Rating: 
Summary: Great potential, but little reward
Review: "Moo" begins very well, but it stretches itself too far in an attempt to cover an Altmanesque cast of main characters - only about half of which are interesting. So much time is spent on character development that a story never seems to evolve.
Rating: 
Summary: One of my favorite books
Review: This book is so great, I find myself reading it over and over--and discovering something new every time! I would agree that it is VERY confusing on the first time through, but totally worth the time. It might have helped if she had put an index of characters in the front or something. Anyway, I found this book to be really funny and full of true-to-life characters and observations. Anyone familiar with the workings of a Midwestern university will be able to relate!
Rating: 
Summary: an incredibly observant book
Review: and very true to real life. But you had better take notes, the cast of characters is diverse and detailed.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved Earl
Review: I liked this book a fair amount, I kept picturing my undergrad alma mater (UW-Madison) while I read it. While the book bogged down a little towards the end, I liked reading it and thought the characters were all recognizable and realistic (especially in the academic world.)And I just liked Earl the pig. I got just way too upset when Earl was unhappy and wouldn't play with his toys.
Rating:
Summary: "Moo" nails midwestern university life!
Review: As a recent transplant to Iowa from New England, I have to say that Jane Smiley's take on midwestern life and the region's agricultural universities is insightful, witty and hilarious. The characters are delightfully flawed and their intentionally stereotypical personalities make them the "any person" of midwestern higher education. Are we at Iowa State or the U of Iowa? Who knows! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found myself laughing on almost every page. Required reading for anyone associated with university life.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Many Characters
Review: There are too many characters in the book and it's quite hard to keep track of them after a while. I'd have liked it a lot more if Smiley had stuck to the story of the four roommates, or the guy who keeps writing essays but thinks he is a loser and wants to change majors. The professors and administrators' lives were dull and absolutely boring, and I couldn't stand it. I hardly give up reading books but MOO is one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone, but worth it!
Review: I understand the criticisms leveled at this book and the book is not what I expected from the blurbs on the back. It's a wonderful book - you're not involved or drawn into the story but rather an observer leisurely watching the lives of many (yes, there are a lot of characters) people. She excels at characterization, and has a very subtle hand with the satire: never mocking but everpresent. It's a comfortable collection of stories loosely bound by the Moo U. Not much action, not much sex, just people and their quirks. Good for a slow, rainy day.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing compared to other books of Jane Smiley
Review: After having read almost all of Jane Smiley's books I was looking forward to reading 'Moo'- after all the words of praise everywhere. To me it was quite disappointing since I missed a real plot. The characters are not what I would call fascinating and the entire book to me was simply boring. There are worse books around, of course, but I think this is the a bad exception of Smiley's otherwise good writing.
Rating:
Summary: What a waste of my time!
Review: This book was terrible. I liked it for about 5 minutes and then lost interest. There were too many characters, least interesting of all being the professors and administrators. Maybe if Smiley had written more about the 4 college roommates I would have given it TWO stars...but I doubt it. I couldn't get past the first 5 chapters and I finally gave up. And I had never been able to not finish a book I started before.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful!
Review: The audiotape is a delight! It made me want to go seek out the whole book and read it. B.D. Wong delightfully captures the humor with his wry tone and no-nonsense reading. And now I will have to read Jane Smiley's other books. Speaking as a former English professor, I assure you that she knows exactly what she's talking about when it comes to university life. Her characters were so real and so humorously rendered that I ended up sitting in the car to listen to the audio!
| 
