Rating: 
Summary: A Fellow Overseas brat tells her tale
Review: This book holds special meaning for me as someone who has also grown up overseas. The joy and sadness associated with life in and out of a foreign setting are very real and understandable as are the ways that everybody deals with their attachment to Africa.And, although all 5 of the major characters in the novel are women, Kingsolver avoids overdealing the feminist cards. However, she does get a little preachy herself (like the character of the father) when she takes on the subject of the U.S. and the Congo, however true she might be. All in all a very good novel, though, from a fellow overseas traveller.
Rating:
Summary: Salvation from my fundamental baptist upbringing!
Review: Anyone raised in a fundamental baptist home will recognize the characters in this book. Ms. Kingsolver wonderfully explains the zeal and arrogance of this missionary; while eventually evoking sympathy for just about every character in the book. As a side benefit, woven in the story is more African history than is taught in any American school. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Funny (learning a new culture), Scary (disease,plagues etc). Interesting to read about the life of missionaries and the take over of the Congo in the 60'S and 70"s. Written from the perspective of 5 very different women who went with their father and husband to save the africans and learned that they were more changed than the africans.
Rating:
Summary: Women and a Country and a people struggling to survive.
Review: A joyous, yet heart rending account of individuals caught in the societal structure of the time;( 1959 Congo) not only as female members of patriarchal conservative missionary family, but also as unprepared visitors to an area in Africa, swelling with beauty/devastating poverty and political upheval. The stereotypes shatter under the weight of harsh realities and those involved come out the other end of the venture having endured too much, yet having become more strong and understanding. Incongruent as this comment may seem, this book if filled with good humor as expressed by the four daughters of the missionary family. I "read" this book in the unabbridged audio version. The "reader" has a lilting southern touch which ads a depth to the characters. I felt they became my friends. At books end Africa seems no more majestic than the regal characters brought to us by a wonderfully skilled author.
Rating:
Summary: Exquisitely written, many layered story telling
Review: Having just returned from Africa, I was hungry for more about the mysterious and facinating continent. Kingsolver is my all-time favorite writer, so I was delighted to read the book and savored its length and detail. Now, I need something else to read but fear that nothing will satisfy me as this book has. I feel a great deal like I did when I finished The Handmaid's Tale. Thought provoking, troubling and delicious book, makes me want to talk about it to everyone. I love the evolution of the characters and the history that I learned from reading. I am still wondering what to read now. I hope to use this book in my high school literature classes.
Rating: 
Summary: read Kingsolver's earlier works, Chinua Achebe's masterpiece
Review: As an old Kingsolver fan, I was very disappointed in this novel. I will try reading it again another time, but I recently reread Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Kingsolver doesn't come close. I feel I'd rather read the insider's version of the damage done to Africa by the west. I'm not interested in this Baptist family's deconstruction or their view on what went wrong. I would be more interested in the Congolese view, in the view of anyone with a genuine stake in the Congo. Kingsolver cites Achebe in her acknowledgements and Things Fall Apart is a far better story than the one she's telling--the deconstruction of traditional life on the continent, the pugalistic hero, the women suffering on the edges. I am obviously not meant to sympathize with the preacher in Kingsolver's novel, and she hasn't given me any reason to care about him. I don't have to like him to want to understand his story, but I don't think she's going to give me any piece of this man's humanity. He's just the bad guy. I am left wondering--am I reading the story of the Congo or missionary work or the collapse of a family? Sadly, I don't much care anymore. For heartbreak, humanity, and history read Achebe.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, a page-turner of exceptional quality
Review: I was captivated by Barbara Kingsolver's latest book and couldn't stop reading it. As a US citizen who has lived overseas for the past eight years, I identified with some of the frustrations encountered by this tragic family. I felt it was an excellent commentary on the evils of colonization - how white men have tried for centuries to impose their wills, and their religions, on indiginous people who neither want it or can benefit from it. I cried to think about how a beautiful culture was tampered with by outsiders, not only in the Congo, but all over the world.
Rating:
Summary: A 50's ugly-american tale that shakes up your emotions.
Review: For days after reading Poisonwood Bible, scenes from the Congo came to mind, little snippets of the mad minister's deep misunderstanding of the people he tried so hard to "save." To the reader, his conservatism is maddening, as is his autocratic family rule. If you've ever watched a conservative preacher yelling out his message, you will recognize him in this book, yelling louder and louder to get his message across. The format of changing narrator with each chapter was at first irritating to me, but soon forgotten as each character grew when her voice was heard again. This is a wonderful book, a must-read.
Rating: 
Summary: A challenging story of birth order and African history.
Review: A truly great read from the perspective of African Congo history. The story was told through the eyes of four, very different sisters. It was well written, and a beleivable story on most all counts. Kingsolver did her homework, and it shows. This is not an easy read. It's challenging and requires some focus and determination. It was more a history lesson for me, than a story of a family experiencing tradgedy and healing. I recommend it and only caution you to be prepared for a confusing and long journey through the lives a dysfunctional family.
Rating:
Summary: This ambitious arrow hits the bullseye!!!!!
Review: "There are Christians, and then there are Christians." This line from the book is one of my favorites. The great missionaries from America go to the Congo to save the savages from the pits of damnation. In the process, it is the saviors who need the saving. This is one of the best pieces of fiction that has crossed my path in years. The average nonthinking conservative will have trouble with this book. There are many instances of political irresponsibility on the part of the USA, and sins far more inhumane. The characters are brilliant, led by the luny Nathan Price, who I pictured as Robert Duvall in the movie "The apostle". Please read this book and tell others to read it as well. In the world of popular fiction, which is usually only barely passable, this effort shines like the July sun!!
| 
