''Some Luck'' is a 2014 novel by
Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley (born September 26, 1949) is an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel ''A Thousand Acres'' (1991).
Biography
Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a su ...
. It is the first in a trilogy of novels about an
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
family over the course of generations.
It was longlisted for the 2014
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
.
Summary
Beginning in 1920 on an Iowa farm, with each chapter of the novel covering a single year, the story follows the Langdon family over three decades as children are born, grow up, and go on their own adventures and facing various challenges.
Reception
The reviews have been generally favorable, with the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' concluding that "Smiley delivers a straightforward, old-fashioned tale of rural family life in changing times. Her no-muss, no-fuss storytelling, if unsurprising, is also frequently subtle, wry and moving."
The ''New York Times'' review said that 'Some Luck' was "...very skillfully conceived, an elegant solution to the historical novelist’s problem of how to raise the big barn that is the past without relying too much on power tools or hired help."
Footnotes
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External links
Knopf Doubleday official website for 'Some Luck'Jane Smiley's official website
2014 American novels
Alfred A. Knopf books
Novels set in Iowa
American historical novels
Fiction set in 1920
Novels by Jane Smiley