65 pages 2 hours read

Jane Smiley

A Thousand Acres

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Book 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Book 5, Chapter 35 Summary

When Ginny was three and a half, one of her child neighbors fed her 27 baby aspirins, which resulted in a hospital stay. When she thinks about this memory now, it reminds her of how anxious and disconnected she has always been from her body. Additionally, it reminds her that she could be naughty at times.

She thinks about her wedding night with Ty and how sex has always made her feel strange about her body. She then remembers more about her father having sex with her and how she had gone limp during the assaults.

Book 5, Chapter 36 Summary

Ty, Ginny, Rose, and Pete go to meet with their lawyer, Jean Cartier. Jean asks them lots of questions and concludes that Larry is used to doing what he wants when he wants. They agree with his assessment. He reveals that Caroline paid Larry’s fine for driving under the influence. He additionally explains that he has seen a lot of farm transfers go poorly during his career.

Jean tells them that appearances are important, so they need to be the ideal farmers and farmwives during this process: harvesting the crops and keeping a clean house. He explains that the court date will not be until after the harvest.