Rating: 
Summary: I guess I'm missing something
Review: I thought this book does a good job of portraying the lives and the cultural millieu of prosperous (albeit hardworking) midwestern farmers. But the story just degenerated into sensationalism. Possibly I lack the sensitivity to appreciate the incest/recovered memory issues. Moreover, I did not think that the scope of the book and the quality of the writing merited a Pulitzer prize.
Rating: 
Summary: Very very very very very very strange.
Review: A good friend recommended this book to me. I'm glad to have read it, but will not likely go back for a second read.Not being familiar with Smiley's other books, I can't say how this one compares. However, as far as this book is concerned, there's some very disturbing elements that make it a difficult, yet engaging, read. Perhaps a little too strange for my taste, the reader cannot help but feel some of the pain the characters are going through. If you're looking for a "feel-good" book, stay away from this one. However, if you are looking for an emotionally-challenging book, this is worth one read. (But perhaps not more than that).
Rating: 
Summary: Lear comparison very misleading.Don't bother with this book.
Review: The King Lear comparison that I keep reading about in these customer reviews is making me crazy. The only comparison is the basic plot--one man dividing his empire/land among his three daughters. Everyone going on about the way Smiley is somehow sympathizing with Regan and Gonreil, the 2 evil sisters in Lear, by telling the story from Ginny and Rose's perspective, is ridiculous. If you're thinking about King Lear as you're reading this book, you're totally on a wild goose chase. The stories have very little to do with one another. That said, there are a few things that I liked about this book, which earned it 2 stars. I feel like we have a decent understanding of Ginny, and that she's definitely an interesting--though, at times, truly pathetic--character. One more thing I liked was the weird sausage incident--totally out of the blue, and I'm not sure how believable it was, but it was definitely different and original to have a likable narrator all of a sudden plot to commit such evil. Spiced it up a little. I think the book's basic plot had a lot of potential, but it got so bogged down in too many other things, many of which came and went out of the blue. The incest theme is not fully developed. It's not explained what happens to Ginny that makes her accept Rose's memories as true--she never actually explicitly remembers anything herself. Also, Rose and Ty are very happy at the beginning--not like a couple at risk of falling apart so suddenly due to infidelity. The Ginny/Jess affair just doesn't seem that genuine. There's also very little gradual building up of Larry's character. He seems decent enough in the beginning when dividing up the land. The way he turns on his family is not fully developed or believable as it happened. Also, how did Caroline become so horrible? Where did that come from? Caroline's character should be much more developed for the role that Smiley wants her to play, as the daughter that Rose and Ginny raised, and the only daughter that their father cares about in the end. Where did she get to be so cold and hateful toward her sisters? It would be plausible that it's an unconscious rejection of them because of the abuse they suffered and she did not, but she seems to have been too young and too have known nothing about it, so it couldn't have been that. It seems to be because she trusts her senile father's word that Rose and Ginny, who raised Caroline on their own and always did what was best for her, threw him out into a storm? It just doesn't make sense. Last thing: Smiley's use of dialogue is TERRIBLE. How many sections follow the following formula? Rose said, "...." Ginny said, "..." Then, Ty said, "..." Ginny said, "..." It was excruciating. And during far too much of the time, these quotations were filled with discussions of cooking meat and planting corn. It's great to show us what life was like on their farm, but enough already. I spent much of this book trying to understand how it could possibly have won the Pulitzer Prize, and really cannot fathom its good reviews. There really are SO many better books out there!!! Don't bother with this one!
Rating:
Summary: Skip it.
Review: This book was extremely depressing. My advice is to skip it completely. Spare yourself the revulsion you will feel after you read it. Trust me this book isn't worth a plugged nickel.
Rating:
Summary: Ms. Smiley, write about something else!
Review: The author achieved a clean, flowing manner of writing. The only problem was that I didn't particularly like the subject matter (incest, infidelity, family feuds). I also thought that the main characters (the three sisters and the dad) had inappropriate reactions to things, i.e. Ginny's supposed lack of knowledge hence lack of response to her dad's incest, the dad's completely cutting off Caroline due to Caroline's pronouncement "I don't want the farm" (and later forming an alliance with her when it suited his need), Ginny's non-communication with her dad due to and in spite of her dad's mental instability, and Ginny's plotting to kill Rose over a supposed love for a man with whom she had slept one time. Get real!
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I chose to read this novel as my ISU novel in school, and I did not regret my decision. I feel that Jane Smiley is brilliant because she is able to create a contemporary story on one of Shakespeare's more difficult plays. The characters are well drawn out; Ginny and Rose make readers sympathize with their emotions, whereas in the play they are the evil villains. One thing that was unexpected is the scene when Ginny makes the sausages to kill one of her relatives; I don't think that really worked, but everything else makes up for it. Initially, the story starts out quite slowly, but picks up the pace after Larry hands over his thousand acres of land. Wonderful read.
Rating:
Summary: Subtle, worth reading
Review: Having the benefit of reading 77 reviews before mine, I would guess that MOST of the ones who did not care for the book were the younger people, forced to read the book for school. I think that a certain life experience is needed to appreciate why some of the characters did what they did. As Ginny herself said, she was in suspension, waiting for a catalyst, and we all know how completely a catalyst can change a substance. That is what happened in this story--at the beginning all seemed happy and benign, then the "offer" of the family farm and the reappearance of an old friend cause changes that no one would expect. Yes, there was unfinished business at the end of the book (although quite a bit was tied up), but isn't that the way life is? You can't see a life completely until it is over. All and all I felt it was worth the time to read, and there were some things I could take away from the reading
Rating: 
Summary: Could it get any worse?
Review: I had heard so many good things about this book -- passionate, forceful, compelling. Well, I hated it. Really...could we possibly get beyond the weak woman victimized by the big mean man syndrome? The characters are flat and completely without dimension or motivation. Not once does the reader get any real insight as to why the characters behave in such a ridiculous manner. Relationships deteriorate before they are explored or even developed. And what's with the prodigal son going from one sister to another? Please! How many sterotypical examples do we need of men behaving like dogs? Not to mention the woman who can only find fulfillment through motherhood. These characters need to get lives because the author certainly failed to provide.
Rating: 
Summary: A Gleaming Obsidian Shard Indeed
Review: As a 30 year old male, I hardly expected "A Thousand Acres" to be one of the three finest works of fiction I have ever read. Then again, how often does one venture into the pages of a book expecting to be cut to the very core of the psyche, or whisked to the outskirts of total denial? This is a mighty work, a shimmering sapphire of a novel steeped in resentment that threatens to explode on every page. Smiley weaves her dark tale as easily as an Iowa farm-wife might chop a scallion, letting the very life-blood of this startlingly real farm-family spill in drops of restrained (yet often jaw-dropping) prose which continually leave the reader breathless. Masterful, masterful, masterful! What's more, Smiley has perfectly captured the vast undercurrent of shame which afflicts more than one middle American farm clan--I know of what I speak. I was dazed for at least a week after finishing this book. The questions it raises and the reactions it elicits are not negligible.The very last line of this novel chilled my blood like no other sentence in literature ever has.Bravo, and again, Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: A disturbing story of an isolated farm family
Review: I found this story somewhat cliched at times but it still kept me riveted to the end. I found it deeply disturbing. It was easy to guess at what deep disturbing secret this family held, and yet I cared about the characters and was engrossed to the end.
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