Rating: 
Summary: Riveting
Review: Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres" is truly a powerful novel. Although it starts slow, the pace grows quicker and stronger. The best in Jane Smiley's story is that she has the admirable ability to translate the deepest and most complex of emotions into the simplest yet most captivating words. The story, as narrated by the oldest sister Ginny, probes profoundly into the lives of all the characters unearthing secrets, worries, doubts and fears that enthrall you and compel you to read on. At first what seemed as a peaceful life on a farm swiftly explodes into a turbulent maelstrom of harrowing incidents and powerful events that at first seemed distant and impossible to occur but were truly brewing under the surface. There are many shocking surprises throughout the novel. All in all, it is a wonderfully written and riveting story.
Rating: 
Summary: I have very ambivilent feelings about this book
Review: which will probably show themselves in this review. In this novel the author deals with a family in crisis. The demise of the patriarch leads family members (especially the main character) to re-examine their lives. The result is that they find that a little below the surface, things are not perfect as they seemed. In that way it is very realistic-so much so that it almost hurts. But then Smiley seems to carry things to extremes. Some of the realizations and the characters' reactions to them are, if not totally unrealistic, at least a bit more dramatic than necessary.The author's style put me in mind of a friend bringing you up to date on her life after a long absence. I could imagine myself sitting across the lunch table as she told me, not just the events, but her interpretation of them, along with her analysis of each personality, their motives, her past life with them. While this made for a certain intimacy between reader and author, a little voice kept telling me that a really good writer doesn't need to give you all that information. You can figure it out yourself from the story and the characters' actions. Some of the characters are very well developed. Ty, the farmer husband, for example. So are the father; Jess, the returned neighbor; and even sister Caroline who plays a very peripheral role, but others like the brother-in-law, Pete remain nebulous. In fact, sister Rose, who was one of the most important characters in the book remained a enigma to me. If the author hadn't kept explaining her to me, I never would have figured out her motivations. Lastly, Smiley makes the same mistake many modern American authors do. She never passes on the sexual encounter. As soon as a certain guy appears on the scene, we know that the main character will sleep with him (don't worry there's way more to it, so I'm not giving away the plot). I found myself hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't. It would have made the book so much more poignent and realistic, especially given the time and culture the main character grew up in. To sum up, I would say this is a book worth reading. It has its good parts. However, it is not great literature.
Rating: 
Summary: boring and awful
Review: I gave this book two stars, because it's not actively offensive, but I found it to be next to unreadable because it is so boring! It's about what happens to these people who live on farms (in midwest America I think) and all sorts of family crises and estrangements. I'm new to the midwest, so perhaps I'm missing something, but I found all the characters to be unintelligent and drippy. They spend a lot of time moaning about, and not a lot of time actually doing anything proactive. It's yet another story about weak, passive women who come to the realization that they are Victims. For baby boomers only.
Rating:
Summary: A Survivor Speaks
Review: A realistic account of sexual abuse in a revisionist retelling of King Lear. I wouldn't have believed it could be done so well without having read it myself. Very bold and daring. As an incest survivor, I applaud Smiley's effort and thank her for telling my story in a faithful way.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, but implausible plot twists
Review: I couldn't agree more with the review by reader Doug Greenberg. In fact, in my own "reader's journal" I had used the very phrase, "over the top". I enjoyed reading this book a great deal and thought that the description of farm life and the interaction with nature was beautifully done. However, I thought that the characters, about two thirds of the way through the story, started going "over the top" with some of their actions. I just couldn't get over how cruel some of the more sympathetic characters became and how casually other characters reacted to this cruelty. Is this because I was unable to understand how years of abuse could affect the characters or did Smiley not do a good enough job of setting it up? I don't know. In any case, because I found myself thinking "yeah, right" in a couple of key spots, I have to rate this as an average story.
Rating:
Summary: Why is there so much hype over this ordinary book?
Review: OK, this is a flat-out and honest response: I just don't see what the big deal is about this book! I can't understand people who gush on about this magical story and Smiley's wonderful writing. The plot is a good one, but it is by no means exceptional. And the "wonderful" writing? I found it so simple and bland. The prose was so dull! There are countless places in the text where Smiley rambles on about farm equipment and hoes and planting...do we really care?
Rating: 
Summary: Dark as the Iowa soil
Review: I got the King Lear parallel but actually was reminded more of Shirley Jackson, especially "The Lottery," with its portrayal of evil behind the quaint small town, and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle," with the crazy, misunderstood sisters also in a small town. Some reviewers have complained about the amount of detail. I think the point was to show how Ginny would get caught up in the little details of her life to keep herself from thinking about the bad things that had happened to her.
Rating:
Summary: Serpent's Teeth
Review: With great intentions, Smiley offers her contribution to the KING LEAR genre of literature. Just throw in a little parental sexual abuse, some extraordinarily well-developed and complex characters, add money, blistering hard work, the almost whimsical contrast between bonehead tradition and bonehead nonconformity, and you have this Pullet Surprise winner.
Rating:
Summary: I like to think that change=improvement
Review: Great changes were wrought in lives, but none of them improved. I felt alone and lonely at the conclusion, when I had hoped that instead,Ginny would be making strides toward her real self. Don't we all want that to happen to people we like? I enjoy well written, highly detailed narratives- this certainly was one. I read this more than a month ago, but have a strong image of the characters and their actions- how they moved, and sometimes even why. I found some of the reviews amusing. I didn't think much about King Lear as I read this, but I didn't read them back to back. I did find very disturbing the scenes of incest. Incest happens, it's awful and denying it (as a culture) isn't going to make it go away. Denying it as individuals is how children survive the experience and grow to adulthood; I just wish there were some way of purging predatory behaviour. On the subject of sexual fantasies; they're part of life and have never hurt anyone. So what if Ginny empathised with a sow? She lived with them, and worked with them. Once again, Jane Smiley brought to life the pettiness of small towns and small churches. They can sound so inviting but can make life miserable when the community turns it's back on a person or family. In many ways, this story didn't have to be the tragedy it was. Community and family support could have turned it all around. But what good is literature if it doesn't make us think and feel? Even if we are feeling the darkness in other people.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it.
Review: I loved this novel, and couldn't put it down which is rare for me in my ultra busy life. I am unfamiliar with King Lear (uncultured oaf that I am) and found this novel full of twists and surprises. Unlike the previous reviewer, I thrive on detail and felt that the attention Smiley gave each character gave them depth which made the unfolding events seem even more tragic. The "slow" first half of the story was necessary to establish the routine boredom of everyday life and the eventual breakdown. I don't think that I would have appreciated this novel at 20, but surely do at 40. Evaluating my life and expectations along with the sometimes "burden" of my current responsibilies allowed me to relate to the main character "Ginny".....I found this novel thought provoking and lingering with me for days after finishing.
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