Around America in 50 Books Iowa

sand Acres, Jane Smiley transposes the King Lear story to the modern day, and in so doing at once illuminates Shakespeare’s original and subtly transforms it. This astonishing novel won both of America’s highest literary awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics’ Circle Award.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Reviewed by Wendy H. Jones

Our literary travels through the USA find us in Iowa this week. As I am also doing a reading challenge where I have to read a prize winning novel, I have chosen A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley which won a Pulitzer Prize. As it is set in Iowa it worked out perfectly for this month’s literary trip.

Blurb

The Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling novel from one of America’s greatest contemporary writers. Larry Cook’s farm is the largest in Zebulon County, Iowa, and a tribute to his hard work and single-mindedness. Proud and possessive, his sudden decision to retire and hand over the farm to his three daughters, is disarmingly uncharacteristic. Ginny and Rose, the two eldest, are startled yet eager to accept, but Caroline, the youngest daughter, has misgivings. Immediately, her father cuts her out. In A Thou-

Review

This truly is a masterpiece of sweeping literary fiction. From the characterisation to the setting every well-chosen word brings this book to life. I felt as if I was right in the middle of a story which swept me along and kept me reading, an unusual feeling for me when reading literary, rather than genre, fiction. The characterisation is strong with each character earning their place in the story. The tangled relationships amongst them are well drawn and serve to entice and intrigue the reader. There are no cardboard cut-out characters here but ones which leap off the page and into the conscience. What of the setting? Did I get a real flavour of Iowa. The answer to this is a categorical yes.

The setting is integral to the story and the book would fail without it. From the first paragraph the reader is right in the heart of the Iowa countryside, and this continues throughout the book. The sense of emptiness and, sometimes, feelings of desolation and loneliness are a major part of the plot and, indeed, the characters’ psyches. This is a book I was expecting to find boring but was delighted to find it was not boring in the slightest. It is not a book which I would have read without the dual challenges of the prizewinning book and writing this review, but, in hindsight, I am glad I did.

Wendy H. Jones is the award winning, international best-selling author of the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries, Cass Claymore Investigates Mysteries, Fergus and Flora Mysteries, Bertie the Buffalo children’s books and the Writing Matters books for writers. She is also a writing and marketing coach and the President of the Scottish Association of Writers. You can learn more about Wendy on her website: https://www.wendyhjones.com/