Prodigal Summer: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Kingsolver just beat her own record for personal best.
Review: Awesome, awesome, awesome! For those who didn't like this book, I say you missed the point. Kingsolver once again uses her wonderful talent to "speak" through different characters (as in Poisonwood Bible). In this case, there are three main characters (and many strong supporting characters)- Deanna, Lusa, and Garnett- through whom she spins her tales. Ironically, all of the main characters are fiecely independent people, devoted to nature, who discover their need for human connection. Their stories, while separate and distinct, intersect at the conclusion of the story. The book was fascinating in that Kingsolver can spin multiple stories on multiple levels simultaneously in a stunningly deep and insightful way. (And not just stories about human characters). This book was so rich in thoughts and ideas, I think you will probably need to read it several times to take it all in. It was about procreation and creation, interdependencies and independence in all of nature. She beautifully shows that we humans are very little different from our animal, plant and insect brethren. Her writing was vivid, descriptive, and made nature one could smell, taste, and touch through her words. This book is a monumental achievement. How will she ever top this one?

Rating:
Summary: Kingsolver is the best writer on the planet
Review: I approached "Prodigal Summer" wondering if any book could be as good as Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible." This is as rich and satisfying and so different I marvel at the depth of the author's talent and skill. The characters are so well-drawn you would recognize them if you saw them on street (and half expect to, they're so real). As with "Poisonwood" Kingsolover tells the story through the eyes of several characters, and has perfected this technique, providing each with a distinct and unique voice. Set in the area in and around Zebulon National Forest over one long summer, we follow three intertwined stories: Deanna Wolfe, a wildlife biologist, and her unlikely affair with her intellectual opposite - Eddie Bondo; Lusa Maluf Landowski, who fears she will never be accepted by her husband's farming family, whose post-doctoral education is as foreign to them as her Arabic name; and Garnett Walker, whose long-running feud with Nannie Rawley provides some of the most comical moments in the book. Kingsolver's depth of study in biology and natural science brings the setting to life with incredible detail.

Rating:
Summary: Different subjects, but same writing skills.
Review: Why trying to be complex and difficult? this is plainly a good book. Just as meat and potatoes are a meal.

Kingsolver has great narrating skills. When a character speaks - one can hear it, there is no false tone or credibility undertow.

The narrator takes 3 angles to describe the same community: Deanna, who after a divorce chose to follow a dream and live as an hermit in the woods, studying nature. Mr. Walker, and old, grungy and unfriendly man in town, with his way of disapproving of everybody. and Lusa, an import through marriage in the community, recently widowed and with a life to build.

The three characters and stories touch each other and build a network of dreams and facts that is quite fascinating to apprehend and finishes all too soon.

Rating:
Summary: The Prodigal Summer
Review: I picked this up after a week spent reading Roy's "The God of Small Things" in the hopes that it would be as good as The Poisonwood Bible. My patience with bad writing and bad plot development has completely run out.

Hence it's no surprise that I gave up reading Kingsolver's novel after only 2 chapters that were totally devoid of ANY development. I felt like I was dropped smack in the middle of Deanna's world, and left to find my way through the reasons of her multiple bad decisions (why did she get a divorce and WHAT posessed her to be so welcoming so quickly to Ed, and why did she live on a mountain), and retain a little sympathy for what was surely going to be a tough road for her (because of her bad decisions).

I also didn't appreciate the know-it-all tone Deanne had. Like she ruled the world on all things natural. Eww. Also really didn't approve of her condescention to anyone that didn't agree with her or see things her way.

It's going back to the library tonight, thank goodness. And next, I'm reading a true master of Classic literature: Thomas Hardy. A return to reason and good reading.

Rating:
Summary: Mountain Masterpiece
Review: Three narratives run through this story. Deanne Wolfe is a reclusive wildlife biologist who is watching a den of coyotes in southern Appalachia who is caught off guard when a young hunter invades both her space and her solitary lifestyle. Lusa Landowski, transplanted from the city, is a farmer's wife who finds she must either dedicated herself to her land after her husband dies, or lose it. And then there is the story of Garnett Walker and Nannie Rawley, a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors who tend their land, while arguing about God, pesticides and anything else that comes to mind, while life comes up and grabs them. Barbara Kingsolver always pleases and when she connects the dots between these people, you will know you've read a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Wildlife Proves Wildly Entertaining
Review: Barbara Kingsolver's fifth novel honors mother nature as well as the prodigal spirit of human nature. By entwining three stories of evolving relationships within a larger tapestry of life in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky, Kingsolver reminds us that people, their decisions, and their actions, are simultaneously significant and inconsequential when up against the wilderness.

Over the course of a summer, Deanna Wolfe, a wildlife biologist, divorced and determined to be alone, lives deep in the Appalachain mountains observing and protecting the wildlife. Things are going according to her plan until she meets Eddie Bondo, a hunter from Wyoming to whom she is undeniably attracted. Eddie, however, has come to the mountains in order to destroy what she protects--the coyote.

In the valley below Deanna's hightop mountain cabin is a newly wedded woman named Lusa who married Cole Widener and moved to the Widener farm. Adjusting to country life in a big, farm family seemed hard until Cole dies one morning in a tractor accident. Lusa is unaware of the rippling effects of each decision she makes from that point forward.

The third story is the most entertaining and lively of the three segments in this novel. Two aging neighbors are too old to know how people their age are supposed to behave. Garnett Walker and Nannie Rawley go round and round disputing and defending their knowledge on biology, farming, wildlife and whatever else they can think of. But from the very beginning, we feel the friction and sense a slight attraction, although it sometimes is hard to tell for sure. Nannie is wildly entertaining and Mr. Walker is sure to remind you of an old man you know. Their arguments are informative, insightful and at times, in their back and forth, they seem to say more in one sentence than some people manage to ponder their whole life through.

Eventually, in perfect pace, Kingsolver reveals the connections between these people and the soft words surprise us with a mysterious after-weight.

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Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Mountain Story
Review: Kingsolver's book has been added to my bookshelf alongside my other mountain favorites -- The Man Who Moved a Mountain; Cold Mountain; Orlean Puckett: The Life of a Mountain Midwife; and My Old True Love. Prodigal Summer gives a picture of the wonderful and sometimes complicated life of the mountain people. This book educated me on nature, survival, and how the cycle of life affects plants, animals, and all living creatures. It was an easy and enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful!
Review: I love this book. "Prodigal Summer" delves into so many different facets of life - misunderstood "hillbilly" families, farming, "city" concepts of nature, misunderstanding how nature works and how humans are always trying to "fix" everything and everyone that they do not understand. The story keeps you interested with its deep characterizations and the depth of knowledge the author shows about nature. I can so relate to the speech patterns and sayings of the Appalachian folk! Beautiful, absolutely beautiful~city folk need to read this!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: This is a wonderful book with an underlying environmental and emotional current. Beautifully written and thoughtful. I admire Kingsolver and feel her stories have become better crafted with each effort. I will admit I enjoyed Poinsonwood Bible more - but I still give this book five stars because it is terrific.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishing, beautiful, wonderous
Review: When someone asks me to pick a favourite book, this is generally the one I choose. It's an utterly beautiful story, rooted deeply in ecological and environmental thought, with beautifully developed characters. Kingsolver's depictions of the natural world are wonderfully real. I pick this up almost every year and re-read it, getting deeply involved with the characters once more, and always inspired to be more present and concerned with the world around me.

The one very small issue I have with this book is sometimes it tries to educate the reader a tiny bit too much. However, this isn't at the expense of the story.

All in all, a wonderful story that always stays with me. Gorgeous.