A thousand acres book

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. She tells the story via the lives of three daughters of a third generation farming family in iowa in the 1970s. Instant downloads of all 1297 litchart pdfs including a thousand acres. In this study guide, chapters have been grouped for the purpose of summary and analysis. 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. Teach your students to analyze literature like litcharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on litcharts. A film adaptation was released in 1997 starring michelle pfeiffer and jessica lange.

A thousand acres is a 1991 novel by american author jane smiley. A family portrait that is also a nearepic investigation into the broad landscape, the thousand dark acres of the human heart. In addition, the book was made into a film in 1997 with the same name, a thousand acres. Unfortunately, those moments dont arrive until the last third of the book, and the first two hundred pages failed to capture my interest.

The story takes place in a small farming town in 1979 iowa and centers around the cook family. Goodreads members who liked a thousand acres also liked. The washington post book world powerful and poignant. This turned out to be one of the best books i have read during my entire studies. Discuss how the symbiotic relationship between person and place addressed in ms. 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 is divided into six books of varying length, each of which is composed of several numbered, untitled chapters. 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. How is zebulon county itself a major character in a thousand acres. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. The only hardcover edition of jane smileys most famous novelking lear on an iowa farmwhich won the pulitzer prize in 1992. Larry cook is a prominent midwestern farmer with three daughters, ginny the. 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. Smileys choice of epigraph plays itself out in the novel. 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. 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. Find summaries for every chapter, including a a thousand acres chapter summary chart to help you understand the book.

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. She is the daughter of larry cook, and is married to tyler smith. She is also the author of five works of nonfiction and a series of books for young adults. 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. The book has all the stark brutality of a shakespearean tragedy.

Ginny is the main character and narrator of a thousand acres. 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. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading a thousand acres. Our book club had seven women present who read the book in entirety, ages 31 to 42. 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. Themes and colors key litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in a thousand acres, which you can use to track. 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. One thousand acres of unmortgaged, unencumbered, fertile soil makes this iowa farm the most elite in the county. Check out our revolutionary sidebyside summary and analysis. Jane smiley author jane smiley is the author of numerous novels, including a thousand acres, which was awarded the pulitzer prize, and. It won the 1992 pulitzer prize for fiction, the national book critics circle award for fiction in.

This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of a thousand acres by jane smiley. Need help with book 5, chapter 39 in jane smileys a thousand acres. Free download or read online a thousand acres pdf epub book. 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. A thousand acres has a choppy feel, almost certainly the result of the book toscreen transition, and the preepilogue ending happens with surprising suddenness. 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. Aging larry cook announces his intention to turn over his.

Find books like a thousand acres from the worlds largest community of readers. We rate books on their quality and readability, as well as the discussion they prompt. Those rich and fertile thousand acres will do more damage to a family than any real estate since the cherry orchard. The book is essentially a modern retelling of king lear, one of shakespeares plays. I was at university when i first read a thousand acres.

Which of the issues explored in a thousand acres are unique to rural life in america. What are a few of the guises in which passion appears in a thousand acres. She, along with her sister, rose cook lewis, inherits her fathers farmland, the. 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. A thousand acres by jane smiley book club discussion. I was studying english and ensconced in king lear but this book brought it to life for me. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. 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. Thousand trails camping pass camping pass discount. A thousand acres book 1 chapters 1 4 summary course hero. A thousand acres by jane smiley plot summary litcharts. Ginny cook narrates the book from her position as the oldest daughter, 36 that year. The first edition of the novel was published in 1991, and was written by jane smiley.

Well written, relatable characters, a diamond of a book. Pdf a thousand acres book by jane smiley free download. The main characters of this fiction, literary fiction story are. 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. A thousand acres book columbus metropolitan library. What does the novel reveal about variations and consistencies in the socalled american character.