There are many little stories woven throughout, but none of them made me care what happened next. While the writing is very nice, I never mustered any interest in the characters or the university.

I only finished it because it was a book club selection.

I really enjoyed this book about an unnamed state university (in Iowa?) set during 1989-90. At first I found the writing style convoluted, although I think that's part of the satire about academia, and it seemed less so as the book progressed (or maybe I just got used to it). A large cast of colorful characters.

A while back I went on Facebook and listed my three favorite novels set on a college campus -- Richard Russo's "Straight Man"( which made me laugh so hard I cracked a rib), Randall Jarrell's "Picures from an Institution" (which begins, "Half the campus was designed by Bottom the Weaver, half by Mies van der Rohe . . ."), and Kingsley Amis' hilarious "Lucky Jim." I asked people to suggest other fiction set in universities.

I do this from time to time with different kinds of books to broaden my reading scope and always learn about wonderful books I haven't read -- but this thread set the all-time record. I was reminded of dozens of great books that had slipped my mind and learned about some amazing novels I'd never read. I bought nine of those, and the first of those I read was Jane Smiley's dazzling, immensely funny "Moo."

"Moo" is essentially Iowa State, where Smiley taught for decades, a modern university grown out of an agricultural school. (John Williams' brilliant "Stoner," which I somehow left off my list, is set at a similar school.) At the center of "Moo" is Old Meats, a now-disused building that was once a combined abbatoir and research facility that now houses a single tenant, a pig that's being experimentally grown to an almost mythical weight. The relationship between that pig and the student who cares for him was, for me, the first hint of a sweetness that flows through the novel, surfacing unexpectedly even in the most abrasive story lines.

The book follows four female students who could have been a book in themselves; a number of faculty members, ditto; and administrators who seem to have little idea how they got their jobs or what they should do to keep them. There are probably fifty main and major supporting characters, and each is a three-dimensional individual. I loved "Moo" so much it's launched me into a Jane Smiley jag, a good thing in itself.

The guy who served as my postgraduate thesis adviser once said "The reason academic arguments are so vicious is that there's so little at stake." The truth of that statement, so ironic considering the massive influence faculty can have on the lives of their students, is apparent in "Moo." as are a dozen other truths about the life of the university.

I've come to suspect there are two sub-subgenres within the subgenre of novels about academe. In the first, we get an aging male professor who falls for some nubile student-vixen -- and of course we're supposed to feel sorry for the aging male professor. No thanks: I've seen profs of that type all too often in real life, and they're invariably predatory creeps. The second holds academe and the people in it to good-natured ribbing, or even derision, depending on the individual character involved. Among worthy titles in this much more worthy sub-subgenre are Nabokov's *Pnin* and Richard Russo's *Straight Man* -- and Jane Smiley's *Moo*.

Is this a novel about people at a university, or a novel in which a university is the main character? *Moo* is more than a little of both, and Jane Smiley pulls this off with considerable success: most of the (almost too many) characters do grow, or change, and thus avoid two-dimensionality. My only real complaint is that, merciless though Smiley may be about the foibles of academe and the bone-headedness of those who hold the fate of academe in their hands, Smiley ultimately falls victim to a somewhat too pronounced case of the warm fuzzies: happy ending for all of the good guys (complete with an ending that comes right out of Shakespearean comedy), wailing and gnashing of teeth (or at least embittered rural Midwestern silence) for the others. Certainly in my experience the Mrs. Walker types -- the secretaries who know where all the bones are buried and often wield the real power -- tend to be malevolent. So only four stars, although I must admit that the last time I was so moved by the plight of a pig was when I was a kid and read *Charlotte's Web* . . .

The description "Dickensian" is often given to Smiley's books and in the case of MOO, I think it is merited. MOO is the abbreviated name of a Midwestern State University, where Animal Husbandry and Horticulture have equal status with Maths or Modern Languages. The book demands concentration as, chapter by chapter you are introduced to perhaps a hundred significant separate characters, with new ones appearing until you are a third of the way through - and such characters - idiosyncratic, opinionated, beautiful and bizarre. I wanted to say to Smiley by the end of chapter three. "OK stop now. These ones are more than enough. I want to know more about them, how things work out. Don't tell me about new people." However, if you stay with it, it all works out, the good are rewarded and the evil appropriately punished and it is all enormously satisfying. The version I read was from the library, but I think I will borrow it again in about six months and re-read it with great pleasure

Everyone keeps telling me I should read Jane Smiley and they’re probably right. With biting humor, sharp satire, a wealth of fascinating characters, and even some touches of tender affection for people, place and environment, Moo is a slowly rising storm of a Midwestern University vs. the world, and vs. itself. Readers are guided into the heads of professors, administrators, students (successful and otherwise, plus those still trying to figure what constitutes success), lecturers, secretaries (who of course wield all the power), farmers and even a pig. Every character feels real. Every situation feels close enough to real to be recognizable. And the blend of sharp comedy and poignant observation is perfectly balanced.

Moo is a long novel, reminding me in places of The Masters by C. P. Snow (one of my favorites), and warning me, perhaps, that I’m missing some of the points by not being a Midwesterner. (I’m a Cambridge girl—hence loving The Masters I guess.) It’s easy to read the novel in single chapters, each nicely numbered and titled, so a perfect bedtime book. And the ending is oddly satisfying after all the machinations that came before.

Real people. Curious situations. And caustic humor. A long, slow, thoroughly enjoyable read.

Disclosure: I borrowed it from a friend and I enjoyed it.

I read this back when it first came out in the 1990s, but I had forgotten most of it. Now that I am a college professor (having spent 4 of my 6 years in higher ed in an ag college, no less), I found that a lot of the humor resonated with me much more than the first time around. This time, I especially relished the protracted war between the horticulturists and the agronomists (and everyone versus the economists).

I actually abandoned the book. I've been trying to read it since early March or late February, and I'm barely past page 100. I just can't get interested. The first 50 or more pages seem to do little more than introduce character after character after character. By the time all the characters have been brought in, I can't remember who the first ones are, and at page 100, I still can't figure out if there's plot. I considered the possibility that the book is more of a collection of vignettes than an actual story with a plot, but I can't figure out the point of any of the individual little chapters either so (sigh), I'm giving up -- something I don't do often, by the way. I loved A Thousand Acres , by Smiley, by the way, but I just can't seem to bring myself to open this one back up.

I was just reminded of this book by my friend Susan. Now here was a hilarious read. Never was there a more true back picture of academia. They are all NUTS!!! Even the ones who aren't will agree they are a bit around the edges. Please read this, and laugh.

Jane Smiley was faculty at Iowa State University when she wrote this book. Having taught at the same Midwestern land-grant university, I found Moo hilarious and spot-on. The cast of characters is as sprawling as the campus of any land-grant institution, and some parts are as dense as any academic paper you've ever read, but it was worth the labor. I did question, however, if those who haven't spent time in academia would appreciate it like I did.

felt long. fav parts were the few told from earl's (pig) point of view

Read this book years ago and decided to read it again. Still love it.