Some Luck (The Last Hundred Years Trilogy - A Family Saga)

Jane Smiley is a masterful story teller. This book is a look at a farm family and their experiences, both good and bad. It really reminded me of the two years my family spent on a farm in rural Nebraska when I was a child and showed me, again, the difficulties farm families face.

Smiley is such an amazing writer, she could describe the phone book and it would be fascinating. This book got very interesting towards the end, and it almost felt like a very long prologue to the next book, ,which I know is already out there. it's a family saga, and as that, it's very well-done. Intricate and seamless in storytelling, just not much drama.

True to Jan Smiley's exhibition of talent, I couldn't put this book down. The first couple of chapters were somewhat disconcerting as I wasn't enamored of a baby's view of the world. I was disappointed that the story ended as I wanted the story to continue on. If you like Jane Smiley, you'll like this book.

Some Luck is very well written. Far from the worst book I've ever read. Jane Smiley gives a wonderful look at the lives and relationships within an Iowa farm family, and the way the changing world impacts them. But I never really felt that I was reading a novel. There was no story line or plot. Instead it was as if I'd stumbled across someone's journal and decided to read it.

I learned that it's the first book of a trilogy. I don't think I'll be reading the next two.

I always like Jane Smiley and found the format of the year by year story an interesting way to tell the tale. Learned so much about life on the farm, during the depression especially, and how hard the women especially worked. I am looking forward to the next book and hope that it is published soon so I can remember the characters.

This is a wonderful book. Following the lives of the Langdons is a pleasure .
The book is engrossing and beautifully written with characters that are well rounded and interesting.What's more it is about the United States and all the changes that have taken place over the years.
Now I have to read the next two in the trilogy.

I almost stopped reading this book, because it starts SO slowly, but "something" kept me turning pages until I was immersed in the story. It IS as slow as watching "corn grow", yet enjoyable and lyrical to read. I think I will continue to read the rest of the trilogy!

Full of minutiae, the mundane workings of an Iowa farm family, starting in post WWI America and carrying the family into the post WWII "red scare", yet never failing to demonstrate the profound sadnesses and joys and adventures of those everyday events. I look forward eagerly to the sequel.

This is a great story of family told through many points of view. As the story evolves the history of what was going on in the country always is in the shadows and how the family deals with each problem. A delightful read.

If you ever drive through Iowa and see a beautiful old farm house with a big old barn, maybe a grain bin or silo or two, and have wondered about the family who built it, and made it thrive in the good times and struggled through the hard times. If you are like me, and wonder about those families and wonder what ever happened to them, then this book is for you. I enjoyed it very much, learning about the characters and seeing them grow. Very nice.

My mother came from a farming family in South Dakota and was born just a few years after this novel begins. Reading Ms. Smiley's wonderful book was like listening to the stories I grew up with. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the other two in this trilogy.

So good that I bought the sequel right after finishing the first one. I did not grow up on a farm so for me the details that make up this very "typical" family and farm life are fascinating. I love the chapters representing one year - it's the promise of a family saga, with characters that are endearingly imperfect, that makes me want to keep reading and finding out how everyone evolves.

Just disappointing to a Jane Smiley fan starting with the odd baby perspective from the beginning. None of the characters were compelling, which Is essential in a character based rather than plot based story. Neither the characters nor the story evolved. Frank's war experiences, or lack thereof were interesting and informative.

Jane Smiley crafted a wonderful story about distinctive people in such specific places. Her language is rich and the story drew me in so I couldn't stop reading. I was sorry when it ended, and I want to know what happens to this family next. When does the sequel come out?!

First of all. If you insist on including a language you don't know, please make sure to get it right. I do not know German well enough to proofread that, the Norwegian was hardly understandable for a born and raised Norwegian. Hildy Carlson is even a Swedish name (may not be unusual now, but certainly more a hundred years ago).
Second, I found the book quite boring. More a listing of lives and seasons, it did feel a bit like the yearly letter from a distant cousin about people that you don't really know or care about. The interesting part was an American perspective on a lot of historical events that took place during this time.

Love Jane Smiley's writing style; she's breezy and easy to read. The book was well-edited (no off-putting typos and spelling errors that are becoming so common these days). I'm looking forward to the continuing story of this family and its many characters.

Some Luck is a beautifully wrought, evocative novel chronicling the history of a farm family in Iowa during the first half of the 20ieth century. Jane Smily is a master at character development. Frequently she introduces the reader to her characters as babies. The story then follows them as they progress through childhood to maturity. The reader can fully understand and appreciate their choices and the consequences of those decisions. This is a book that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a " good read!"

Like her book "AThousand Acres" this book is hard to put down. Every character is so well developed and the story is consuming. I didn't want "Some Luck" to end. I wanted to know how the next generation fared as I had already met them.

I am still reading it. I find it very interesting . Give details of life in an Iowa farm and goes into history of the U.S. during World War ii. Different from
any other books that I have read. My husband was raised in an Iowa farm, he still enjoys it an plants a vegetable garden every year.

One of my Books of the Year. At times heartbreaking but always warm hearted. Smiley beautifully captures the Midwest during the first half of the 20th century. Highly recommend this book especially to those who call the heart of the country "home."

I was disappointed in the storytelling. Very minimalistic, flat. Found it hard to stick with beginning even because it had too much detail about what the baby was thinking or doing. Don't think it added to story. Sorry, Jane. I've seen you do better.

I really enjoyed this book. After seeing the movie, Interstellar, I started to appreciate our food sources more. And the possible lack of. This book really makes you respect farming. And if you have a child, you will certainly be able to relate to one of the children in the book.

Jane Smiley has taken on a large family and complicates their simple and charming farm life with too many side stories. Rather than focus on the essence of the story she does brief vignettes, following the children as. They grow, and adding others as she goes on. Way too much storyline for one novel; not enough attention paid to individuals. The reader can't form a relationship with anyone in the novel before she is on to the next.

This is a fantastic story which reveals the thoughts and lives of a farm family in Iowa. The differences between children and their lives are revealed in a story spanning decades. This a truly wonderful novel. It was a pleasure to read!

Great story following the lives of a farming family through the years. Although it had a slow start I wanted to continue through the yearly chapters to see what adventures we're going to happen next.

I had high expectations for this book by Jane Smiley. But I was disappointed in its predictability and sophomoric story line. This is not her best work. I was so bored and disappointed that I left the last 1/3 unread.

Beautifully written saga of the Langdons, an Iowa farm family that makes it way from the early 1920s to the mid-1950s. The daily lives of Rosanna and Walter Langdon and their five children are in many ways typical and ordinary on the surface, but as the years progress, there is a kind of nobility to their struggles and achievements that emerges from ordinariness. Indeed, what evolves as truly remarkable is how uniquely different each child moves into adulthood. While the parents are strongly committed to traditional farm life, their offspring head off in radically different directions--generally with the bemused support of Walter and Rosanna.

Two of the oldest children, Frank and Lillian, take the longest leaps away from the farm and Iowa, but more tentative sibling Joe, who gradually settles into farm life, also abandons tradition in ways surprising to his parents and the rest of the family.

I really enjoyed this wise novel, which progresses year by year (literally) by introducing events in the lives of individual Langdons--often without detail or explanation. Somehow this economic "quilt" approach becomes engrossing and adds up to a rich story that gives the reader much to enjoy.

Lovely book.

Did not like the beginning of the book written in the babies voice. Just seemed silly to me. A lot of characters to keep track of. Don't know if I am interested enough to go on to the next book in the trilogy. I will probably look for another book, faster pace, less characters, more developed.

The golden age trilogy is an absorbing family saga which intelligently develops a hundred years of events, experience and personalities and are interesting, real and give the reader a feeling of belonging to a large extended family and their networks. I felt very involved in all their lives, problems and successes. Well worth reading.

History is beautifully woven in in some places, others not so much. I might be over-rating this just a bit because I tend to like Smiley's work. Loved much of her language here. Looking forward to her next book.

This novel was unusual. I am a writer myself and I've gotten accustomed to seeing a crisis or something cataclysmic happen about three-fourths or four-fifths into the book. There was no such event in this novel, which I found a bit disconcerting. Also, I had to think a while about in what genre I'd place the book, and finally came up with family saga. It's a long tale (33 years, I believe) about a family on a Midwestern farm, and the forays that a few of them make away from that life.

I also had to think a while to decide whether there was a main character and I believe there was--although that's a bit foggy for me too--in the eldest son, Frank. I really craved more character development with Frank because I felt he had such potential to become truly fascinating. He was sort of a pale watercolor of a fascinating man, like an undeveloped photograph of Daniel Craig or something. I mean, the guy becomes a WWII sniper and the Italian prostitutes think he looks like Errol Flynn. Let's get this party started, Jane. When you know you are in the presence of writer-greatness (Smiley is so talented), these lost opportunities are maddening.

While I admired Smiley's use of the language (praise heaven for authors who still hold the torch of grammar and word usage high) and her ability to turn an original phrase, the homespun nature of the story-telling did get a bit wearying. I suppose it's a matter of personal taste, but my conclusion about the tone was: it's interesting for a while to hear about plowing, milking, knitting, sewing, egg-candling, pruning, and whatnot, but enough is enough.

And it was odd, at times, to have the author depart on some kind of (apparently) meaningful anecdote, only to find that it had absolutely no bearing on character development or the overall storyline. Like my grandfather heading down to the Owl Café to chew the fat with his pals. I know there are authors who use these un-milled, small-town motifs with great pride, but I tend to think, "If it doesn't move the story forward, get rid of it."

So...will I buy the next installment of the trilogy? Nope.

Always love Jane Smiley! Just the way she tells about a family's interwoven stories. How relationships change over time, how each character brings and acts on their own point of view - the life of a family evolves.
The more life I experience the more her books ring true to me.

Cannot help but think this book was published prematurely. Perhaps pushed in haste by publishers to get the next big book out in order to, you guessed it, sell books. This need not be entirely the fault of the author who is a distinguished Pulitzer winner but probably still under the gun to publish asap. It is to be the first of a trilogy to cover 100 years of recent history. Some Luck just does not seem sorted out or nearly compelling as it should be to make me want to read the next one. One is left with an impression of bland characters and an overall flatness that permeates the entire book. This book should have been so much better than it is and I wonder why it is not.

Some Luck focuses on the Langdon family, which includes the parents Rosanna and Walter and their children. The family descends from German immigrants who settled in rural Iowa, the book’s primary setting. The novel also includes a large cast of minor characters—extended family members, neighbors, friends, classmates, and so forth.

Smiley writes about her Iowans with apparent fondness for and familiarity with their world. In terms of language, it’s a well-written book, and the details of farm life in the early to mid-1900s ring true. I’ve heard many firsthand stories from people who lived in rural areas of the Upper Midwest during this time period, and the book echoes those recollections. The German spoken by some elderly characters reminds me of older friends and relations whose first language was German, despite their families having been in the US Midwest since their grandparents’ generation.

Each chapter of the book corresponds to a single year from 1920 to 1953 and recounts snippets about one or more characters’ thoughts and experiences during that year. Unfortunately, the overall effect is a series of isolated snapshots. The book gives cursory impressions of each character, without revealing much of what makes him or her tick. Consequently, the characters’ actions and relationships are mere scaffolding; they outline a story, but they don’t tell it.

As an egregious example of this lack of depth, a scene late in the book depicts a woman spotting an old boyfriend on the street—entirely by chance—when he visits the large city where she lives. He had abruptly abandoned her years earlier, in a different city, leaving her devastated. They’ve had no contact since.

The reader is expected to believe that (1) an encounter of such vanishingly small odds would occur, (2) the woman would be all graciousness and smiles when it does, (3) she’d show nary a trace of lingering anger or bitterness, and (4) the characters would promptly become engaged. It’s a cheap plot twist with no rationale aside from the need to advance Smiley’s story arc.

For me, reading Some Luck was like listening to small talk about people I’ve never met and will never know. The chit-chat is pleasant and mildly diverting for a short while, but that’s it. Similarly, I felt at best an ephemeral interest in the characters of Some Luck, which dwindled to indifference well before the last page. The small talk spun on too long.

If possible, I’d give Some Luck 2.5 stars, but I’ll round up instead of down because it did me no real harm. The other two books in the planned trilogy may well be similarly benign. However, I won’t be bothered to find out because the Langdon clan left me cold. What is this family’s fate? Es ist mir egal.

Really interesting the way the writer used all characters as her protagonists. Characterization was excellent. Showed the hard times and the hard people. How did they do it on their own ...no government intervention. Wouldlove to ee where the family is today.