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Book Summary and Reviews of Arcadia by Lauren Groff

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

Arcadia

A Novel

by Lauren Groff

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Readers' Rating (34):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2012, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what would become a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this rollicking, tragic dream from its hopeful start through its heyday and beyond. What unfolds is an astonishingly beautiful novel about happiness and the impossible dream of perfection.

Arcadia's inhabitants include Handy, a musician and the group's charismatic leader; Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah's only child, the book's protagonist, known as Bit, who is born soon after the commune is created.

While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. If he remains in love with the peaceful agrarian life in Arcadia and deeply attached to its residents, including Handy and Astrid's lithe and deeply troubled daughter Helle, how can Bit become his own man? How does he, a sensitive person, make his way through life and through the world outside of Arcadia where he must eventually live?

With Arcadia, her first novel since her lauded debut, The Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff establishes herself not only as one of the most gifted young fiction writers at work today but also as one of our most accomplished literary artists.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. The effective juxtaposition of past and future and Groff's beautiful prose make this an unforgettable read." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. A novel of 'the invisible tissue of civilization,' of 'community or freedom,' and of the precious fragility of lives in the balance." - Kirkus Reviews

"Richly peopled and ambitious and oh, so lovely, Lauren Groff's Arcadia is one of the most moving and satisfying novels I've read in a long time. It's not possible to write any better without showing off." - Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic and Empire Falls

"Part Stone Diaries, part Lord of the Flies, part something out of a Shakespearean tragedy, Lauren Groff's Arcadia is so uniquely absorbing that you finish it as if waking from a dream. Groff is one of our most talented writers, and Arcadia one of the most revelatory, magical, and ambitious novels I've read in years." - Kate Walbert, author of the New York Times bestselling novel A Short History of Women

"Arcadia feels true, as do the characters who populate this extraordinary novel, which lingers on passing moments in time and highlights the importance of place in preserving not only our memories, but also ourselves." - Hannah Tinti, author of the bestselling and award-winning novel The Good Thief

This information about Arcadia was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cathryn Conroy

Extraordinary Writing! Richly Imagined Novel Takes You to a '60s Utopian Commune and Beyond
This is a richly imagined novel that transports readers to a utopian commune in New York State in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s…until eventually, it becomes a disintegrating, dying, and problem-filled commune. What makes this so special is that the story is told through the perspective of a small child—basically from his birth until far into his adulthood long after he joined "the Outside" world.

Masterfully written by Lauren Groff, this is a vibrant and captivating story of life in Arcadia, a 600-acre forested plot of land on which sits a (literal) mansion. When the scraggly group of several dozen acquired the property for $1, they were astounded that the house existed. That said, the house was broken—rodent-infested, rotted wood, shattered windows, collapsed roof. But with years of work and a lot of scavenging for pieces and parts, the group managed to build it back up. Living in Aradia was never easy. The residents worked long hours to survive and basically lived in poverty.

The story centers on a little boy named Ridley Sorrel Stone, who weighed only three pounds at birth and quickly acquired the nickname Bit—as in the Littlest Bit of a Hippie. Bit, who is always small for his age, is brilliant, teaching himself how to read and write. He is extremely attached to his parents, Abe and Hannah, who adore him. Hannah suffers from clinical depression, especially in the dark winter months.

Arcadia grows and within 10 to 15 years, the population explodes to more than 1,000 and now includes the "Trippies" (drug-addicts), the Runaways, and the Hen House (pregnant women) who gravitate to the commune. The Newbies are not turned away as long as they adhere to the rules. But eventually this experimental society falls apart with infighting and theft, desertion and poverty.

And this is where Bit's story becomes even more riveting when at age 14 he is thrust into "the Outside" and must make a life in a world he has never known. It is as an adult that he suffers his greatest heartbreaks and greatest joys.

This is not just another failed commune, a failed experiment in living. It is the only life Bit has ever known, and we readers are plunged into his despair, his anger, his longing, his insecurity in a way that would not have happened had the novel not been told from his childlike point of view.

What makes this novel a five-star book is not the vibrant characterization or compelling plot. It's the writing. Lauren Groff has the gift. Some sentences are so lyrical, so extraordinary that I just had to stop, take a breath, and reread them.

Lauren Groff is and will always be one of my favorite writers.

Sally G. (Saint Johns, FL)

Arcadia
I have been to Arcadia.
This is one of those rare books in which the writer hypnotizes you.
I had a hard time getting through this book as I could only read a few pages at a time. Not being a physiologist, I can only wonder why. I think it was too rich for my mind to handle in large doses.
The story starts with a hippie commune in Arcadia, New York, built on the idealist premise that all human being are equal with the same work ethic. Then the freeloaders and the king pin (Handy) erode the system.
This story we hear through a sensitive Childs (Bit) brain as a toddler on through the middle age of 55years old and a photographer in the City. We only know what his brain tends to tell and therefore no quotation marks are used.
There is no big “Wow” moment as the story is of ordinary people living their ordinary lives. With a quiet, introspective, telescopic glimpse of Lauren Groff’s characters in the mind of Bit Stone we get to read on that road.
With the writing of Lauren Groff we are transported to the world of beautiful phrases and thoughts.

Marjorie A. (Gainesville, Florida)

Steping Into Another World
This book enabled me to enter a world I had imagined for myself but never acted on - living as a hippie on a commune. Life in Arcadia sublime and awful; the characters are multidimensional and believable; and the ending is satisfying leaving me wanting more.

NeNe

Totally absorbing!
I loved this story and grew to love most of the characters. When the book was finished, I felt as though very dear friends had moved far away and that I would miss them greatly. I was moved by the beauty of the prose, often to tears. I will want to read this book again. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys character development and learning about life experienced in circumstances different than those most of us have known.

Lora O. (Antioch, CA)

Arcadia - Best Book read in 2011
This book follows the story of Ridley Stone "Bit", the first child born in Arcadia, a commune founded by his parents and other vividly drawn, quirky, idealists. Bit is one of the most delightful and endearing characters I've ever come across and I enjoyed the journey from the magic of his childhood to his much later life as a father and caring son to his parents. Arcadia was a very flawed and imperfect place despite the efforts of the utopians who created it, but the values Bit grew up with caused him to become an intelligent, gentle, compassionate artist who finds a way to live with grace and sensitivity in a world that becomes increasingly dark, scary and threatening.

Lauren Groff's language is beautiful and I found myself underlining sentences and phrases. I was moved by the tragedies and losses but felt uplifted by the kindness and connections of the characters.

I truly enjoyed every minute of this luminous, offbeat and lovely book. If it had been published earlier, it would have been my holiday gift to my closest friends.

Judy K. (Sunland, CA)

Ideals, Love and Sorrow
Lauren Goff's first novel had plenty of potential but did not live up to my expectations. In Arcadia, she has found her true voice. For me, and possibly anyone involved in hippie culture in the 60s and 70s, this is a moving story. Through Bit, born and raised on a commune, the emotional and developmental results of living outside mainstream American life are brought to full realization.

I gratefully admired Goff's non-judgemental view. Yes, Bit was damaged in certain ways but he retained the values he was taught. His struggle to assimilate in the "real world" feels very true. Idealism always leads to sorrow but at least it contains ideals. The writing is beautiful, in fact astounding.

...28 more reader reviews

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Author Information

Lauren Groff Author Biography

Photo: Lucy Schaeffer

Lauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and The New York Times–bestselling author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, Matrix, and The Vaster Wilds, and the celebrated short story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. She has won The Story Prize, the ABA Indies' Choice Award, France's Grand Prix de l'Héroïne, and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work regularly appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Her work has been translated into thirty-six languages. She lives in Gainesville, Florida.

Author Interview
Link to Lauren Groff's Website

Name Pronunciation
Lauren Groff: "Groff" rhymes with "off."

Other books by Lauren Groff at BookBrowse
  • The Monsters of Templeton jacket
  • Matrix jacket

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