A Thousand Acres

By: Jane Smiley

Narrated by: C. J. Critt

Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Jane Smiley's spellbinding novel also headed best-seller lists for many months. A Thousand Acres is the powerful, mythic story of an American farm family and the land that nourishes and consumes its members.

Three daughters and their husbands are pulled into a tangle of love, jealousy, and fear when their father, Larry Cook, grows too old to manage the family's fertile thousand-acre farm. As each couple struggles with their own tragedies and challenges, they know their father is judging them in light of the weighty inheritance that hovers within their reach.

The Cook family, and the farm community around them, are part of a mosaic that is as enduring as the fences and fields of the broad midwestern landscape. But this endurance exacts an immense price from them in return.

You will find that this nationally-acclaimed, breathtaking story, in a stirring narration by C. J. Critt, is an unforgettable listening experience.

©1991 Jane Smiley (P)1996 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• Pulitzer Prize winner, Fiction, 1992
• National Book Critics Circle Award, Fiction, 1991

"[A] magnificent, haunting family drama, an American retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear set on a contemporary Iowa farm....a favorite choice of reading groups everywhere (it would be a natural for Oprah)." (Entertainment Weekly)

A Thousand Acres

The book was a bit long and took forever to disclose the conflict. The story line was okay. It is a toss up whether I would recommend this book.

A Bit Difficult to Enjoy

Seemed very long and drawn out as a story. Took me almost half the book to get interested. I get the parallels to King Lear because I am reading both these books for school, but it still was not very interesting. It got a little easier to read by the end though.

Slow Getting There…

I found myself frustrated with the story. Some books don’t “feel” long. This one did. I would have thrown in the towel but was reading for a book club.

Masterful story telling

Having grown up in Iowa in the 60s and 70s, the story transported me back to my roots. I knew and grew up with people just like the characters in the book, aware only of the projected exteriors and not what went on behind closed doors where real life exists. Jane Smiley unfolds that real life in layers. Many of the farming details may not interest those without some knowledge of farming but I enjoyed the familiar descriptions

An Unenjoyable Good Read

First, I would like to mention that though I’m aware this is a King Lear reimagining, I have never read nor seen the play and cannot speak about the effect of this.

My writing professor assigned this novel to my class. In that context, I would have appreciated a content warning. The revelation in the novel is not necessarily unexpected but I, personally, was not fully prepared for its weight.

Smiley skillfully develops the story by using the rural Iowa setting to inform and drive the plot forward. Her choice to include a multitude of prominent characters and personalities contributes to its moral ambiguity and helps to make the family and social dynamics presented in the novel more realistic and relatable.

At first, I thought the story was moving a little too slowly for me to find it interesting, but it quickly picks up momentum. Though the novel’s themes were difficult for me to digest, and I can’t necessarily say I enjoyed reading it, I am grateful for the opportunity to do so.

As for the audiobook, I think Critt distinguishes the characters and their personalities from one another very well. I did find the pacing of the narration to be slower than I would usually prefer, though.