Rating: 
Summary: Very Enjoyable and Insightful Novel
Review: Barbara Kingsolver deserves recognition and gratitude from the world for writing such a beautiful book as Animal Dreams. The novel mixes the themes of culture, love, and death with a woman's struggle to find herself in life. Her interesting quest seems to be to achieve tranquility with the world around her. Following this woman on her journey to find her place is an exhilirating and invigorating adventure. Animal Dreams is a beautifully written book that should be read by all who are literate.
Rating:
Summary: Loved the ending.
Review: Sometimes a book is worth reading just for the ending. This was one of those for me. However, I also enjoyed the theme of returning to your roots. Having moved away from my hometown never to move back again, I related to her emotionally and respected what she went through.
Rating: 
Summary: Were I not afflicted with the vagaries of maleness...
Review: ... perhaps I would have appreciated this work. I simply did not. After a great deal of reflection, I conclude that this book is pure pulp trash.
Rating: 
Summary: I WANTED to like it...really.
Review: Animal Dreams had been given to me by a friend, who had been highly touting its merits for quite some time. She said that it had changed her life, and bestowed upon it all the other superlatives that appear in most of these reviews.Now, I like this friend very much. And I, like all humans, want to believe that the people I like very much have wonderful, infallable tastes...as if this somehow reflects back on me. So I tried really hard to like this book. I just couldn't. It's not a bad book. Kingsolver's opening metaphors are strong and well conceived, her themes are well-woven and evolve nicely throughout the novel, and her writing style is heightened without being pretentious. However, her characters are broad, two-dimentional, and, for the most part, strictly utilitarian. The only character who approaches something akin to a believable human in his complexity is Doc Homer, whos ambiguous nature ends up being "explained" away and sentimentalized to the point of absurdity. Many reviewers here have also noted the "agitprop" nature of the novel, which is extremely abrasive and does not coalesce well with her gentle, almost lyrical prose. In this respect, her weakness is trying to make her themes and ideas carry the novel instead of the characters and situations. And, like her characters, these themes are almost always annoyingly oversimplified and sentimentalized (i.e. her "noble savage" ideas of Native American culture and her ridiculously romantic notion of the Sandinistas) Again, her writing has strengths. But, in spite of all the recommendations I received, I can't honestly say this book reached me in any significant way.
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Summary: THE EXCEPTIONAL LIVES OF ORDINARY PEOPLE
Review: I'VE READ ALL 3 OF KINGSOLVER'S BOOKS AND THIS IS DEFINITELY HER BEST. I HAD IT ON MY SHELF FOR ABOUT 3 YEARS ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF A FRIEND AND NEVER BOTHERED TO TAKE IT DOWN. WOW WHAT A READ. WHAT A PORTRAYAL OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND THE DELICATE PROCESS OF FALLING IN LOVE. WHAT A SAD ENDING! ALL THE WAY THROUGH SMALL MYSTERIES ARE SET UP AND THEN GRADUALLY EXPLAINED. SHE HAS A WONDERFUL STYLE AND GRACE IN HER WRITING. ALL HER BOOKS ARE ABOUT THE EXCEPTIONAL LIVES OF ORDINARY PEOPLE. READ IT NOW
Rating:
Summary: Mind-bending realism. It hurts so good.
Review: Ms. Kingsolver has an incredible ability to reach the inner neurosis (or not) of each character. She brings out the eloquence of a simple, happy lifestyle and the agony of someone who is struggling for more...and stuggling to wonder why. Beautifully written.
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: Kingsolver's fluid and sweet writing is great for anytime that a bookworm wants to sit down and escape to a different place. I've never really been that interested in native-American subject matter, but I loved this book. Light enough for fun-reading, but good enough to be considered literature.
Rating:
Summary: OUCH!
Review: I was forced to read this book for a college english class I took. It was pure torture. Kingsolver describes everything in such a tedious fashion, it makes you want to find the nearest blunt object and bludgeon yourself to death with it. If you are on your own free will, do not buy this book. If you do...may god have mercy on your soul.
Rating: 
Summary: sweet story - easy to recommend - her best work
Review: This was a really sweet story even though it is a little contrived; it would have been more interesting if hallie had lived and loyd had died! The residents of Grace, Loyd, and Codi were just too sweet to make this a really great story and a great novel. The most interesting character in the book was Homer - his sections were wonderful. (And he also wasn't perfect). The long suffering but perfect Codi was a little much .., I agree with Hallie when she wrote to her sister , "if I gt another letter that mentions SAVING THE WORLD, I am sending you, by return mail, a letter bomb. Well back at you Codi. Even though I don't agree (that she's perfect - I actually find her dislikeable).. She blames her father for her rotten attitute (the author seems to agree) when really she is kind of a spoiled brat. I guess it is beginning to sound like I didn't like the book when I really did. I like most of Kingsolver's opinions about things, but she always seems to take them one step farther than I am comfortable with -- seeming kind of above everyone else.
Rating:
Summary: I don't know how many times I've read this book
Review: ...Codi sees what she is shown: a holiday celebration, and some places that are very special to one who is special to her. Of course she sees mostly the good parts of this culture. She also sees cock-fighting, and some similarities between the pueblo and Grace that surprised her. And yes, some bread really does smell like love. :) It is about a person who feels REJECTED. Yes, it's pretty unrealistic how great things turn out in the end. But don't you wish reality were that way? I read this book at least once a year, because I want to pretend that these characters really exist.
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