Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

12 reviews

coltonpugh's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is not typically one I would explore. It is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear set on a large farm in Iowa. My background in farming is what brought me to give this a chance and I am glad I did.

The story truly lives up to a Tragedy theme. You follow the events of the eldest girl while her father decides to split up the 3rd generation family farm. While I cannot say I have read the original King Lear, the author does a great job capturing the fall of a farming "empire" and the events that lead to it. The character flaws and poor decisions are all believable based on my experience with generational farming.

Overall I really enjoyed this read. Sometimes I felt it could be slow, but the story kept me reading.

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alicialanders's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fantastic - my favourite read of the year so far! Very dark but compelling. 

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bookdon's review against another edition

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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


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bessadams's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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mirandawerts's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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hannahg1's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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readingtomydogs's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

First third is very slow, picks up a little but I didn’t care about the characters at all!

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syds_shelves's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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zwe's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I mean, a King Lear retelling on Iowa farmland? Not exactly bursting with excitement. But it was sooo good. All the different dynamics between the sisters and their father and husbands and everyone in town were interesting and engaging. The only thing I didn't like was sexual violence/abuse being used as like, shock value. I just don't feel like that added any value to the story. We already knew their father was a terrible person, we already had plenty of examples of that. I was so proud of Ginny when she finally had enough and left and started living for herself. I'm not remembering his name right now, but the guy who fucked her and her sister SUCKED. I know exactly what kind of guy he is and every time he was in a chapter I rolled my eyes. 

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