A thousand acres book

A thousand acres book columbus metropolitan library. Jane smiley is the author of numerous novels, including a thousand acres, which was awarded the pulitzer prize, and most recently, golden age, the concluding volume of the last hundred years trilogy. Find summaries for every chapter, including a a thousand acres chapter summary chart to help you understand the book. A family portrait that is also a nearepic investigation into the broad landscape, the thousand dark acres of the human heart. Themes and colors key litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in a thousand acres, which you can use to track. November 1991 acreage and financing were facts as basic as name and gender in zebulon county, writes jane smiley in her new novel, which explores the lives of a farming family. Unfortunately, those moments dont arrive until the last third of the book, and the first two hundred pages failed to capture my interest. How is zebulon county itself a major character in a thousand acres. It won the 1992 pulitzer prize for fiction, the national book critics circle award for fiction in. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. Teach your students to analyze literature like litcharts does. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading a thousand acres. Summary chapter 1 looking back to when she was eight years old in 1951, ginny cook smith lays out a detailed map of the 640 acres.

I was studying english and ensconced in king lear but this book brought it to life for me. The story takes place in a small farming town in 1979 iowa and centers around the cook family. Those rich and fertile thousand acres will do more damage to a family than any real estate since the cherry orchard. Thousand trails camping pass camping pass discount. Larry cook is a prominent midwestern farmer with three daughters, ginny the. A thousand acres has a choppy feel, almost certainly the result of the book toscreen transition, and the preepilogue ending happens with surprising suddenness. I was at university when i first read a thousand acres. She is also the author of five works of nonfiction and a series of books for young adults. She, along with her sister, rose cook lewis, inherits her fathers farmland, the. Onset reports claimed that the director was trying to change the story radically while stars lange and pfeiffer attempted to keep it closer to the book. It won the 1992 pulitzer prize for fiction, the national book critics circle award for fiction in 1991 and was adapted to a 1997 film of the same name the novel is a modernized retelling of shakespeares king lear and is set on a thousand acre four hundred hectares farm in iowa that is owned by a family of a father and his. A thousand acres by jane smiley plot summary litcharts.

A thousand acres is a 1997 american drama film directed by jocelyn moorhouse and starring michelle pfeiffer, jessica lange, jennifer jason leigh and jason robards it is an adaptation of the pulitzer. A thousand acres is one of the best books ive ever read and one of the worst movies ive ever seen, so obviously something was lost in the adaptation. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on litcharts. A thousand acres, told from the middle of three daughters, is a story about a small farming community in rural iowa during the mid1970s and is loosely based on king lear. A thousand acres is the powerful, mythic story of an american farm family and the land that nourishes and consumes its members. A thousand acres by jane smiley book club discussion.

Ginny is the main character and narrator of a thousand acres. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of a thousand acres by jane smiley. Written in 1991, jane smileys pulitzerwinning a thousand acres pretends to be about the death of the american farm but, if ive ever read a book richer in subtext, i cannot recall it. She is the daughter of larry cook, and is married to tyler smith. A thousand acres is a 1991 novel by american author jane smiley. Ginny cook narrates the book from her position as the oldest daughter, 36 that year.

Smileys choice of epigraph plays itself out in the novel. Written in 1991, a thousand acres is a pulitzer prizewinning novel by author jane smiley. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 371 pages and is available in paperback format. What does the novel reveal about variations and consistencies in the socalled american character. A thousand acres is divided into six books of varying length, each of which is composed of several numbered, untitled chapters. Free download or read online a thousand acres pdf epub book. The introduction, discussion questions, suggested reading list, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your groups reading of a thousand acres, the extraordinary novel that established jane smiley as one of americas greatest writers. The more interesting parts of a thousand acres deal with ginny when she stands up for herself and begins to assert her dreams and desires for her own future. In a seaming, 20thcentury version of shakespeares tragedy, smileyclawing open the ingratitude of a monarchs elder daughters to reveal a rage that could outtempest learsonce again. This turned out to be one of the best books i have read during my entire studies. Which of the issues explored in a thousand acres are unique to rural life in america. Aging larry cook announces his intention to turn over his.

A film adaptation was released in 1997 starring michelle pfeiffer and jessica lange. Jane smiley author jane smiley is the author of numerous novels, including a thousand acres, which was awarded the pulitzer prize, and. Check out our revolutionary sidebyside summary and analysis. We rate books on their quality and readability, as well as the discussion they prompt. Find books like a thousand acres from the worlds largest community of readers. The book has all the stark brutality of a shakespearean tragedy. Discuss how the symbiotic relationship between person and place addressed in ms. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. 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 familys fertile thousand. Our book club had seven women present who read the book in entirety, ages 31 to 42. Well written, relatable characters, a diamond of a book. She tells the story via the lives of three daughters of a third generation farming family in iowa in the 1970s. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. In this study guide, chapters have been grouped for the purpose of summary and analysis.

One thousand acres of unmortgaged, unencumbered, fertile soil makes this iowa farm the most elite in the county. An ambitious reimagining of shakespeares king lear cast upon a typical american community in the late twentieth century, a thousand acres takes on themes of truth, justice, love, and pride, and reveals the beautiful yet treacherous topography of humanity. Goodreads members who liked a thousand acres also liked. Pdf a thousand acres book by jane smiley free download. A thousand acres book 1 chapters 1 4 summary course hero. In addition, the book was made into a film in 1997 with the same name, a thousand acres. Instant downloads of all 1297 litchart pdfs including a thousand acres. Need help with book 5, chapter 39 in jane smileys a thousand acres. The washington post book world powerful and poignant. The only hardcover edition of jane smileys most famous novelking lear on an iowa farmwhich won the pulitzer prize in 1992. The main characters of this fiction, literary fiction story are. What are a few of the guises in which passion appears in a thousand acres. The book is essentially a modern retelling of king lear, one of shakespeares plays. The first edition of the novel was published in 1991, and was written by jane smiley.