Itemize Books In Favor Of Moo
| Original Title: | Moo |
| ISBN: | 2743604913 (ISBN13: 9782743604912) |
| Edition Language: | French |
| Literary Awards: | National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (1995) |
Jane Smiley
Hardcover | Pages: 482 pages Rating: 3.46 | 7531 Users | 629 Reviews
Rendition To Books Moo
Wow, can I give less than 1 star? This is going in to that rare list of "books I cannot even get through." It makes me very sad that this woman can get published (and apparently won an award at some point in her life!) and I have friends who can actually WRITE who cannot. Imagine if the author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" had written his 150 pages of character development, but hadn't actually been able to make you care about any of the characters. Or, in fact, been able to convince you read past the first 50 pages. And trust me, I was bored enough at work that night that I would have read ANYTHING, but it was pretty much sheer horror that got me that far in to the book. To be fair, it wasn't entirely Ms. Smiley's writing that made this book a complete dud. Her editor should be shot too. How do you not catch the run-on sentence that goes for NINE lines? Especially when it happens overandoverandoverandoverand... Seriously, what were they on to miss that? Oh, and to say nothing of the basic spelling errors all through the book...Okay, I think I have made my point, no? On to bigger and better things.
List Of Books Moo
| Title | : | Moo |
| Author | : | Jane Smiley |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 482 pages |
| Published | : | June 1st 1999 by Rivages (first published March 21st 1995) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Humor. Contemporary. Academic. Academia. Literary Fiction |
Rating Of Books Moo
Ratings: 3.46 From 7531 Users | 629 ReviewsArticle Of Books Moo
I actually abandoned the book. I've been trying to read it since early March or late February, and I'm barely past page 100. I just can't get interested. The first 50 or more pages seem to do little more than introduce character after character after character. By the time all the characters have been brought in, I can't remember who the first ones are, and at page 100, I still can't figure out if there's plot. I considered the possibility that the book is more of a collection of vignettes thanWhat a delightful read! Hilarious, poignant, great characters. This is a satire of Midwest American academia, written (and set) around the time of the fall of the Soviet empire.
After reading 'Straight Man' I was in the mood for another satire of academic life, so I can't help but compare Russo's book to Smiley's. Moo was funny enough, enjoyable enough but so inferior to 'Straight Man' I never could get into it. It's very satirical, above the fray, ironic--you just never come to care about any of the characters. Whereas 'Straight Man' has heart, as all good comedies should.
Jane Smiley's farcical depiction of a Midwestern agricultural university is very funny at times. But there are too many characters to keep track of, certainly too many to care about. Many characters and two hundred pages could have been deleted from this novel. It was a chore to plow through (no pun). Smiley was a college professor for 15 years at Iowa State and she utilizes her experience to construct a humorous and cynical book that pretty much skewers her brethren. Teachers at Moo University
Such a fun book. It takes a while to get used to the shift in perspective:
(As of October 2013, my arts center is selling a SIGNED first-edition, first-printing copy of this book at reseller eBay. [See our entire rare-book collection at (cclapcenter.com/rarebooks).] Below is what I wrote for the listing's description.)One of the most common questions out there among people who collect "hypermodern" first editions (books less than thirty years old) is how to best guess which living authors to be collecting in the first place; and while only the future will show us which
Moo was one of those books that I was so sure I would enjoy that I was really looking forward to reading it. I thought that since I have been in the field of higher education as lecturer/professor for the last 17 years and before that as a college student and graduate student, I would find it insightful, funny, and entertaining. I couldn't have been more wrong. I so could not wait to finish the book not because I was enjoying, but because I simply wanted to be done with it. Ironically, I didn't
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