Synopses & Reviews
The reputation of Leaving the Land has grown steadily since its first publication in 1984. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Award and was an ALA Notable book in 1984.
Review
“An affecting, grittily realistic tale that moves to the steady, compelling rhythm of the changing seasons.”—Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly
Review
“Douglas Ungers first novel is one of [the] years best. . . . Hes made a powerful debut.”—Newsweek Newsweek
Review
“Leaving the Land will win prizes. Or ought to. It is loving and tough and so honest it makes your teeth rattle. . . . An outstanding book about who we are.”—Boston Globe Boston Globe
Review
“A vivid and memorable portrait of a small South Dakota farming community whose colorful folk traditions and way of life are destroyed by corporate agribusiness. The power of the book rests on it realistic characters. . . . Ungers language is spare and clean—his prose often as stark as the land he describes.”—San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle
Review
“This fine first novel courts comparison with Willa Cathers . . . O Pioneers! But there is a big difference, since O Pioneers! . . . is about beginnings, while Leaving the Land is, sadly and disturbingly, about endings. It shows family farming giving way to corporate farming and agribusiness. . . . Marge [Hogan] has character, which is probably not inheritable. It is a rare commodity in modern novels.”—New York Times Book Review New York Times Book Review
Review
“Nothing can now reverse the decline of the way of life Unger describes, but his beautiful and haunting book is at least a worthy monument to it.”—[London] Times Literary Supplement [London - ] Times Literary Supplement
Review
“An unusually mature first novel, as unsentimental as its unlucky heroine, but filled with a sly affection for unwitting victims.”—New Yorker New Yorker
Synopsis
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award Winner, 1985 "This fine first novel courts comparison with Willa Cather's . . . O Pioneers But there is a big difference, since O Pioneers . . . is about beginnings, while Leaving the Land is, sadly and disturbingly, about endings. It shows family farming giving way to corporate farming and agribusiness. . . . Marge Hogan] has character, which is probably not inheritable. It is a rare commodity in modern novels."-New York Times Book Review. The reputation of Leaving the Land has grown steadily since its first publication in 1984. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Award and was an ALA Notable book in 1984. Douglas Unger, a professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is also the author of El Yanqui and The Turkey War, and, most recently, Voices from Silence: A Novel of Repression and Terror in Argentina.
Synopsis
The reputation of Leaving the Land has grown steadily since its first publication in 1984. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Award and was an ALA Notable book in 1984.
About the Author
Douglas Unger, a professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is also the author of El Yanqui and The Turkey War, and, most recently, Voices from Silence: A Novel of Repression and Terror in Argentina.