with their aging father, their angry younger sister, their respective husbands, and the demands of running a vast acreage with little help from their community. This triggers a chain of events that will rock the lives of Ginny and Rose, his elder daughters, as well as their husbands and children. When the youngest daughter, Caroline, does not react with what he deems to be the appropriate enthusiasm, Larry cuts her out of the deal. Larry Cook has decided to retire and turn his three-generation Iowa farm over to his three daughters.
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