Rating: 
Summary: A total disappointment from a consistently good author
Review: This is the only book I have ever returned to Amazon -- I couldn't bear to own it a minute longer. Kingsolver jumps into new territory with this latest novel and from page 1 you have nothing to hold onto. Chapters jump from one of five characters, Kingsolver's interpretation of young thoughts, teenage insecurities, adult regret is nothing but contrived. I am an avid reader, enjoy challenges, but this just left me wondering who Kingsolver is writing for and why she went so wrong with this book. She's lost one formerly devoted reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply a masterpiece
Review: I hate saying this, but I did not know much about the Congo in the early 60's-but know thanks to Barbara Kingsolver, I want to know more. What a book! She deserves the Pulitizer for this one!
Rating:
Summary: I've enjoyed all her books, but this is her masterpiece.
Review: This rich, engrossing book is Kingsolver's masterpiece. Shetakes the reader into a small jungle village on the shore of theCongo, along with a missionary family from Georgia. We see, hear, feel, taste life through the senses of the mother and four daughters, each of whom becomes a distinct personality. They also show us Nathan, the missionary, a Southern Baptist so obsessed with baptism by immersion that for six months he fails to understand the reason behind the villagers' resistance--there are maneating crocodiles in the river. While his family comes to know the villagers to varying degrees, his blinders keep him unaware of real people and their beliefs. Yet when real danger comes and the others manage to escape and shape new lives he stubbornly and madly stays in the jungle. Kingsolver's exquisite prose and sensitivity to human relationships, her believable handling of such crises as a terrifying invasion by an enormous army of fiery ants, and of such tender love as that of Leah and Congolese Anatole kept me turning all 546 pages for two days, and thinking about the story for many more.
Rating:
Summary: a stunning safari to the reality of Africa
Review: Barbara Kingsolver has done it again - taken a painful theme,colonialism this time, and shown all its ugly sides with accuracy andcompelling language. She made me laugh and cry and shudder through this story.Kingsolver does not duck the tough issues or the harsh realities. I loved the double helix of the colonizing father and his five women, and the equally arrogant colonizing powers and their continent in agony. The characters come alive with their quaint language and their inexorable family relations which cover up "an inordinate love." Read this book if you dare - to feel the driver ants on your skin, the rain lashing down in sheets, the cruelty of arrogant domination. Weep and laugh and shudder, but read this book if you love this world.
Rating:
Summary: Kingsolver as brilliant as ever, set in a different world
Review: Because I lived in Zaire/the Congo for five years and wasrecently back for a visit, and because I loved Kingsolver's earlierworks, I was eagerly awaiting this new novel as soon as I found out what topic Kingsolver had chosen. All of her formidable strengths are evident: her characters, her sense of language, the grace that characters meet even in the midst of deep troubles. In addition, she shows Africa as it is. Even though I lived there from 1979-1984, the villages are much the same as they were in 1959, and Kingsolver shows them. She captures, too, the ambivalent feelings of the Congolese for Americans: admiration and gratitude on one hand, distrust and bitterness on the other. And her information on the political scene is unfortunately quite accurate. A must read, on many levels, for many reasons!
Rating:
Summary: her best work to date, brillantly written, she is back!!!
Review: Her newest book strays from her typical setting, taking place in the wild jungles of the Congo, but her narrative voice is stronger than ever. I read this book in three days. I couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: This is a wonderful book!
Review: When I was offered my store's advance copy of this book, I took it because it was written by Barbara Kingsolver, and I had enjoyed her other books. When I read on the back that this book is about Baptist missionaries in the Congo, I thought, "Oh, well, I'll try it anyway." And, of course, given the author's magical way with language, I couldn't put it down! The wife and four daughters of the missionary take turns telling the story, and you come to know each character, and see all the other characters through her eyes. My favorite narrators are the oldest daughter, who commits a constant stream of malapropisms, and the youngest, who shares her baby view of the situations. I did not expect to be at all interested in the historical aspects of the book, but the history became fascinating as it wove through the personal stories. This will be one of the books that I strongly encourage (require?) my friends and family to read, partly to enrich their lives, and partly so that they can discuss it with me.
Rating:
Summary: ¿Bible¿holds together perfectly
Review: Writing a good book is like sewing a tailored suit. All of the pieces have to exactly fit together or the whole thing will fall apart. Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is a perfect fit. Preacher Nathan Price takes his family into the jungles of the Belgian Congo in 1959 to bring Christianity to the Africans. Told through the eyes of his wife and daughters, the story becomes a complex web of events, which leads to the eventual redemption of the Price family, but not the father. Heading for the jungle, the Price family takes its version of life's necessities, like instant cakes and sewing shears. The Congo unravels the Price's perfect plan and family members have to reconstruct their lives around the rules of Kilanga, the village where they live. Kingsolver crafts a careful story and shifts easily from the narration of Orleanna Price to her daughters. Rachel is the oldest and is consumed more with herself than with any problem that might occur in her family or in the village. Next in line are her two twin sisters, Leah and Adah. Leah is the adventurous tomboy and Adah is a bookworm and near-mute who has been crippled since birth. The youngest daughter is Ruth May, and her preciously innocent acceptance of the Congo provides a dear point of view about the country. Especially funny is the take each of the Price woman has on her father. It is with a dark comic edge that the daughters recount the woes Nathan Price experiences trying to spread the Lord's word. First Price, who does not speak Kilanga's native tongue of Kikongo, tries to baptize the village's children in the river. Years before, an alligator ate a child in the river and the villagers are sure that Price plans to have their children eaten. Price pathetically attempts to learn the people's language, but pronounces the words wrong so that the meaning of everything he tries to say dramatically becomes altered. When Price tries to praise Jesus and says Jesus is the savior, he pronounces the Kikongo word incorrectly and says Jesus is poisonwood, a plant that grows in the Congo and causes itching. Naturally, the villagers don't feel too crazy about Price's Jesus. Kingsolver describes the Congo with such clarity that it becomes a living and breathing character of The Poisonwood Bible. The colors and the smells become integral parts of the story. She describes villagers with frankness and celebrates their differences from Americans without making their ways of life seem inferior. Also an integral part of The Poisonwood Bible is African politics during the '60s. Without overwhelming the story line, Kingsolver weaves the dramatic political turmoil of the Congo into the plot so that it is easily understood. As with finishing a suit, the end of a book can destroy a story. A careful hem can keep a fabric from coming undone, and stories need equally careful craftsmanship. Kingsolver adeptly avoids this problem by ending the story naturally and neatly tying up loose ends.
Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: Considering I was forced to read this book for school, I give my high rating a hightened significance. I have repeatedly loathed reading assigned books but this was a pleasant interruption in the cycle of "classics." Don't read the summaries of the book. The story can be about whatever you want it to be. I must concede that this is a chic book, although males with sophisticated taste for literature may appreciate this masterpiece. Overall, it is a smooth read to pass an afternoon while actually pondering real life issues in our tumultuous world.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but...
Review: I do heartily recommend this book. I am un-phased by other reviewers calling this book anti-christian or anti-american. It may be both, but it is well written and is good critique of a lot of bad. I am American and Christian and can handle some criticism when it is thoughtful and well placed. I think this qualifies on both counts.
But I would say that Kingsolver becomes less interesting of a writer as she goes a long. The first 4 sections of her book are phenomenal and the charcters interesting. However the last section of her book feels rushed and the charcters feel like they've been flattened out. I liked this book because there was so much color in the charcters. It kept me reading. Towards the end, I kept reading just to finish. The life was gone.
But hey...this is my opinion and I can be a little critical. I think it's a good read...so hey go ahead.
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