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Summary: Barbara Kingsolver is a great talent.
Review: I spent a weekend in bed with a local variety of the flu- what good luck that I had Prodigal Summer to entertain myself. I found the book very enlightening, touching and very funny in parts. The three main characters lives, told in alternating chapters, were woven together by a common theme, the environmental damage caused by humans. Ms. Kingsolver is a gifted writer and conveys many messages about her attitude toward traditional biblical thinking regarding man's place in creation. Preachy in parts, yes, but overall very moving and convincing. The chapters about Garnett and Nanny were the best, (comic relief), and those about the Forest Ranger the least enjoyable to me. I have enjoyed all of Kingsolver's books! Laura Ride
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Summary: Are some people nuts?
Review: Occasionally life gives us a chance to see how differently other people view the world than we do. Reading the negative reviews of Prodigal Summer is one of those experiences. I found the book to not only be incredibly moving, but wonderfully informative. Kingsolver doesn't lecture about ecology, but illustrates her points with great deft. A frequent crticism of Kingsolver is how men come across in her novels. Well, I'm a man and all I can say is pretty much all we get in this country is a steady diet of how men see the world. Kudos to Kingsolver for writing exactly what she wants.
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Summary: sensitive, wise exploration of natural, human ecosystems
Review: With extraordinary grace, elegant language, thematic richness and emotional integrity, Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer" will surely elevate the author to the upper levels of our national literature. Set in the unadorned southern Appalachians during one transforming summer, the novel intertwines three disparate narratives into a seamless unity. The narratives alternate, ultimately connecting the protagonists to each other and ever more closely to their environment."Prodigal Summer," above all else, is an exploation of the idea of ecosystems. Beneath each character and conflict is the central theme of interdependence and biological/emotional mutuality. "Predators" features a proud, lonely woman whose intense defense of coyotes underscores not only her acknowledgement of the biological imperatives of predation but her joyous discovery of her own capacity (both biological and emotional) for companionship and love. Deanna Wolfe emerges as a dominant character, a truly modern champion of the visible and unseen bonds which link us to our living world. "Moth Love" explores the coming-of-age of another fine protagonist, Lusa Maluf Landowski, whose premature widowhood compels her to develop both the intellectual and emotional skills to understand the human ecosystem of her suspicious and alien in-laws. My favorite narrative, "Old Chestnuts," features two keenly-etched older characters, the strikingly independent and vibrant Nannie Rawley and her antagonist, the straight-laced and emotionally wizened Garnett Walker. Kingsolver's depiction of Walker's mind and her remarkable talent with dialect make this narrative alone worth the price of the book. You cannot help but become friends with this book. The author's numerous botanical and animal descriptions are exceptionally well done; her characters - to a person - are utterly real and compelling. Laced within this beautifully paced book are lengthy discussions of ideas: biological determinism vs. human intervention, the meaning of family, animal/plant ..., the significance of place, the human search for meaning. After reading "Prodigal Summer," you will surely know more of the natural world, but, you will also come away with a more profound identification with our universal quest for understanding our place in this majestically interdependent planet.
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Summary: Just lovely
Review: After the "Poisonwood Bible", which I enjoyed but found frankly heavy going, I was not sure if I was ready for another large book by Ms Kinsolver. How wrong I was. This is a lovely book, gentle and full of the sorts of undemanding lives that most of us lead, and peppered with sadness and happiness. The prose is beautiful, and I could almost imagine that I really was on the moutnain or on the farms of the characters as they pondered their daily lives. The novel ties it's ends together very well at the end, and you know that the characters will go on with their lives in new ways. If you are looking for a novel with the punch and shock value of her masterpiece "The Posionwood Bible" you will probably be disappointed. This is a far more mellow and gentle story, but it is lovely just the same.
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Summary: Lovely and Lush
Review: This is the first Kingsolver book I've read, so I couldn't compare it with her other books; other readers did that and were disappointed in this one. I thought it was wonderful, poetically written. I also found it very erotic. Seems I'm the only reviewer who did! The author says a lot about the environment, true, and what she says needs to concern every reader. But there is also a lot about love on every level: love of animals, lust which becomes love, family love, friendly love, unexpected love. And love between people of all ages, from children to the elderly. The last paragraph of the book echoes the first paragraph, which the others in my Book Club didn't realize. And I think HE came back ('nuf said).
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Summary: I'm glad other people thought this book was a bomb
Review: I kept wanting to like it because The Poisonwood Bible was so good and I've enjoyed her other books. I knew how it was going to end after the first few pages. I found it hard to believe that Deanna just allowed a total stranger into her life like that after being a hermit for too long. And that their "big issue" was coyotes. Very unrealistic. I also skipped huge chunks of the narrative because it was boring. This book just doesn't work for me at all. The language was a bit too much - it obscured what little narrative was actually there driving the story, such as it was, forward.
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Summary: Great characters, good story and an ecology lesson
Review: Barbara Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible" was a huge success and that's a rough act to follow. But "Prodigal Summer" rises to the challenge and pulls the reader in with the same lush narrative voice that rings throughout all her work. I looked up the word "prodigal" in the dictionary. It has two different meanings. One is "exceedingly or recklessly wasteful." The other is "extremely abundant." Herein lies the rich theme of the book as it describes one special summer in a place that is a "wrinkle on the map that lies between farms and wildness." This is new territory for me. I live in New York City and I find the natural world fascinating, but yet a bit overwhelming. In this book, however, Ms. Kingsolver makes sure I understand it all. There are three interweaving stories. There's a wildlife biologist who works for the Park Service and lives alone in a cabin in the forest. She's been there two years and loves her solitary life; then she meets a young hunter. Down in the valley, there's a young widow who is learning about what it takes to run a farm. And a few miles away are some elderly neighbors who are constantly bickering about the world around them that they never expected. Each of these characters was so richly developed that I could anticipate their every thought while still feeling the tension of their grappling with each other, the environment and themselves. The environment itself is a driving force. The wind on their skin, the scents in their nostrils, the air they breath, and their place in the natural world are not only described poetically, but move the story forward. There are facts in this book, lots of facts. I drank them all up as a person who has been thirsty a long time. Finally, I really understood what pesticide spraying actually does to the environment. The balance between all living things became clear to me. And I was filled with a wonder and appreciation for the natural world. Ms. Kingsolver is preachy; there's no doubt about it. She wants to tell a good story, it's true, but she also has other motives for writing. She does that in all her books and Prodigal Summer is no exception. Here, she teaches us about the wonder and beauty of nature.
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Summary: Not Kingsolver's Best
Review: "Prodigal Summer" has a lot of the qualities that make Kingsolver's books fun to read - strong female characters, witty dialogue, beautiful prose. But in this book Barbara got on her high horse and stayed on it - we got the ecological message of this novel again and again and again, given voice by all three main characters. Characters started blending together and one in particular became little more than the mouthpiece for the naturalist theme of the book. Kingsolver used a lighter touch in her other books (although the last third of "The Poisenwood Bible" gives "Prodigal Summer" a run for its money in the preaching department) and if you haven't read a Kingsolver book yet, this isn't the one to start with. Read "Animal Dreams" instead.
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Summary: Who Says Current Fiction Can't Entertain AND Enlighten?
Review: I like to read. Often doesn't much matter what it is...fiction, non-fiction, a class text that is well written (they do exist.) I usually look for one thing in the books that I read, and that is enlightenment. Pretty heavy word, but it isn't as serious as it sounds. Pretty much means that you learn something, regardless if you expect to or not. Package enlightenment with characters to love, loathe, and surprise, and you have, in my humble opinion, good fiction. And there you have Prodigal Summer. This is a great book. I had only read one other book by this author before "Summer," and enjoyed it, so it seemed natural to pick up this one. This writer surprised me from page one, even AFTER I had read the jacket flap, which isn't always the case. The characters in this book are so very human that it matters little that the reader may not agree with them. They hold their beliefs, muddle through, and generally make mistakes of judgement. They are passionate, mis-informed, or plain muddled, and are all the more normal for it. I suspect that some readers may not be able to identify with some (all?) of the characters in this book (frankly, some escaped me), but they nonetheless exist, and that may be reason enough to read it. The language is ripe with meaning, and the imagery is lush. This book is about so much more than the location and circumstances in which it is set. But you know what? It is enjoyable on every level. Take from it what you will, but I don't think you will forget it. This is one of my 2 favorite reads from the year 2000. This author achieved something with this book...I may not have communicated it as well as she did, but I find it hard to imagine that you could lay this book down without taking SOMETHING with you. And, after all, that is why I read.
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Summary: Boring
Review: I am an avid reader but had no difficulty putting this book down. I had to force myself to continue reading it. I keep thinking, maybe it will get better. I felt like I was being beaten over the head with the author's belief's. The dialogue was forced so that her information could be presented. I really liked Kingsolver's other books and was terribly disappointed with this one.
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