The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel

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Summary: Beautifully crafted tale; thought provoking & entertaining
Review: Certainly one of Barbara Kingsolver's very best. This is a well written novel which not only provides us with an insightful look at US-Africa policy in the 60's and later but presents us with extraordinary characters with whom we become personally attached. This was a thoroughly enjoyable novel which once started I couldn't put down.

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Summary: Wow, I will forever feel and think differently about Africa
Review: I had it all wrong, the way I thought and what I believed that I knew about Africa and its people. I guess that I had pretty much accepted the "party-line" about the history and morality of its people. Maybe all that Kingsolver says about Africa can't be believed either, but I will forever look at what I hear and read now with entirely different ears and eyes. The book is beautifully written. I felt that I was living there in their times with all five of the writers. I do think that it took awhile to become involved in the book, but once there, it was almost impossible to put down. I thought that the book was wonderful and would recommend it highly.

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Summary: Kingsolver...Just Gets Better
Review: Barbara Kingsolver just gets better and better. I have read, I think, everything she has published, and this is her masterwork (to date). A wonderful story exquisitely written. When is Kingsolver going to get the Pulitzer...it's just a matter of time?

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Summary: Should have waited another 30 years.
Review: "I spent 30 years waiting for the wisdom and maturity to write this book," Ms. Kingsolver writes in her introduction. This is the same introduction in which she confesses to never having been to the Congo. Trendy-lefty themes, cardboard characters, meandering plot, too many voices. This misshapen thing is baby boomer pap trying to pass for insight and fails on all levels. Buy Kalimantaan or At Play in the Fields of the Lord instead.

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Summary: One of the best books of 1998
Review: Weeks after reading Poisonwood Bible, I am still thinking about the characters and carrying vivid images of the Congo in my imagination. A rare masterpiece to create such a strong after effect!

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Summary: Fine historical novel,both personal and global.
Review: I've loved Barbara Kinsolver's previous novels, but this new one tops all the others. A new category for Kinsolver, historical novel. Characters of the children were very full and deep, written in a novel journalistic style. This book peaked my interest in learning and understanding more about the Congo, and the people of that era, as well as the present.

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Summary: Comparison with 'Something of Value' (Kenya WWII-1950s)
Review: Poisonwood Bible (PB) is one of those books that stays with you. In fact, it reminded me of another such book about Africa that I 1st read in the early 70s: Something of Value (SV) by Robert Ruark. I just finished re-reading SV. Originally published in 1955, this fictional story focuses on British colonists, especially one farm family whose son becomes a safari guide. The setting is Kenya from WWII to the early 1950s, encompassing the bloody Mau Mau uprising, with Jomo Kenyatta and communists in the background. Ruark's theme (as is one of Kingsolver's) is the hubris of trying to replace native culture with western culture - and the tragic loss to native Africans of 'something of value.' Unlike PB, SV is a man's book (reprinted by Buccaneer Books in 91). Ruark does tell his story from various viewpoints, including the white female settler and the male African, but the overriding voice is the white male settler. Like PB, SV is a well-written powerful book, trying together the personal and political. Prior the PB, I had just finished the nonfiction Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball. The cumulative effect of these 3 books is a growing personal awareness of the tragic worldwide consequences of white colonialism on native peoples, especially Africans.

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Summary: She's done it again!
Review: One day in 1994 I was bored, and a friend invited me to a bookstore to hear an author give a reading. I had no idea who this Barbara King-something was. Standing in a courtyard outsite the store in jeans and red high-top tennis shoes Ms. Kingsolver read a few pages from the Bean Trees, and I was mesmerized. Rarely does a writer have the ability to combine such wit, humor, keen observation and literary talent. Since that day, I have read each of her novels, her poems and essays. I waited hopefully - even a little fearfully for The Poisonwood Bible. Could this be as good as the rest? No... It's better. She brings the congo alive in the reader's eye. As in her other books, she creates characters who are real and multidimensional - each with a distinct voice. While Ms. Kingsolver tackles issues far beyond those of day-to-day life, her depiction of daily life draws you in. From the mouths of her characters spring deep wisdom in the form of the simplest truths, "Watching my father, I've seen how you can't learn anything when you're trying to be the smartest person in the room." I recommend this book to everyone. Buy it. Buy it now.

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Summary: not her best
Review: I was disappointed in this book. Barbara Kingsolver's other novels are some of my favorites, and I was disappointed that this didn't meet up to her regular standards. True, it was a very different type of book than her others. I hope she can return to her past successful style while still incorporating her new ideas and visions.

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Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: My wife and I have read all of Kingsolver's works and loved them all - this is the best! Thank you, Barbara, for a fascinating tale.