Rating: 
Summary: I REALLY liked this book.
Review: I have been reading ravenously of late. Many of Oprah's picks--and I found this to be much better. I am a fan of Barbara Kingsolver and I delighted in my first Kingsolver book which was "Pigs in Heaven." I liked the "Poisonwood Bible" which was such a departure of her earlier style. She has definately evolved and matured. This is her best book yet. I especially loved the parts in the book "Old Chestnuts." It was very refreshing to have elder characters and get caught up in the verbal battling of these two people who were not young, but still very much alive. I related the most to Deanna who lives on a mountain amongst wildlife, but all the characters were very compelling and the book is a delight to read.
Rating: 
Summary: larry flynt meets barbara kingsolver
Review: "...delicately wrinkled oval pouches held erect on stems, all the way up the ridge. She pressed her lips together, inclined to avert her eyes from so many pink scrota." (p.21) After 29 pages, I closed the book and returned it to the library, thankful I hadn't bought it. I've read all of Kingsolver, and this book is trash, at least the first 29 pages are. There's too much good writing out there to struggle through this one just because her other books are fine.
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Summary: A Wonderful Read
Review: I read a great deal and I really loved this book. I loved the language, the characters, and the story. It's definitely a book I will treasure and read again.
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Summary: A wonderfully worthwhile endeavor.......
Review: I have now read all of Barbara Kingsolver's novels, and I have enjoyed each of them on their own terms. Prodigal summer is a fantastic novel. It is real, sensuous, and true-to-life. While reading this book I felt transplanted to the arena of the mountains and the countryside, and transported into the minds of the main characters. The drama and pain of the characters is balanced and well illustrated against the isolation of the rural countryside. If you like books, read Prodigal Summer. If you like Barbara Kingsolver, read Prodigal Summer. It is worth your time.
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Summary: Coyotes, romance, and Japanese beetles
Review: This novel, which tells three intertwined stories set in the fictional community of Egg Creek, somewhere in the Southern Appalachians, is my favorite of Barbara Kingsolver's novels (so far). Her characteristic knack for evoking the spirit of places is intact in this book, and she spins a tale that inspires passion and ecological conscience. From a sense of the mountains of southwest Virginia to the blight that killed off the American chestnut to the life cycles of Japanese beetles, Kingsolver deals with a variety of topics fluidly and with a genuine sense of purpose. Although some of the dialogue in the story comes off as didactic, this was no more a problem for me than the fiction of Wendell Berry or Barry Lopez. The beautiful narrative, the sassy dialogue, and the humanity of her characters easily overshadows the sometimes instructive nature of her writing (and, by the way, what she has to say about ecology is true!). This book is so well-wrought that I would definitely teach this book to my high-school students, if not for the sometimes explicitly ... content. Even then I just might risk the wrath of some of my students' more conservative parents, knowing that the lessons conveyed in the book are that important and ripe for insightful class discussion. Besides, a little talk about... never hurt anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: One good story, plus filler
Review: I looked forward to this book, but just this morning turned the last page and set it down diappointed. The story of the mourning widow and her return to life, along with the farm that is her disputed inheritance, had real pull. I wish she had concentrated on this heart-told story. The rest of the stories seemed like filler. A lot of the book seemed to be pandering to middle-aged women's fantasies--burgeoning young men bedding women who thought they were done with sex. The "messages" about pesticides, the complexity of the natural environment, etc. were hammered in relentlessly. I enjoyed the Poinsonwood Bible--thought it an incredible evocation of the place and characters. This book doesn't measure up to her previous level of achievement.
Rating:
Summary: Ok, I get it. Every day is earth day.
Review: I love Kingsolver's writing, and I do believe that every writer should be passionate about their message, but this one just sent me over the top. I felt like I was in Sunday School for litterbugs -- the ongoing lectures about nature and conservation and biology lessons -- enough already! Not to mention I could not relate to any of the characters, least of all Deanna with her love of Coyotes and her hatred of humans. I kept reading and waiting for it to get better. I'm not sure it did. I try to remember that every novel cannot be stunning. Even the best among us writes a mediocre piece from time to time. This one is definitely forgivable coming from such a talented writer as Kingsolver, but I do not recommend it.
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Summary: Kingsolver's Best Novel Yet
Review: After recently finishing, and loving, Poisonwood Bible, I decided to read, Prodigal Summer. To say that I loved this novel is an understatement. I have been telling others to read it since I finished it (rather rapidly.) What I love most about this book is the way that Kingsolver is able to weave together the three separate vignettes at the end of the novel. This, along with the poetic usage of language, makes this a novel destined to be used in classrooms around the country at some later date in time. It boggles the mind how an author can create such a beautiful tapestry of human nature. At the end of the novel the reader is left to hope and wonder about the future lives of the characters we have come to know and love. Those readers who were disappointed perhaps failed to become involved with the spider's web of language, centering around creation, humanity, and the interdependency of the species residing on this place we call the earth. The book is wonderful!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Good reading
Review: I enjoyed this book very much, but I did find some of the dialogue contrived. It was as if Kingsolver had certain messages to convey to the reader, and she inserted them into conversations that seemed almost lecturish and overly long. Over all, however, it was a wonderful book. Kingsolver's writing is richly descriptive and the characters are well drawn.
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Summary: Ecology 101
Review: I can see how Kingsolver's Ecology 101 course wrapped up in novel could be as thrilling as Atlas Shrugged to people for whom these ideas are brand spanking new. Already knowing this stuff made Prodigal Summer seem like a lot of heavy handed moralizing. I like Kingsolver, and appreciate what she tries to do with her writing. Well, I used to like Kingsolver, and what she tried to do with her writing. This book is just her thesis on ecology -- and what a hackneyed, cliche-wridden, at times misleading and downright inaccurate it is. I've had it with Kingsolver, and that's after loving some of her earlier works.
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