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A Thousand Acres
- Narrated by: C. J. Critt
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
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Publisher's Summary
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.
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)
More from the same
What listeners say about A Thousand Acres
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- C. Carlson
- 08-07-08
good book bad reader
I stopped listening and will buy this book to read. The narrator was awful--she read as if the book were as simple as the characters are "supposed" to be--as if she did not have a clue about what is really inside the book she was reading. This recording is a reminder to me of how I can sometimes take the important contributions of good readers for granted!
42 people found this helpful
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- sfgirlnow
- 05-23-17
A great read.
What did you love best about A Thousand Acres?
There were so many good things about this book...the characters and their development, the details that made you feel like you were right there, the unveiling of relationships, the contrast points to King Lear...and the narration.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Ginny was my favorite, although I liked her more in the beginning than the end. Her self discovery was surprising and amazing. It made me like the characters with their flaws.
What does C. J. Critt bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
This was read so well, I don't know how she accomplished it! With so many different people to play, her voice managed to give faces to them all. She gave weight to small things, didn't overdramatize the heavy moments. When playing Larry, she made him so mean and threatening, it was visual. She is an amazing reader.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, not all at once.
4 people found this helpful
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- Kelly
- 01-26-17
King Lear set on an Iowa farm.
I picked up this book as part of a challenge I am participating in this year. I had not heard anything about it previously. I am grateful for the challenge because this is a wonderful book. Many of the reviewers complained about the drama, some admitting that they do not enjoy these type of family dramas. I disagree. Life is messy and difficult. Families treat each other with cruelty. People live behind facades so their neighbors will not see the things that are dirty, nasty and wrong. I love books that enfold slowly, building the characters quietly, exposing the secrets quietly. I love books that allow the characters to be flawed and real -- and allow the reader to like those characters even when they go to the worst places of their minds. This book gave me all of that.
I was slightly concerned about the King Lear framework -- because an author taking on Shakespeare to me is much like a pop singer taking on The Beatles. I rarely like the result. However Ms Smiley allowed her story to be quiet and nuanced. If the reader had never heard of King Lear or knew nothing about it they could still enjoy this book. And, if the reader has high expectations they can also enjoy the book.
C J Critt, though, was not a perfect choice for a narrator. At times she sounded like she was reading to children. And, at times she sounded like she was reading with a slight southern accent. She didn't have the flat tones of the midwest. For example, she didn't add the "r" to the word "wash" ("warsh"). My family are Iowans and I looked forward to those sounds. A better reader might have lifted the book from 4 stars to 5.
10 people found this helpful
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- Jamie S. Gibson
- 04-22-21
Narrator impossible for me to listen to
the story did not capture me and the narrator's voice was irritating. I will try reading the book myself.
2 people found this helpful
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- Natalie K.
- 02-19-17
Brilliant modern re-telling of King Lear!
Would you consider the audio edition of A Thousand Acres to be better than the print version?
Patience is a virtue and it pays off in the telling of this story. Allow the story to lull you into its magnificent plot. I did both audio and book when it first came out--enjoyed both for different reasons. Both are superb!
Who was your favorite character and why?
Loved all--each finely drawn and well-developed!
Have you listened to any of C. J. Critt’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No, a first for me...but, beautifully done!
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Everyone is a favorite child...rigjht?
Any additional comments?
Love. Love. Love.
2 people found this helpful
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- Benny Profane
- 10-23-21
A canonical classic
A powerful American story. And a tragic one. Profoundly and powerfully written. A bit of a feminist Faulkner retelling of King Lear. I first read this in my 20s, and the Audible version connected with me differently... perhaps as a "true" adult, I better understand the idea of connection/pain between Land & Family & Family Secrets....
Don't understand the criticism of the narrator. She was perfect for this book.
1 person found this helpful
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- V. M. Blais
- 05-18-16
Still a tragedy.
I kept hoping for a less than tragic finale. Difficult to watch family disorder.
2 people found this helpful
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- L. deHart
- 10-25-11
Oh Thou art so depressing...
I can see why this was a award winner, it's all the patho's of human relationships. I read it for a book group and I didn't finish it, I just quit caring. I didn't like any of the characters and they were living lives that I wouldn't wish to share for any amount of time. I didn't like Shakespeare's version any better, for what it's worth.
5 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer G
- 07-18-22
It's a hard, complicated life on a Thousand Acres
The details of farming and struggles over the decades of rural life are sharp and at times disturbing yet real.
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- Katherine Axt
- 07-15-22
uhhhh...
idk if the author doesn't understand the King Lear or consent/rape but drawing a comparison to the two stories makes me ill
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Story
On their farm in Denby, Iowa, Rosanna and Walter Langdon abide by time-honored values that they pass on to their five wildly different children: from Frank, the handsome, willful first born, and Joe, whose love of animals and the land sustains him, to Claire, who earns a special place in her father’s heart.
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Takes Times To Develop But Is Really Worth The Effort
- By Sara on 10-12-14
By: Jane Smiley
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Ordinary Love and Good Will
- By: Jane Smiley
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser, Suzanne Toren
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In Ordinary Love, Smiley focuses on a woman's infidelity and the lasting, indelible effects it leaves on her children long after her departure. Good Will describes a father who realizes how his son has been affected by his decision to lead a counterculture life and move his family to a farm. As both stories unfold, Smiley gracefully raises the questions that confront all families with the characteristic style and insight that has marked all of her work.
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Superb Novellas
- By Sharey on 01-29-21
By: Jane Smiley
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All Things Cease to Appear
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Brundage
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife killed and their three-year-old daughter alone - for how many hours? - in her room across the hall. He had recently begrudgingly taken a position at a nearby private college (far too expensive for local kids to attend) teaching art history and moved his family into a tight-knit, impoverished town that has lately been discovered by wealthy outsiders in search of a rural idyll.
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misleading reviews
- By Alena on 10-08-17
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
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Beautiful Stories Great Voices
- By Christine Currie on 02-07-16
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Miller's Valley
- A Novel
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
As a young girl in Miller's Valley, an ordinary farming town that may be facing its final days, Mimi is observing adults, selling corn, growing up and changing, and watching the world around her change, too. As the years go by, the unthinkable starts to seem inevitable. Anna Quindlen's novel takes us through the changing eras of Mimi and her family, as secrets are revealed, and the heartbreaks of growing up and falling in love with the wrong man are overcome.
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Quietly engaging
- By Taryn on 01-07-17
By: Anna Quindlen
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After All These Years
- By: Kathleen Gilles Seidel
- Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Still living in the same white farmhouse where she grew up, Curry watched those closest to her leave - her parents by tragic death, her husband to war, and her best friend, Tom, who walked away because he couldn't deal with being left alive. Then one day, without warning, Tom returns. Curry appears as down to earth as she ever was, but her survival has come at a cost, and now it's up to Tom to help Curry reopen her heart to life's joy.
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Horrible narrator
- By Brian on 11-10-20
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To Be Sung Underwater
- A Novel
- By: Tom McNeal
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Judith Whitman always believed in the kind of love that "picks you up in Akron and sets you down in Rio". Long ago, she once experienced that love. Willy Blunt was a carpenter with a dry wit and a steadfast sense of honor. Marrying him seemed like a natural thing to promise. But Willy Blunt was not a person you could pick up in Nebraska and transport to Stanford. When Judith left home, she didn't look back. But 20 years later, Judith's marriage is hazy with secrets....
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Nostalgic
- By Pauline C. Mac Kay on 06-30-11
By: Tom McNeal
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The Children's Crusade
- A Novel
- By: Ann Packer
- Narrated by: Cotter Smith, Frederick Weller, Thomas Sadoski, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Bill Blair finds the land by accident - three wooded acres in a rustic community south of San Francisco. The year is 1954, long before anyone will call this area Silicon Valley. Struck by a vision of the family he has yet to create, Bill buys the property on a whim. In Penny Greenway he finds a suitable wife, a woman whose yearning attitude toward life seems compelling and answerable, and they marry and have four children. Yet Penny is a mercurial housewife at a time when women chafed at the conventions imposed on them.
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Slow poignant storytelling
- By Beth Anne on 07-20-15
By: Ann Packer
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Olive Kitteridge
- Fiction
- By: Elizabeth Strout
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
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It's a Short Story Collection
- By Kerr506 on 12-08-19
By: Elizabeth Strout
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If I Gained the World
- By: Linda Nichols
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Linda Nichols is a best-selling author of Christian fiction and was a 2003 Christy Awards finalist. She creates another inspiring and emotional novel with If I Gained the World. After leaving her partner, Daniel, Lenore plans on beginning a new life with their son. But parting from the man she loved for so many years sends her into a deep depression. Finally, Lenore meets the people of the Greater Grace Tabernacle, and with their help, she finds peace and happiness again.
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Deserving of 10 stars!!!
- By Debra on 01-09-11
By: Linda Nichols
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The Whole World Over
- By: Julia Glass
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the beloved novel Three Junes comes a rich and commanding story about the accidents, both grand and small, that determine our choices in love and marriage. Greenie Duquette, openhearted yet stubborn, devotes most of her passionate attention to her Greenwich Village bakery and her four-year-old son, George. Her husband, Alan, seems to have fallen into a midlife depression, while Walter, a traditional gay man who has become her closest professional ally, is nursing a broken heart.
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disappointed
- By Coriander on 07-25-06
By: Julia Glass
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Hannah's Dream
- By: Diane Hammond
- Narrated by: Laura Flanagan
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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For 41 years, Samson Brown has been caring for Hannah, the lone elephant at the down-at-the-heels Max L. Biedelman Zoo. Having vowed not to retire until an equally loving and devoted caretaker is found to replace him, Sam rejoices when smart, compassionate Neva Wilson is hired as the new elephant keeper. But Neva quickly discovers what Sam already knows: that despite their loving care, Hannah is isolated from other elephants and her feet are nearly ruined from standing on hard concrete all day.
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excellent narration, enjoyable story
- By Elizabeth on 05-11-13