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Summary: A powerful, Hemingway-like, beautifully written story.
Review: This book is what books should be. Not only is the story powerful, but it is written with such lean and beautiful language that each page contains a perfect image or choice of words. It expertly plucks at a motley of heart-strings, no matter who or what you are. One of the best books I've read in a long, long time. My husband loved it too. Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven are great too, but this one is my favorite.
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Summary: Animal Dreams is a book about finding oneself
Review: I loved this book from the first page. Kingsolver uses every day language but somehow adds a twist of lemon into it to make it hers. This book was about a young woman, Codi who returned to her hometown in search of herself. When she reached Grace she found that she was a strong, independent woman on a mission.
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Summary: Some of the most lyrical writing I've ever read.
Review: After reading some of the other reviews of "Animal Dreams," I feel compelled to point out that while those who are reading this book from a purely political perspective may indeed have grievances, they are missing, as they look for points on which to quibble, Kingsolver's exquisite gift for the use of language. I found it compelling reading, and while it is the biggest of cliches, I, too, could not put it down. And I read this book at work. At a major newspaper. Between phone calls. And I didn't care that I was sitting in the middle of the newsroom with tears streaming down my face. "Animal Dreams" is one of the two best novels I have ever read -- "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay is the other. I do agree that this is Kingsolver's best work. I've read everything else she has written and it pales in comparison. But then, once you're written something so compelling, it's hard to measure up. Even to yourself.
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Summary: A DEEP POETIC JOURNEY
Review: This book was like reading my autobiography. The character Codi thought and felt just like I do. Her soul was so deep and her pain was so real I thought about her journey long after I put the book down. This book is for those who like Codi went through the painfull journey of finding themselves and trying to get through the darkness that sometimes haunts are past. This book is beautiful and a book of poetry. Plus it is a great love story. A deep love story and refreshing after seeing the card board crap from Titanic!
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Summary: Her best to date, but hope for better
Review: I enjoyed a lot about this book, particularly the environmental plotline, the cockfighting issue, and the portion of the story that takes place in the Indian dwellings. What I did not enjoy was the ending. I think it was lazy and predictable.
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Summary: Gripping story that is believable and difficult to put down
Review: This is truly one of the best novels I have ever read. The main character, Codi Noline, is a woman in search of her own identity. She goes back to her hometown where she always felt like a stranger. She faces her memories of the past and begins to deal with what life throws at her in a different way. I was not able to put down the book. I have reread it twice already.
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Summary: Kingsolver takes the improbable and makes it believable
Review: Animal dreams is an incredible book. Kingsolver has an uncanny ability to take the most bizarre plots and make them believable. This is a book that made me want to go to Tucson, and it made me want to explore my Native American background. All I can say is the emotion is amazing.
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Summary: If you like it, you like it, otherwise..
Review: After having my community college students read the book for several semesters, I thought I'd see what others readers say about it. The moving, personal praise the book receives - some of which is evidenced on this page - is what inclined faculty to use the book in the first place, but my classroom experience has been less laudatory. Basically, the best it has ever done is acceptance. I have never seen one student sparked by the book, in the same way that many reviewers here have been. I have seen a number of students loathe the book as overwritten (the dream sequences and plot elements used to motivate characters), preachy, and questionable - many have expressed doubts about the veracity of most all of the characters, but particularly Doc Homer and Codi. They just don't see much in these two as believable or interesting or appealing. Myself, I feel that the book is well enough written, different enough, and substantial enough to warrant the time needed to read it. It's even enjoyable in a few places, on a first read. However the book hasn't had much resonance for me in subsequent rereadings. I plan to drop it from my syllabus.
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Summary: Animal Dreams
Review: Animal Dreams was a wonderful story of the life of Codi and her experiences in life that led her to love in the end. She explores her childhood in this book with an unintended fear at first, but slowly moves into feeling comfortable with her life, her past, and her future. It was a wonderful book, one that I related to in many ways. :-)
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Summary: Excelent and provacative!
Review: Barbara Kingsolver has given us a novel that opens ones mind in an unending way. She has shown her true knowledge of the southwest and used it to tell the story of Codi, a dependent person, afraid of love, yet needy of it all the same. This novel is about a lost soul searching for approval from others, ultimately finding the road to accepting oneself.
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