Moo

Rating:
Summary: IT CRACKED ME UP!
Review: Jane Smiley establishes herself as one of the best living American writers with this book. It is every bit as funny as "A Thousand Acres" sad. I went to the bookstore with the intent of reading it in the store over a series of days-- don't laugh, I'm a student. I had to take it home because I was laughing so much that I was disturbing people. Read it and GIGGLE!

Rating:
Summary: If you liked Straight Man and want more, DON'T read this.
Review: In reading reviews for Straight Man by Richard Russo, I saw that Moo was mentioned as a similar book. The setting is similar, and it does feature university professors, but I could barely trudge through Moo. Despite flashes of adequacy, it seems like the sub-plots are very derived to make some sort of great tie-in at the end, which is even more boring than the sub-plots themselves. If you read Straight Man and wanted more, don't read this.

Rating:
Summary: Not Jane's best
Review: I heard Jane read an excerpt from MOO before it was published. I was only slightly amused at her reading, and even somewhat disappointed at the book. Having read all of Jane Smiley's other work before I read MOO, I can say it is not her best work. And for those of you who really enjoyed it, run out and get her other books, you just don't know how good it's gonna get!

Rating:
Summary: A sprawly, funny midwestern circus.
Review: Better than A Thousand Acres. Zillions of characters (you need a diagram). Smiley has her finger on contemporary America, redneck politicians, downsizing, corporatism, ecology, political infighting in academe, it's all here. The book isn't "hilarious," but it is very, very funny

Rating:
Summary: A MOOving tale!
Review: Ms. Smiley covers many hot topics in this subtly funny, richly detailed novel set on the campus of a large university in Iowa. Environment, religion, the fall of Communism, power strugles, the plight of domesticated hogs, the list goes on and on. The story is told through so many point-of-view characters that it took well over 200 pages just to get to know all those folks. In spite of that, the story was interesting and entertaining. Two themes, human ingenuity and an appreciation of the earth's bounty, are present throughout the book.

Rating:
Summary: As a professor at a Land Grant university, I enjoyed Moo.
Review: The precision of Smiley's satire may only be truly appreciated by those of us who daily encounter the characters and situation she so vividly skewers. Because I still work at one such university, I won't comment on which characterizations are most appropriate, but trust me, they are accurate.

Rating:
Summary: This parody of academe doesn't live up to expectations.
Review: A real disappointment, given the author's reputation and the award nomination. The unusual milieu (a rural university) is peopled by a HUGE cast of characters; some are sharply and fully drawn, while others drop in and out of the story in such rapid succession they're impossible to keep track of -- and they wind up distancing the reader. I also differ with anyone who'd call this book "hilarious"; while several scenes induced a quiet smile of acknowledgement, this reader found only one incident -- involving a fugitive pig -- laugh-out-loud- funny. Unfortunately, the best thing about MOO is its (wonderful) title.

Rating:
Summary: Academic parody for all of us...
Review: Four freshmen women, three "mature" sophomore guys they're involved with, the provost, a cafeteria worker, several department and committee chairs, a new language prof, and the almost-tenured English professor she's sleeping with, are all characters in this novel set at an agricultural univer sity in the Midwest. Anyone can identify with these characters and their ease and unease in their surroundings, in the academic game of research and obtaining money, and in their love lives. Truly fascinating and a little disturbing when we identify with one of the caricatures.

Rating:
Summary: Good reading, but overly complex.
Review: Well written, but too many characters, plots and sub-plots all going on at the same time. It never really seemed to "come together". Lacked the intensity and power of "A Thousand Acres". I liked it, but not as well as I expected to.

Rating:
Summary: It's hard to follow a Pulitzer Prize, eh, Jane?
Review: I really do not understand how anyone can say that this novel has any merit whatsoever. Fact, Jane Smiley is an unbelievably gifted novelist. Fact, A Thousand Acres was a wonderful success and I loved it. Fact, (whether you want to believe it or not) Moo falls exceedingly short of Smiley's previous effort. Now, whether she was going for symbolism or not isn't the issue here. She ends up sounding like a soap opera. Where as A Thousand Acres was genuine and heart-felt, Moo was like a roll in cow chips.