Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful -
Review: The book was beautiful - Ms. Kingsolver is a wonderful storyteller - I was entranced.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical . . .
Review: . . . haunting and beautiful. The characters are dynamic and interesting. The setting is so attractive, I'm practically ready to move there! Kingsolver has really developed her voice, and has become one of my very favorite authors.
Rating:
Summary: fertility, fecundity, love, sex and nature
Review: What a great book! I requested the audiobook from the library. Read by the author, it's about three women who live in a rural area where Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia all come together. One studies the return of the coyote population in the national forest, one has a farm in the valley and one is an older woman with an apple orchard--although the chapters with her in it are told from her neighbor's perspective, an 80 year old man.This book is all about fertility and fecundity and love and sex and nature. I think if I'd "read" it, I might have gotten bored with Kingsolver's details involving "moth love." But listening to her talk about it made it interesting. It's all about plants blooming and animals reproducing and the intricate nature of ecology and how humans fit into all of it. Great piece of the book: Deanna Wolfe (the coyote expert) is explaining to Eddie Bondo (sheep farmer) about how he found her on the mountain because she is ovulating and sending out phermones. She tells him about women ovulating at the full moon and whole tribes of women ovulating together, and he says: "Are you telling me that men rob banks and go crazy at the full moon just because they are wantin' every woman in the world at the
same time?" It's sad and funny and steamy and sweet. A few of the personal reviews bemoan the ending. The main complaint is that they
thought all the women would meet (for tea?) at the end, but the book ends just before you would imagine that they would meet. However, you do see how their lives are coming together. So it isn't all wrapped up in a tidy bow, but that's okay with me. It's called Prodigal *Summer* not Prodigal *Year.*
Rating: 
Summary: Prodigal Summer
Review: I enjoyed the beginning, which is well written and draws you in. At about a quarter of the way though Kingsolver starts showing her bias. Excuse me if you are a fan of hers, I knew nothing of her work when I started, but what was written on the cover. At about a third of the way through I quit the book deciding I owed it no more time and was no longer enjoying myself.
Kingsolver's bias were women, environmentalists, nonsmokers, nonchristian, organic farming and other similar causes joining what we would have in her idealistic world. The problem was the complete lack of sympathy for opposing views left a very unrealistic book.
Rating: 
Summary: Splendor in the grass
Review: I am not an "outdoorsy" person at all. I can't stand being dirty or seeing bugs. But I AM from Appalachia, so I picked up this book. I was hooked by chapter 2. By the time I lay the book down, I wanted to make love to my husband in the grass, and (GASP) I spared a moth's little life when he somehow landed on my scanner. When a book manages to change something inside us, or move something inside us, it is a good book.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasant summer read
Review: Out of the Kingsolver books I've read, this was my favorite. Maybe I just got used to Barbara Kingsolver's sermons and political correctness, but that was even tolerable for me in this story, as I saw it more in line with each of her characters. Kingsolver's number one strength: Painting beautiful, lush, realistic, highly visible pictures. This book was just as outstanding in that area as in her other books, if not more. I felt like I was living on a mountain, protecting my territory. I felt like I lived on the farm, tolerating in-laws and maintaining the land. I felt like I was a little old man, spending hours in my greenhouse propagating trees. Kingsolver's number one weakness: Character development and building. Although this book was better than her others. Especially for Lusa. I felt like I knew her. But what was the deal with the scent of her husband across the field? Kingsolver seems to love throwing in important, subtle details and then forgetting all about them. I also was disappointed on how Kingsolver alluded to the fact that all of the main characters were somehow connected, and in the end, it was extremely weak and disconnected. It could have been so much more fulfilling. If you're a Kingsolver fan anyway (I'm not sure I am), you'll like this book. If you've never read Kingsolver before, this may not be the best place to start because I think you'll be EXTREMLY disappointed in her other books as the characters are, in my opinion, less interesting. If this is the ONLY Kingsolver book you ever read, or if you like her anyway, this is a good, laying on the beach, sitting on the deck, or in the fishing boat summer read.
Rating:
Summary: One of those stories you don't want to end...
Review: This book is excellent. The characters are well developed and very real. The story pulls you in. Even when I wasn't reading this book, part of me was still with it. I would definitely read it again!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Oy vey. No character, much contrivance
Review: Having really disliked Animal Dreams and loved Poisonwood Bible, I was expecting good things from Prodigal Summer. I'm no Kingsolver fan, but she won me over with her fine descriptions of life in Africa, her distinct character development, good dialogue, and exciting plot. Well, Prodigal Summer ain't the key to my heart. This book was at best boring, and at worst infuriating. The three storylines were thinly drawn, with characters that seemed to be motivated only by the loosest characterizations. Deanna = Wild Woman Ready for Life Again/ Lusa = Outsider Fitting in Her Own Way / Garrett = Crusty Old Guy as Target for Outmoded Thinking The backgrounds of the characters were put to little use and at times laughably drawn. Lusa, for example, was the child of a Polish Jew and a Palestinian. This on its own could be the topic of a novel, but it seems only to be drawn on for comic effect [INSERT YIDDISH HERE] or recipes [MMMM. BABA GHANOUJ.] She seemed to have no before or after, and the reader had no sense of why she married a farmer, other than seemingly to fulfill her family's destiny of having been farmers up until the previous generation. But that was not really explored. There was no indication as to how or why she gained the skills necessary to work a farm, nor why she fought so bitterly with her husband over everything and seemed so unhappy. Then there's she-wolf(e) Deanna with little of her inner life explained. Why was she on the mountain? Why did her marriage fail? Why did she hook up with Eddie? Why did she love coyotes? Other than the bland pro-environmental arguments she spouted, she didn't seem to have a spark of originality or truth. She seemed ludicrously out of touch and both extremely self-confident and self-loathing at the same time. As for Garrett, just prop him up and put a sign that says "Anti-Organic Argument" in his hand. He was inscrutable - silly, cranky, demanding, rude, and strangely enough a creationist science teacher (?). Yeah might as well paint devil's horns over his head, as he was pretty much a fall guy for all of Kingsolver's environmental arguments. Although Kingsolver's arguments are valid (hey, i'm part of an organic co-op), they are (a) not new and (b) don't make for a good novel when they're constantly spouted out by characters as lecture and finger-wagging. "Prodigal" means overabundant, lavish, profuse, which i think is where BK was heading with this book. The summer brought abundance to all the characters. But prodigal also means rash or wasteful. I'd say it's a prodigal expenditure of your time to bother with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't know what to expect
Review: This is my first Kingsolver book. I have the Poisonwood Bible on my shelf yet...Anyway, I didn't know what to expect of her writing. I was pretty happy with the book. In the beginning it dragged, I had a hard time getting into the story lines, but it didn't take too long before I was enjoying it. Some characters I liked better than others. A very unique story though, I will looking into more of her books. How many more is depending upon the Poisonwood Bible.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: This was the first Barbara Kingsolver book I read. At first I was skeptical because the first few chapters just went on and on and on with not all that much going on. But as the book went along it started coming together. One of the things I really admired about the book was the detail. Ms. Kingsolver depicted these beautiful scenes using so much vivid detail it felt like you were there watching it all happen. The book is basically has three stories. One about Deanna whom is a ranger living in the mountains. She is a strong-willed nature loving woman. She has kept to herself on this mountainside for two years when all of a sudden she meets a young male (Eddie Bondo). Their relationships buds and her life becomes topsy-turvy. The Second story is about a young woman named Lusa whom is widowed and left with a farm to take care of and in-laws that don't know what to think about her. She tries to find a new way of bringing in money and decides to raise goats...read the book if you want to know the whole story. The third story is about an old man named Garnette who is trying to make the come back of old Chestnut Trees. This is the most quirky story because he also has a small war with his neighbor Nannie-their personalities clash but then it all works out in the end. I couldn't imagine how these three stories could possibly weave together but they did flawlessly. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It would make an excellent movie.
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