Rating: 
Summary: A Modern Masterpiece
Review: I had some qualms about starting this book, but the opening few pages hooked me, and I never looked back. The writing is simply beautiful, among the best I've ever read. The story is slowly absorbing, and by the time you hit page 100 or so, you'll have a had time putting this book down.At first I thought the approach of telling the story from 5 different points of view would be distracting, but it never was. I came to look forward to each character's take on what was going on, and the author does an excellent job of creating individual and memorable voices for each character. The story is surprisingly funny, but the overall tone is one of great sadness, a mourning for the Congo, for the U.S., and for the personal tragedies that befall the Price family in the novel. Overall, this is one of the best recent books I've read, and it deserves a wide audience. I will never forget it, and I believe that it will become a modern classic that will be enjoyed for years to come. It's the kind of book that readers and writers can marvel at for its beautiful use of language and character to tell a story that is as haunting as it is memorable.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow start, but you will enjoy it in the end..
Review: I stumbled over the "The Poisonwood Bible" almost by accident while backpacking around Latin America. (Truth is, "The Poisonwood Bible" was the only book the 2nd hand bookstore would let me swap my old book "I know this much is true" for, without charging anything extra. On a backpackers budget and running low on money, this was a good argument for choosing a book *smile*). At first I thought, "There is no way I am getting through this 600 pages book"!! It seemed incredibly boring. Honestly, I feared the book would last for the rest of my trip! However, after struggling through about 150 pages or so I really got into it and after that I found it hard, if not impossible, to put down. (I actually read while I was having dinner at a restaurant with my boyfriend!) I found myself to enjoy both the story of the characters (a missionary, his wife, and their daughters) as well as the political history lesson I got about the Belgian Congo. "The Poisonwood Bible" gave me a better understanding of the politics of Africa and the difficulties of its people. I learned heaps about a lifestyle very different from mine, despite the fact that the story was built on fictional people. If you can be patient and give the book some time, you will find that you enjoy "The Poisonwood bible".
Rating:
Summary: Too short! I wanted to start over again when I finished
Review: As a high school student, I don't often finish books in under several weeks -- too much work. But with Poisonwood Bible, there was no way I was going to put it down. Every second of free time I had I was completely engrossed in it. Even when I finished, I kept going back to parts I had really enjoyed and rereading them. The novel is written in style a bit like Faulkner's -- eveyone has their own bit to narrate and a different way of telling their bit of the story (although I liked Poisonwood Bible much better than As I Lay Dying). The characters are vibrant and alive, each with a very distinct personality. The writing is beautiful; I found myslef quite often reading a passage (or even a chapter) multiple times just to savor the words. The story follows the lives of each member in the Price family through their experiences as missionaries in a small town in revolutionary Congo. The narrative bits are told by 4 daughters of an evangelical Baptist preacher; his wife introduces each "book of the bible" with a flashback that vaguely tells what the next section is about, but only enough to make you insanely curious as to what she's talking about. The youngest daughter, about 5 when the book starts, has a distinct little-girl way of talking, mistaking much of what is told to her in ways so ludicrous I found myself laughing out loud, which I rarely do when reading. The oldest, Rachel, is about 15 at the beginning and would much rather be home in Georgia going to parties and reading beauty magazines. She the brightest member of the family, often using wrong words in sentences that have a double meaning: explaining the difference between society in Africa and America, she emphasizes that "we have our own system of marriage - it's called monotony." Her antics, while sometimes painfully pretentious, are amusing. Adah and Leah are identical twins - or supposed to be. Leah is strong and active, while Adah is paralyzed on one side of her body. Both are extremely bright, but use their intelligence in completely different ways. I found myself agreeing with both of them, even though sometimes they had completely opposite opinions on something. Leah was a fun and thought-provoking character. I learned most about politics from her, and enjoyed it. And I'm not much of politics enthusiast. Adah was my favorite character; her thinking, while not traditionally intelligent, was unusual and intriguing. She created palindromes right and left, read books backwards when she finished reading them foreward, was a huge fan of Miss Emily Dickinson (No snikcidy lime, backwards), and left me more enthusiastic about poetry than I usually am. I loved these characters by the end and hated to put the book down. But at the same time, I wanted to tell everyone I knew about it, wanted everyone to read it. When I gave it to my best friend, her reaction was the same as mine. "Didi, I finished the book! Ack! What am I going to do now? I think I'll read it again." In fact, maybe writing a review for it wasn't such a great idea; I wouldn't mind reading it over instead of working on homework. I could read this book any number of times and not get sick of it. Each time, there is something new to discover and more to understand.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: This is a wonderful piece of literature. The caharcter development is excellent. I love a book that can transport you to a different time and place.
Rating: 
Summary: Anti-male, anti-white, anti-capitalist, AND unrealistic
Review: As a white South African, whose parents, grand-parents, great-grandparents, and earlier ancestors have lived in South and Central Africa since the 1600s, I found the Poisonwood Bible to be typical anti-settler, pro-native, pro-Marxist tripe. I don't need to dwell on the author's obvious biases against men, whites, and capitalism--those are plain to see and she is entitled to her bigoted pinko-commie-liberal perspective. As for 'realism', please! We're supposed to believe that these missionaries went to live in the village of Kilanga and lived THE SAME WAY as the iron-age natives? My great-grandparents in Rhodesia (the country on the Congo's southern border) lived in houses with wells for water, windmills, and indoor plumbing--in the 1910s. The story of the Price family begins in 1959! Comically, Ms. Kingsolver believes the Congolese natives are all-knowing and the ignorant whites couldn't even survive without the natives' benevolence. That's why Black Africa TO THIS DAY is the most backward and undeveloped region of the whole planet--it's due to those brilliant black Africans. And, somehow, those countries with the largest number of white citizens (South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya) somehow have per-capita GDP and living standards far above their black-only neighbours. Finally, two issues grated throughout: even though the author acknowledged Mobutu's 'Zairisation' programme of changing all the names (Leopoldville is now Kinshasa), she continued to use the colonial names long after her story moved into the 1980s. I guarantee you no one called Kisangani 'Stanleyville' in 1985! Secondly, the 'road trip' that the sisters take in the early 1980s from Dakar to Brazzaville is preposterous. First of all, the idea of 3 white women making that journey across West Africa by themselves is ludicrous (What route do you think they took? How many civil wars were underway along that route? Why wouldn't they just ship the Land Rover directly to the Zairean port of Matadi? And, WHY would someone buy a British Land Rover in ATLANTA in the early 1980s and not in Britain or ex-British Africa? Like I said--too preposterous.) All-in-all, I admit Kingsolver has a way with the English language--her prose is often. However, this story was ridiculous.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I must admit I'm not a big fan of "historical" fiction, and I don't think I would have read THE POISONWOOD BIBLE if not for the fact that my husband gave this to me as a Christmas gift. I am so glad that he did. THE POISONWOOD BIBLE is an epic novel spanning thirty years that tells the story of the Price family, Baptist missionaries who leave their home in Georgia in 1959 and head to the Belgian Congo. The novel is told in the alternating voices of Orelanna Price and her four daughters Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May. This is the first book by Ms. Kingsolver that I've read, and it will certainly not be the last. This is a novel of greath power and depth. Stunning and beautifully written, THE POISONWOOD BIBLE is a piece of fiction that is unforgettable and should not be missed.
Rating:
Summary: intense and important
Review: The Poisonwood Bible was my introduction to Kingsolver's books. And I must say it helped sell me on her storytelling style... reading the Prodigal Summer sealed the sale. That's a big FOR SURE! I thoroughly enjoyed the epic story spun in The Poisonwood Bible. The characters, topic, and setting were thought provoking. The story taught me much about a lifestyle very foreign to me and mine, even though it was based on fictional folks. This is one of the best, most enjoyable, books I've read in a long, long time.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book before all the others on your list.
Review: This novel will tiptoe gracefully into your mind, plant seeds of initial interest, and then knock you flat onto the ground, gasping for more. I finished it with tears streaming down my face from the simple emotion of it all, and the sadness I felt in coming to the end. I might add that I am not generally an overly emotional person. Although the first chapters start a little slow, I was hooked in no time, and felt like I knew the characters as real people. For younger readers, like myself, at 22, they will be simultaneously appalled and interested in the US's historical involvement in the heart of Africa. Another American tragedy rewritten in history for the next generation. To make a long story short, go read this book now.
Rating:
Summary: One of the very best books I've ever read
Review: I've recommended this novel to several close friends, and they all agree. This book is amazing. It's absolutely unforgetable; you shouldn't be disappointed. The writing at times - especially the first and last chapters - is beautiful enough to bring tears. I cried for hours after I first read this book. It is one I know I will read several times in the course of my life. You should read it too.
Rating:
Summary: Avid reader from Michigan
Review: Barbara Kingsolver managed to captivate me with this complex novel. I was as entranced with the story of the characters (a missionary, his wife, and their daughters) as with the political history lesson about the Belgian Congo. The characters are very real, and when they find themselves in the midst of personal and political crises' they each find their own path. The observations of the wife and mother at the end of the story were so touching I was in tears. This is now one of my favorite books!
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