A Thousand Acres

Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres is a retelling of the Shakespeare’s King Lear, set on an American farm in the late 1970’s. Since I haven’t read or seen Lear, I approached A Thousand Acres on its own terms. An aging farmer transfers his farm to two of his three daughters and gradually becomes insane. Various conflicts arise between the family members and their neighbors. Smiley does a good job of fleshing out the characters and capturing the atmosphere of the rural society. However, the story flow consists of a gradual emotional buildup juxtaposed with abrupt events, and the psychological motivations behind some of the characters’ actions don’t quite add up. Of course, Shakespearian plays generally suffer from those same faults. The book was all right, though I might have a higher opinion once I read all of King Lear instead of just a summary.