Page 1

Slouka, MarkSmiley, Janelong-standing ambivalence about both,motherhood in general and Kevin inparticular.The Visible WorldThe unnamed narrator of The VisibleWorld, the American born son of Czechimmigrants living in New York, grows upin an atmosphere haunted by fragmentsof a past he cannot understand. As anadult, the narrator travels to Prague,hoping to learn about a love affairbetween his then young mother and amember of the Czech Resistance namedTomas, an affair whose untimely end, hesenses, lays behind Ivana’s unhappiness.A Thousand AcresLarry Cook’s farm is the largest in hiscounty in Iowa and a tribute to his hardwork and single-mindedness. Proud andpossessive, his sudden decision to retireand hand over the farm to his threedaughters is disarmingly uncharacteristic.Ginny and Rose, the two eldest, arestartled yet eager to accept, but Caroline,has misgivings. Immediately her fathercuts her out. It is a decision that causeschaos.74