Rating: 
Summary: Dog Days of Summer
Review: I began Prodigal Summer anxious for yet another thoroughly enjoyable read from one of my favorite authors. From the time I read my first Barbara Kingsolver novel, The Bean Trees, I've been amazed at her ability to make me care about the characters, to make me laugh out loud at the folksy humor laced throughout the narrative, and to capture my imagination with the twists and turns of the plot. In some ways, Prodigal Summer continues that tradition. The characters are just as lovable and humanly flawed as any of her previous characters. There's still plenty of humor. Unfortunately for me, though, the plot never firmly establishes itself. The story is told by alternately focusing on three main sets of characters - a reclusive Forest Service worker and her mysterious friend, a grumpy old-man farmer and his difficult neighbor, and a recently widowed farmer's wife and her overbearing in-laws. Kingsolver goes to great lengths to show how these seemingly separate groups of people struggling through their own lives are tied together by their natural surroundings. The problem is that this is the only real central unifying element of the story. For me, the "we're all connected" angle is too obvious and yet too annoyingly vague to adequately tie the stories together or to capture my imagination. The result is a mildly enjoyable yet less than satisfying novel that I admittedly just "didn't get."
Rating: 
Summary: The nature of human nature
Review: Paralleling the laws of nature with the laws of human nature, Prodigal Summer takes three separate stories and weaves them together showing that everything is connected. As in nature, the human characters are sympathetic even when some are not completely likeable with the overall effect of reminding us of our place in the greater scheme of things. Kingsolver makes her point without being pedantic or sanctimonious. Prodigal Summer is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: literary perfection
Review: Kingsolver has often been criticized for being too politically minded in her books. When she wrote The poisonwood bible, critics wanted more storyline and less talk of African civil conflict. Now, people complain of Kingsolver's boring ecology lessons. I say, what is the worth of art if it can't serve to teach a lesson? After reading this book, I was more enthralled with Kingsolver's message than her equally important characters. I have always been taught that humans have dominion over the Earth. Now, I know we are nothing but the top of one of millions of food chains. Everything affects us, and we affect everything. If God made the world, he didn't make it for us to rule, he made it so it would be beautiful. All of God's creatures are an equal part of an ecosystem. This book made me think of the millions of species that are wiped out when people butcher the rain forests. The Earth is not our's, we are its, and Barbara Kingsolver teaches me to seek beauty in nature, a message that I will remember for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: From Africa to Appalachia, Kingsolver Does it Again!
Review: As she did in "The Poisonwood Bible", Kingsolver once again manages to draw readers in as she paints a detailed image of a place which most of us have never been. With eloquent detail, she transports us to an Appalachian town and makes us feel at home there. Using first person, Kingsolver weaves her tale through three main characters, all of which live separate lives in and near this small town. If I could change one thing about this book, it would only be that I wouldn't want it to end. By the end of the book, I cared so much about the characters that I not only wanted to find out what happened to them in the rest of their lives, but in the lives of their relatives and future generations as well. Once again, an extremely well written and well researched book from Barbara Kingsolver. I find her books so detailed and enjoyable that I like to go back and re-read them at least once since I know there is no way I can absorb everything it has to offer on the first read.
Rating:
Summary: A Pleasing Experience
Review: Like another reviewer, I enjoy Kingsolver's books. I thought this was very good, but not quite as good as Bean Trees/Animal Dreams. But then, it was a different type of story in it's own right. Some may think she went overboard on einvironmental and wildlife issues, but I guess that I felt that it was o.k. for some writers to overplay the message, because so many of us aren't concerned at all. However, I guess I enjoyed the main character's story (Deanna) the least of the 3 stories. I especially enjoyed the older couple. Also, I liked the way the 3 sets of characters were all drawn together somehow.
Rating:
Summary: Beware, ragweed sufferers
Review: Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer" is as full of fruitful promise as are the fields, forests, and females of this ambitious novel. Aside from bogging down in awkward (and repetitive) "bio-ethics" dialogues in places, the pace is suitably quick and the interactions, natural and enjoyable. We follow three sets of protagonists, with each pair personifying some thematic element of what becomes Kingsolver's dual homage to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and Al Gore's "Earth in the Balance." For the reader unaware of the concept of "Gaia," that is, of seeing our planet as a single cell of interrelated processes and systems, this narrative is a respectful introduction, albeit a bit heavy-handed at times. As usual, Ms. Kingsolver's gender bias sets forth the males as inarticulate predators whose only task is to scatter their seed to insure survival of the species. Be it coyotes, apple orchards, luna moths, or homo sapiens -- it's all sexual at base, with the males causing more trouble (after their initial contribution) than they're worth. This is the literary equivalent of "Who Let The Dogs Out!?" Conversely, the females are all nurturers of their various broods, stewards of their natural arenas, and inherently aware of their place in the eternal (and seasonal/lunar/diurnal) cycles. In essence, the parallel sound track is "I Am Woman" and/or "Respect." Predictably, the gender collisions create much of both the action and the comic relief. The flora and fauna become an overarching character in that their various impacts on the humans often direct actions, fears, hopes, and even continuance itself. Ms. Kingsolver's lush Tennesseean landscape moves beautifully through the seasons as do the variety of farming tasks and produce. Reintroduction of species once hunted or blighted to regional extinction is a central plot engine and character motivation. There is enough pollen rising from the pages to set off the sensitive reader's hay fever....
Rating:
Summary: Trusting Kingsolver
Review: I learned when I picked up her very first book, to trust Ms. Kingsolver to write books that I want to read. I would not have chosen a book about this subject matter had anyone besides Ms. Kingsolver been the author - but having said that - I've read every book she has written and never been disappointed. This one was no exception. She values all people and the land in which they live and I'm a better informed person because of her - and a richly entertained one as well. I hate to finish her books because I know I'll have to wait a long time for another good read.
Rating:
Summary: made me see the forest, smell mushrooms, hear footsteps
Review: I actually hated this book. Not because it was less than masterful, but because it was so real and hit so close to home. Every tragedy is also a celebration and every joy is also melancholy. And the imagery, visual, auditory, olfactory, was so vivid it was like camping in the Great Smoky Mountains. A book I grieved to see end.
Rating:
Summary: Kingsolver's Best-Ever!
Review: I am a huge fan of Barbara Kingsolver, but this book was the one that delighted me most. I work with moths and some of the other critters Kingsolver mentions in this book. I have little tolerance for authors that do not do their research when writing about wildlife. Kingsolver not only accomplishes this, but also makes it easy for all readers. Aside from the creative, fiction value of this book, you are going to get a factual, learning experience. Now, the characters - Ah, the characters! You'll meet some individual people that have an extreme appreciation for nature and the world around them. Their viewpoints differ dramatically, but they all appreciate the outdoor world. You'll meet a young widow, and older woman with a sad past and a woman who lives in the mountains to escape. They are all superbly developed characters, alive and likeable. I can assure you, if you like Kingsolver, or if you are a fan of nature, you will love this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Waving the white flag!
Review: OK, OK, I get it already. Everything is connected, everything is dependent. Over and over I get it. Maybe I am being too harsh..I am just saying..the message was repetetive. I felt the only reason for changing characters was to deliver the message again. I listened to this book on tape and found myself zoning out a little, so I can't imagine reading the book. I did learn a few things, but feel a little beat over the head.
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