The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
idicalini's review against another edition
3.0
Read for the book club, 3.5 stars. It took me a long time to get interested in it, I felt like the story only started going around half way through. Then I blazed through the second half, and it got so much more dark and twisted. But I probably wouldn't have finished it if I didn't have to for the club. None of the characters really compelled me, I wasn't very interested in finding out more about what happened to them or what had made them this way (although that did change around halfway through). I did like the ending, though.
cggs's review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment and Rape
mindfullibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
This book traumatized me and amazed me. Audio performance was outstanding.
auroratoledo's review against another edition
5.0
Hace varios dÃas que acabé de leer esta novela y no dejo de pensar en ella (lo cierto es que ya tengo ganas de releerla). Me adentré a Heredarás la tierra sin saber prácticamente nada del libro y no me arrepiento absolutamente de ello. Qué bonito es dejarse atrapar por una historia, recorrer sus caminos frente a los personajes y dejarse sorprender, para bien y para mal, por lo que sucede. Smiley hace un maravilloso trabajo haciendo el retrato de esta familia y mostrando lo cruda que es la realidad, lo duro que es el pasado y las consecuencias que este tiene en nuestro presente y, por ende, nuestro futuro. Me fascinó increiblemente el punto de vista de Ginny, la hermana mayor, y como ella se va transformando a medida que descubre —o, más bien, se da cuenta— de cómo es realmente el mundo que la rodea. Sin duda alguna, una de las historias más interesantes que he leÃdo este año.
christar_123's review against another edition
3.0
This was very clearly a modern revisiting of Shakespeare/ King Lear. It dragged, a lot. And maybe because I lived in northern Illinois during high school and didn't really appreciate the farms and flatness and boringness of the landscape, I wasn't too taken in my the setting. But it was strong, though predictable narrative about how even the most mundane seeming people can be evil and about how families can have secrets and hatreds that are hidden. It was also a frustrating reminder of how feminism and equality are definitely not the norm in American society, no matter how much we like to tell ourselves we've made progress over the years. I enjoyed the way Smiley would just kind of sneak up on us with surprising and/or shocking events....corn, corn, pigs, description of the sky, OH MY GOD WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
novelesque_life's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 STARS
"A successful Iowa farmer decides to divide his farm between his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions. An ambitious reimagining of Shakespeare’s 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." (From Amazon)
A fabulous novel worth the Pulitizer Prize. Three sisters have different stories of how they grew up and the secrets within the wall. So well-written and heartbreaking.
"A successful Iowa farmer decides to divide his farm between his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions. An ambitious reimagining of Shakespeare’s 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." (From Amazon)
A fabulous novel worth the Pulitizer Prize. Three sisters have different stories of how they grew up and the secrets within the wall. So well-written and heartbreaking.
bookdon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Child abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Animal death
ktxx22's review against another edition
2.0
This book won a Pulitzer. So good news to all authors the bar has been considerably lowered. This book was Difficult to listen to because it was so incredibly boring. I am also quite perturbed that they would have even put this in the same league at King Lear. I spent 80% of this book wondering why I was supposed to be concerned about the damn farm. And then the other 20% is me wondering why the terrible things that happen were even necessary to the plot. I mean maybe to spice it up... but it was so out of left field that it was not believable. 2/5 not a fan of this at all.
gorecki's review against another edition
3.0
When I picked this book up and read the first few pages, I was overcome with a peaceful and calming feeling, the type a really well written, slow, and introverted book gives you. I was going through a very demanding period at work and reaching for this book after a day filled with hectic phone calls, scrambling and ticking things off urgent to-do lists was just what I needed at the end of the day. The descriptions of land, life on a farm, draining a swamp to reveal the rich and nurturing soil under it brought me much delight and helped me slow down and unwind.
And that is how the book reads very much until its end - a calm and slow account of a family’s falling apart under the many and varied types of pressure a huge farm puts on them. There is drama, but it somehow feels undramatic, there is abuse, bit it somehow reads too detached, and there is much left to be desired, but you somehow don’t feel all too invested to have too many and too high expectations. I learned that this is a re-imagined version of King Lear in a modern setting a few pages after I’d started reading, and this did explain some of the decisions taken later on in the novel and quite often even the things that I felt didn’t work out so well. While things did make sense and the story built up well, there were situations which seemed forced or actions which were left unexplained and a little bit confusing.
Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction, but then sometimes fiction is too strange to be fit into a portrayal of a supposedly real scenario. Especially fiction from a few centuries ago.
And that is how the book reads very much until its end - a calm and slow account of a family’s falling apart under the many and varied types of pressure a huge farm puts on them. There is drama, but it somehow feels undramatic, there is abuse, bit it somehow reads too detached, and there is much left to be desired, but you somehow don’t feel all too invested to have too many and too high expectations. I learned that this is a re-imagined version of King Lear in a modern setting a few pages after I’d started reading, and this did explain some of the decisions taken later on in the novel and quite often even the things that I felt didn’t work out so well. While things did make sense and the story built up well, there were situations which seemed forced or actions which were left unexplained and a little bit confusing.
Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction, but then sometimes fiction is too strange to be fit into a portrayal of a supposedly real scenario. Especially fiction from a few centuries ago.
thehighepopt's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25