Arcadia Arcadia

Arcadia

    • 4.1 • 181 Ratings
    • $2.99

Publisher Description

A staggering portrait of a crumbling utopia, this "timeless and vast" novel filled with the "raw beauty" beautifully depicts an idyllic commune in New York State -- and charts its eventual yet inevitable downfall (Janet Maslin, The New York Times).
NEW YORK TIMES
BESTSELLER

"Timeless and vast... The raw beauty of Ms. Groff's prose is one of the best things about Arcadia. But it is by no means this book's only kind of splendor."---Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"Even the most incidental details vibrate with life Arcadia wends a harrowing path back to a fragile, lovely place you can believe in."---Ron Charles, The Washington Post

In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this romantic utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday. Arcadia's inhabitants include Handy, the charismatic leader; his wife, Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah's only child, Bit. While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. He falls in love with Helle, Handy's lovely, troubled daughter. And eventually he must face the world beyond Arcadia.

In Arcadia, Groff displays her literary gifts to stunning effect.

"Fascinating."---People (****)

"It's not possible to write any better without showing off."---Richard Russo, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls

"Dazzling."---Vogue

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2012
March 13
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
304
Pages
PUBLISHER
Grand Central Publishing
SELLER
Hachette Digital, Inc.
SIZE
4.6
MB

Customer Reviews

esperanzabuddy ,

Arcadia

Beautifully written.

Zombie #638 ,

Mastery of imagery

The reason to read: to be transported to another place and feel deeply about it and its inhabitants. Lauren Groff is a masterful tour guide of a man’s unfolding life and his memory of the world of fantastical things in Arcadia. The images she paints for us linger long after finishing, the emotions touch us for a while.

QXORK ,

Hard to read

I’ve enjoyed other books by this author but truly struggled to read and/or get into this one. Had to stop reading.

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