Jane Smiley Posts - TopicsExpress

“What’s unusual about Some Luck is how closely it’s meant to
“What’s unusual about Some Luck is how closely it’s meant to mimic real life, and yet how important Smiley’s gifts as a novelist are to achiev...

“Unforgettable, graceful . . . The characters in Smiley’s
“Unforgettable, graceful . . . The characters in Smiley’s latest novel take what life throws at them—drought, freezes, economic catastrophe, dea...

“Fascinating—an impressive accounting of family life . . .
“Fascinating—an impressive accounting of family life . . . Some Luck would qualify as Smiley’s magnum opus if this, her 14th novel, were a singl...

“Engrossing . . . While Some Luck evokes the Iowa landscape
“Engrossing . . . While Some Luck evokes the Iowa landscape Smiley knows well, the novel is as much about the passage of time as the people inhabiti...

“Midwestern farm country has proved fertile soil for fiction
“Midwestern farm country has proved fertile soil for fiction writers, and no one has cultivated it to such fine effect as Smiley. This new novel, th...

“Sweeping . . . Smiley’s most commanding novel yet. She is a
“Sweeping . . . Smiley’s most commanding novel yet. She is a master storyteller—that rare ‘three-fer’: meticulous historian, intelligent hum...

“Audaciously delicious . . . Every character here steals our
“Audaciously delicious . . . Every character here steals our heart. Smiley has turned her considerable talents to the story of an Iowa farm and the ...

“A masterpiece in the making . . . intimate, miraculous—the
“A masterpiece in the making . . . intimate, miraculous—the auspicious beginning of an American saga every bit as ambitious as Updike’s magnum o...

6-1-2014 pp. 542-the end. These are the things I remember from
6-1-2014 pp. 542-the end. These are the things I remember from reading the last forty pages on the plane last Tuesday. 1. I noticed that Margret retu...