Rating: 
Summary: AWFUL
Review: I truly enjoyed the first 250 pages of this book. I enjoyed the different perspectives of the 5 women and I thought that the author did a great job describing the feel of the Congo. BUT then everything went downhill quick- I feel that the author put down her writing for a long time and then picked it up again in a rush to finish it for publishing. The last 250 pages were rushed and the characters were suddenly boring and one dimensional. I hated the last part of this book- It was awful. If the author had continued the in the same vein as the first 250 pages the book would have been about 1500 pages long and would have been marvelous. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Depressing, but worth reading
Review: One of the greatest things about this novel is the author's use of perspective. Each of the four Price daughters take turns telling the story. Orlenna (the mother) also opens each book. Barbara Kingsolver does a wonderful job of establishing the 'voice' of each character. The story however, is very depressing. I kept waiting for it to take a slightly positive turn, but it never did. The only character I ended up liking at the end was Leah. And I even felt pretty lukewarm about her. The thing that disturbed me the most about this book was the author's tendancy to equate Christianity with Americanism and missionary work with imperialism. I admit that Nathan Price's brand of Christianity had little to do with service or love. He cared nothing for the physical troubles of the people of the Congo. All he wanted to do was dunk them in the river. Brother Fowls went to the other extreme and seemed to care very little about the spiritual well being of the people around and tended to concentrate on the here and now. Not that he is a bad character--he truly loved the people of Africa. I just believe that neither Nathan Price or Brother Fowls is an accurate picture of a true missionary. Is this book worth reading? Yes. But I believe it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. It does raise some important issues but I do not believe Ms. Kingsolver fully addresses each of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Good readin'
Review: There are many ways to read this novel. I'd probably describe it as a family history, a historical analysis, an essay on cultural diplomacy, and at times an epic poem all rolled into one. I won't go into the plot, because plenty of other reviewers will as well, except to say that the first half pretty much goes day by day, while the last rushes through 30 years. This particular style was appreciated in that it made the book shorter (and the book is a little long) but on the other hand, the latter half left me feeling a little deprived. I liked the daily adjustments that the young daughters were making to their lives in Africa - Kingsolver's rushing the reader through the later years meant that you didn't get to experience their thoughts and observations in the same intimate manner, and it is during the latter half, when the family goes their separate ways, that the comparisons between them get really interesting, as one returns to western life, and the other two make very different choices in their new adopted home. Much has been said in the other reader's reviews about the emphasis on the differences between the Prices and their African neighbors in the Congo. But this is also a book about family. I would imagine that some readers will see a little of their own relationship with their sisters in the relationships between Leah, Adah, Rachel, and Ruth May. The ways that they communicate to each other, their resentments, jealousies and the common bond between them (basically, their nutty father) set against the Congo background is what, for me, made this a really entertaining novel. A must read if you're a fan of Kingsolver. If you're new to Kingsolver, you may want to take on a less ambitious work of hers, like The Bean Trees, so that you won't be too surprised at her takes on Western culture and values as compared to those of more land-based, native cultures. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time, Waste of Paper
Review: Rachel Price says that "Leah always has an answer for everything" concerning Africa and the Congo. Well substitute Barbara Kingsolver's name for Leah and add "in the form of propaganda" after "answer" (or substitute "opinion" for "answer") and you have a fairly good idea of what sort of novel you are in for. Let me expain in further detail. 1. RELIGION. Kingsolver lets us know right off the bat that she thinks Christianity is bad for the world and that we would all be better off without it. Just to underline that belief, she makes Nathan Price into a culturally ignorance, wife (and child) beater, my-way-is-the-only-way-right, tyrannical minister. Yes, I am sure that these types of ministers do exist, but Kingsolver is so determined to demonize Christianity, that she actually makes the reader (or, at least, me) sympathic to Nathan.
She does have some good religious people. For example, Brother Fowles, but she waters the good religious people's views down to the point where they no longer resemble being Catholic or Baptist but rather New Agey and Hippie. 2. COMMUNISM/ ANTI-AMERICANISM. Now, there is nothing wrong with Communism, and certainly America does need to have its bit of criticism, but Kingsolver so continually criticizes the United States and Capitalism that is gets tiresome. By her point of view, all things evil in this world (and in particular what happened in the Congo) happens because the United States exists and because we have a Capitalist system. She totally igores the long histories of Europe and Asia and Africa before the United States became a nation, and basically and solely blames us for the evils of the world. The book is uneven at best. When Kingsolver isn't propagandizing, her descriptions of the Congo and its culture are quite interesting. However, she kills off the characterization. Orleanna and Leah "carry" the burden and extreme guilt that are they white. Rachel is made into a racist. Ruth May becomes the symbol for the Lost Independence of the Congo. All this is made very obvious. There is no symbolism. Particularly it is made clear in the last 150 pages when we are treated to lectures infinitum. Also, the religious theology is not at all convincing. Kingsolver meshes the Baptist and Catholic theologies until it becomes laughable, until there is no difference at all. Having grown up in a background of both those religions, let me assure you that there are some differences.
For example, Nathan revels in the Apocryphal, which Baptists don't believe in. Perhaps he does so so that way when Brother Fowles comes for a visit the two can have a War of The Verses.
Also, reciting Psalms and verses is not considered saying prayers by the Baptist Church, but the characters are continually shown doing that. And NOWHERE in the Bible is there a verse about being loyal to one's race (i.e. to believe that your race is superior to another's)
And Baptists don't believe that baptism alone will mean that you will get to heaven. First, you have to be saved through faith, then later maybe you will have a baptism. I loved Kingsolver's BEAN TREES, but this book, I just wanted to pitch into the trashcan. Maybe read PEONY by P.S. Buck if you want a great novel about the religious and social differences between cultures, and there is that classic book HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad that will always be a classic long after POISONWOOD BIBLE is forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: A book with an agenda
Review: The story of the Price family's journey to Africa and all that entails was mildy interesting at first, then built up enough steam to be compelling reading. If the book had ended about 250 pages sooner, I would probably have given this book three stars. However, it did not end there. In the latter part of this book, the reader is treated to several hundred pages that are basically a lecture on morality. If I want to know the history of the Republic of Congo (which I admit I know very little of) I will read a history book. I do not wish to learn the history through the obviously slanted perspective of this author. Not only is it boring, but I hate it when someone tries to shove their political beliefs down my throat in the guise of fiction. Once I became annoyed with the author, other parts of the book that I had been able to accept as possible became more unbelievable. For example, the Price twins are portrayed as advanced students. Even in 1959 white America, there were books detailing life in the jungles of Africa and all of the hazards lying in wait there. If anything,these dangers were probably exagerated, if that is possible. Would not the Price twins have educated their family and known what to expect? Would not these girls been aware of the reality of the situation and therfore not bothered carrying with them items such as cake mix? I fininshed this book because it is my policy to never leave a book unread after starting it. But I feel like I just wasted a week of my "reading time".
Rating: 
Summary: Consuming and thought provoking
Review: I try to be very conservative with my 5 star ratings, but this book is well worth it. The word "ambitious" is used twice to describe the book on its own back cover. Indeed it is, in so many ways. First, I always have great admiration for authors who can convincingly base a fictional novel in a non-fictional time and place (and one so different from our own) as convincingly as Ms. Kingsolver has. If I ever decide to write a novel, you better believe that it's going to be about a made-up fantasyland, which will require no research on my part and will put me at no risk of making any factual errors. Second, Ms. Kingsolver's use of 5 different voices to tell the story was not only ambitious, but effective as well. I can imagine few things that would be more difficult than having to write one story from multiple perspectives. This risk very easily could have blown up in her face. A danger in doing something like this is that her efforts to distinguish her characters and give them their own unique identities could, if overdone, have turned them into caricatures of what she were trying to portray. Go ahead and try to write a story from the perspective of someone who is a lot dumber and a lot shallower than you. It is almost impossible to do effectively without overkill. Yet Ms. Kingsolver succeeds magnificently. Unlike the review selected by Amazon above, I never found the distinctive features of the styles to be "grating." Indeed, I think the different idiosyncrasies ultimately made me feel much closer to all of the characters than I would have otherwise. You don't just hear them described. You literally get inside their heads. Maybe even more impressively, the characters' voices age as they do. So not only did Ms. Kingsolver have to figure out how these distinct voices would sound in 1959, but in the mid-1980s as well, when the characters were all in very different times and places than when you first meet them. Third, Ms. Kingsolver includes an important political message in the book. One of her main purposes is to educate her readers on the shady circumstances surrounding the rise to power, with full U.S. backing, of one of modern Africa's greatest thugs: Joseph Mobutu. Again, this is always a risk. There's a fine line between provoking thought in your readers' minds and bludgeoning them over the head, but again, Ms. Kingsolver succeeds. Admittedly, the political message was almost entirely one-sided (Ms. Kingsolver saves the arguments that she clearly does not agree with for the shallow, ditzy character to make). It is very easy these days to talk about our efforts to contain Communism -- which is what motivated our support of Mobutu -- as nothing but evil and shortsighted, but that is only because they ultimately succeeded. Thanks to our eventual triumph, it's almost impossible to remember how scared people were of Communism back in the 50s and 60s (and not completely unjustifiably, I might add). Perhaps some day, we'll look back on our current cozy relationships with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and wonder what we were thinking. But without the benefit of hindsight, it seems a lot more complicated than that at the moment. However, I don't judge the quality of a book based on whether I immediately agree with its message. Frankly, I'd rather read something that I don't agree with that is well written and provokes thought. This book certainly achieves that. It is one of those books that you want to constantly read, and when you cannot, you constantly think about. The characters were not all likeable, and those that were had their flaws. But they were believable and fully developed. I became fascinated with what each of them did and thought. When I finally finished the book, I was sad to put it down. Perhaps that is the simplest and most important comment on the quality of a novel.
Rating:
Summary: Forget it!
Review: I could not wait to read this book! I love Kingsolver's writing, and have read 3 other books by her, all terrific. I labored to get half-way through the Poisonwood Bible. Not being one to stop in the middle of any book, it was with great relief that I broke this habit, after my friend spoke similar feelings and revealed the rest of the book to me. I left it in the motel I was in, for anyone else interested. I could not, w/good conscience, recommend or give it to anyone! Yes, Kingsolver is a fine writer, but this book was monotonous, boring, depressing, and as dredging as the topic it undertakes. 250 pages into it, and I could still not keep the daughters' names connected to their personalities. If I want to be bored, depressed, or confused, I'll watch the news. I so strongly disliked this book that I've undertaken my first book review. Pity.
Rating:
Summary: SIMPLY AMAZING
Review: I HAVE SUCH A DEEP APPRECIATION FOR THIS BOOK. SO MUCH RESEARCH MUST HAVE BEEN DONE BY KINGSOLVER. I WAS ENTRANCED AND I COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THE STORY FOR DAYS AFTER I FINISHED THE BOOK. I FELT THAT I WAS THERE IN EACH SCENE BECAUSE IT WAS SO WELL WRITTEN AND VIVID. IT'S BELIEVABLE AND HEARTBREAKING. THIS IS MY FAVORITE PIECE OF WORK BY B.K. AND ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOKS IN GENERAL! I LOVED IT!!
Rating:
Summary: Ridiculous!
Review: This is the first book I read by Barbara Kingsolver, per an Oprah recommendation. I struggled and struggled. I kept hoping it would become more appealing to me, but never did. Although this family seems to have common sense, their arrival in the Congo quickly shows otherwise... Each chapter is divided by character, so it was very clear who was talking when. Lots of description is given with the characters, so I felt like I knew them. However, what about Nathan? This book spent every ounce of time giving character backgrounds on everyone but him! Since everyone was putting him down throughout the entire book, I would've loved to have read his perspective. They always say there are two sides to every story and I never got his. Nathan was also considered to be very religious and continuously quoted passage after passage, but can anyone tell me where the quote "The Lord helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible?? By the time the family FINALLY leaves the Congo, the book seems to be in an entirely new direction. Two books in one? Save your money. A book this thick should have more to offer the time-invested reader.
Rating:
Summary: Immerse Yourself
Review: This was the most engaging reading experience I've had since I was a bookworm kid. This book hit all the topics I'm interested in - effects of American hegemony, religion, family relationships, and feminism. The characters are interesting, dynamic, and believable, and more complex than any other of Kinsolver's previous creations.
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