The Poisonwood Bible

Rating:
Summary: Congo through the eyes of five keen-eyed women
Review: I have found that an author who can both tell an amazing personal story and simultaneously educate her readers about historical events is very rare. Here, Kingsolver succeeds tremendously.
In 1959, a Baptist minister named Nathan Price takes his wife and four blonde, blue-eyed daughters into the Belgian Congo to spread the glorious news--that Jesus Christ is bengala! Bengala is the word that can mean both "precious and dear" as well as "poisonwood" in the language of the townfolk of Kilanga, depending on where you place the accents in the word. Of course, when preaching, Nathan gets it wrong and thereby tells his reluctant congregants that Jesus Christ is the poisonwood tree--a tree that burns your skin and thereby brings misery to those who touch it.
This metaphor is apt; the Price family is a disaster in the Congo. The story is alternately narrated by Nathan's wife, Orleanna, and his four daughters. The book touches on many themes--humans as just one form of life in the world; the inherent balance of nature; forgiveness and acceptance; and the evils that well-meaning foreigners can inflict on foreign lands.
The most compelling part of this book to me, though, was the relationship of these five women to each other and to the Congo. Orleanna and each of her daughters illustrates a different perspective as to their almost unimaginable lives in the Congo. Rachel is portrayed as being obsessed with material things, longing for soda, dances, and being popular back in Bethlehem, Georgia. Leah is Adah's twin who seeks for and never acheives her father's approval, so she comes to rely on herself. Adah was harmed by Leah in the womb, so she cannot walk straight and does not like to talk and blames Leah for her disabilities, but she has a unique gift for palindromes and balance. Ruth May, the youngest, is remarkable as the only member of the family to elicit the love of the townspeople. Orleanna is nearly incapacitated with longing, regret, and guilt, and cannot leave the Congo even though she has not set foot in Africa for 25 years.
The first 3/4 of this book is about the family's experience during the 14 months they live with Nathan. However, the book continues to follow the women for the next 30 years, against the backdrop of the original independence movement and the cleptocracy under Mobutu. I found this portion of the book to be somewhat less compelling than the intense story of the women's experiences with Nathan. However, it was still fascinating to see how that 14-month period shaped the women throughout the rest of their lives.
Overall, a beautiful, overwhelming story--so different from the other Kingsolver books I have read. A strong story about women who each triumphs, in different ways, in the face of tragedy. Still more, it is a story about Americans (and all human beings)are only one part in a huge chain of life.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and fascinating
Review: I read Kingsolver's earlier "Pigs in Heaven" and "Bean Trees." I picked up "The Poisonwood Bible" on impluse to read while on vacation. Once I started reading it, I found it hard to put down.

I have never had much interest in African history, but this book made me want to find out more. Her characters, as in her earlier books, are very well realized and fascinating. The story begins with the arrival in the Belgian Congo of Nathan Price, fire and brimstone Baptist preacher, and his reluctant family. The family's story is told by Nathan's wife, Orleanna, and their five daughters - shallow teen-age Rachel, twins Leah and Adah, and five-year-old Ruth May. The voices of the characters are authentic and believable.

Other reviewers are correct in their assessment that this is, in a sense, two books. The first is about Nathan's clumsy and ill-advised attempts to fit Africa to his fundamentalist beliefs, and the family's attempts to fit their lives to Africa. The second is about the way a family tragedy marks its survivors and the different ways events in Africa mark them as well. I don't agree that Kingsolver should have "stopped writing" at the end of the first part.

I was absolutely spellbound by the way the voices changed and the way they stayed the same from the first to the last of the book. One believes in the characters, they change and grow as the book progresses. Other reviewers found Rachel grating, but I think that was the point. Her shallowness brought home the points that Kingsolver was making even more effectively than the earnest preaching by Leah. I got the sense that in her own way, Rachel understood the events perfectly well, but that she did not care.

I felt very complete when I finished the book. It was a satisfying experience.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful stuff!
Review: I've always liked THE BEAN TREES and always will--it's one of my favorite books in the world. So I was worried about picking up THE POISONWOOD BIBLE. I didn't want to be disappointed. I shouldn't have worried, for Kingsolver gives us an equally good story in this book. With a plot about a Baptist minister who sets out for the Congo to save lost souls, only to find that "life is what happens when you had other plans," the power and drama of this novel is reminiscent of McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or possibly some of Pat Conroy's books (though their subject matter is completely different). The writing is sheer poetry, and Kingsolver's handling of the material is masterful and sure--something like Walker's THE COLOR PURPLE. But I'm only making comparisons for the sake of attempting to get other readers to try and understand how good this book is. If I had only two books to recommend this year, this would be one of them.

Also recommended: Jackson McCrae's THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD--A Tour of Southern Homes and Gardens

Rating:
Summary: AN ENGAGING SAGA OF HUBRIS, HISTORY & HOPE
Review: Kingsolver in my view is one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.

This feisty opus from her is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of recent times: Congo's fight for freedom from Belgium, the gruesome murder of its first prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the sordid progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy.

Sound familiar?

That engaging backdrop alone is reason enough for me to recommend this treat of a read. The narrator's first person voice is fascinating and indelibly colored by her own losses and unanswerable questions. Also narrating the story, by turns, are her four sharply observant daughters, each of whom must strike her own separate path to salvation, a path paved with moral risk and personal responsibility.

For its audacity in setting up a fascinating literary scaffolding (with the intertwined narratives) or for its politically charged backdrop, or for the sheer worldly wisdom packed within its many pages, The Poisonwood Bible offers twin pleasures of being a dark comedy of human failings as well as the breathtaking possibilities of human hope.

I couldn't recommend this book highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: Meh...
Review: Maybe it's because I'm a Senior in high school who was forced to read this over the summer, but I really despise this book. I give it 2 stars because it is obviously well-written, but it is just one big incessant ramble. I thought it would never end; thank God I was wrong. The book is a composition of "journal entries," although the characters never really wrote in journals. One of the characters is a little girl who writes her chapters at the college level. The main flaw with this book is that the characters are completely unlikeable. One daughter is a vain superficial jerk (and I liked her the best out of all of them, which is not saying much), the other is a pretentious snob, the other is mentally handicapped and annoyingly writes a lot of things backwards, and the 4th daughter is a little girl who seems to have terrible luck. The mother is submissive to the father and shrouds herself in self-pity, and the father is a preacher who does nothing BUT preach.

I understand why women would like this book (...), but if you are a red-blooded male who enjoys car chases, explosions, and the occassional romantic comedy (who didn't love You've Got Mail!), do not subject yourself to the torture of reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning, wild, hungry... Kingsolver is a wonder
Review: The author of the magnificent books, 'The Bean Trees', and 'Pigs in Heaven', leaves her protagonists Turtle and her mother in the Southwest and puts us in Africa, the Congo, Kilanga, in 1959. This stunning book is the tale of the family (of girls) of a Baptist preacher who moves them to a Congolese village to convert the heathens. The story is told through the voices of the girls: Rachel, Leah, Ruth May, Adah, Rebecca, and their mother, Orleanna Price. Their father's ignorance and somewhat violent tendencies, the sheer poverty and simpleness of the village, and the vast differences in their lives for these girls from Georgia are expressed by all of them. Their personalities, their strengths, their needs and their confusion are evident by their every word and their complex thoughts. Kingsolver, who is a brilliant writer anyway, brings a fascinating perspective to her imaginary family in the Poisonwood Bible - as she, the daughter of public health care workers who spent time in the Congo when she was very young, "waited thirty years for the wisdom and maturity to write this book." A powerful story, an excellent read.

Rating:
Summary: I Would Definitly Recomend
Review: The Poisonwood Bible set in the Belgian Congo during the 1960's, releases the story of a missionary family and their journey to Africa. The Poisonwood Bible is a historical based novel, where much happens politically in just a small amount of time. Within five hundred pages of mostly fiction plot isn't the main focus of the novel. The story is made of mostly thoughts and reflection, and some of this could have been replaced with more action and adventure for some extra balance to the overall tale.
Kingsolver seems to make a huge effort to drive this book by its characters. The characters seem so real, because the reader can see inside the protagonist's heads. Kingsolver allows five women, four being only children for a majority of the book, to release such strong views, beliefs and emotions. Within the family of characters, each person was given such a different personality; this was key to get the broadest sense of the story possible.
The language is consistent through out the entire novel. I wouldn't say it was an easy book to read, but I wasn't sitting next to a dictionary looking up three words per page. The content of the book is what was more difficult to undertake. Depending on what stage of life the reader is in could change the book entirely. Kingsolver makes it easy for the reader to relate to book by incorporating 'every human' thoughts into the characters thoughts.
The beautiful and unique style of The Poisonwood Bible is what kept me turning the pages in a smooth rhythm for so long. The images and writing techniques used in Kingsolver writing of this book, is what made it seem so real. After finishing this book it was hard to believe it was a work of fiction. Detailed descriptions and portrayal of the big picture are two aspects of writing Kingsolver managed to use and put together to keep the equilibrium of the book.

Rating:
Summary: "Tata Jesus is bangala!"
Review: This is certainly the most powerful book written by Barbara Kingsolver. It is an epic novel, a tale of sin and redemption, set against a dramatic political turnover. The backstage is Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the world economic game that plunges this African country into chaos.

On the front stage we have a typical 19th century novel, with a familiar plot (see "The Mosquito Coast," "A Play in the Fields of the Lord," or "Kalimantaan"): the theme of white men trying to force his alien culture and religion on native societies, and the disintegration of previous values held by the intruders. The player in this act is a Baptist family, headed by Nathan Price an arrogant, eccentric, religious zealot, obsessed by faith and guilt, who is destined to risk his own life and the lives of those closest to him in pursuit of "saving souls." He represents the patronizing attitude of white colonialists and their devastating legacy. His wife Orleanna is a symbol of passivity, totally dedicated to the care and survival of her kin. The Price family is complemented by four daughters: the oldest, selfish pragmatist 15-years old Rachel, the shrewd twins Leah and Adah, and the youngest, 5-years old, innocent Ruth May.

The story begins with the arrival of the Price family in a small village called Kilanga, in 1959. The four girls narrate the story in turn, at the precipice of events, while the mother narrates in retrospect. The narrative turns on different axes, shaped by the 5 feminine characters, the way they contemplate themselves and one another, the surrounding events and their individual adaptation.

Congo permeates "The Poisonwood Bible," with descriptive, colorful, imaginative writing the author transports the reader into a world of tropical beauty, of heat and humidity, of abundance and drought. The author herself lived two years in Congo when she was a young girl and her childhood experiences had a lasting effect on her imagination. Although the author places her emphasis on people and not on politics, this a political angry novel, a critical view of imperialistic arrogance, exploitation, and prejudice. Kingsolver, a radicalist by nature, writes with strong idealistic messages, she deliberately hooks people into a good story and then gives a political lesson.

Why the title "The Poisonwood Bible?" Nathan Price, the obsessed missionary shouts "Tata Jesus is bangala!" but it never occurs to him that in Kigongo (the language spoken in Kilanga) meaning depends on intonation, and while "bangala" may mean "precious and dear," it can also mean poisonwood tree, a virulent local plant!.

Rating:
Summary: ¿Bible¿holds together perfectly
Review: Writing a good book is like sewing a tailored suit. All of the pieces have to exactly fit together or the whole thing will fall apart. Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is a perfect fit.

Preacher Nathan Price takes his family into the jungles of the Belgian Congo in 1959 to bring Christianity to the Africans. Told through the eyes of his wife and daughters, the story becomes a complex web of events, which leads to the eventual redemption of the Price family, but not the father.

Heading for the jungle, the Price family takes its version of life's necessities, like instant cakes and sewing shears. The Congo unravels the Price's perfect plan and family members have to reconstruct their lives around the rules of Kilanga, the village where they live.

Kingsolver crafts a careful story and shifts easily from the narration of Orleanna Price to her daughters. Rachel is the oldest and is consumed more with herself than with any problem that might occur in her family or in the village. Next in line are her two twin sisters, Leah and Adah. Leah is the adventurous tomboy and Adah is a bookworm and near-mute who has been crippled since birth. The youngest daughter is Ruth May, and her preciously innocent acceptance of the Congo provides a dear point of view about the country.

Especially funny is the take each of the Price woman has on her father. It is with a dark comic edge that the daughters recount the woes Nathan Price experiences trying to spread the Lord's word.

First Price, who does not speak Kilanga's native tongue of Kikongo, tries to baptize the village's children in the river. Years before, an alligator ate a child in the river and the villagers are sure that Price plans to have their children eaten. Price pathetically attempts to learn the people's language, but pronounces the words wrong so that the meaning of everything he tries to say dramatically becomes altered. When Price tries to praise Jesus and says Jesus is the savior, he pronounces the Kikongo word incorrectly and says Jesus is poisonwood, a plant that grows in the Congo and causes itching. Naturally, the villagers don't feel too crazy about Price's Jesus.

Kingsolver describes the Congo with such clarity that it becomes a living and breathing character of The Poisonwood Bible. The colors and the smells become integral parts of the story. She describes villagers with frankness and celebrates their differences from Americans without making their ways of life seem inferior.

Also an integral part of The Poisonwood Bible is African politics during the '60s. Without overwhelming the story line, Kingsolver weaves the dramatic political turmoil of the Congo into the plot so that it is easily understood.

As with finishing a suit, the end of a book can destroy a story. A careful hem can keep a fabric from coming undone, and stories need equally careful craftsmanship. Kingsolver adeptly avoids this problem by ending the story naturally and neatly tying up loose ends.