Rating: 
Summary: Different and profoundly touching
Review: I must confess up front that this is a difficult novel to get into - I found the style of the 5 different narrators off putting. But I perservered because the subject matter interested me, and I was amply rewarded. It is a novel which makes you count your every day blessings, and it is a novel which will make you look at things you take for granted in an entirely new light.As the novel progresses you do come to identify with the characters and their trials and tribulations. Some of the issues it addresses are shocking. It is also very sad. But it is a well crafted novel. I feel that it loses some of its momentum in the final chapters after their "escape" from the Congo, but this is only a small criticism, and the novel is pulled together nicely by the last chapter. This is a difficult novel to read at several levels, but this is also a very good novel, and well worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Good choice for insomniacs...yawn.
Review: What a disappointment! This is a throw away book - first across the room, then either outside or in the trash. I hung in there and read the whole thing...a total waste of time, but friends recommended it highly so I continued to read with an optimistic attitude. Beeg mistake! The author writes beautifully but the story goes nowhere. I was hoping to learn more about the Congo and its independence movement. Why is.... attracted to books like this??? Read "King Leopold's Ghost" for an excellent history of the horrors the Congolese people suffered under Belgian rule.
Rating: 
Summary: A great novel
Review: I read this book because everyone I saw reading it, from an aircraft mechanic to a college student said it was great. I thought it was excellent, I read it in 2 days. Kingsolver has a way with words that makes it easy to picture exactly what is happening. It is almost as if the book was a movie I saw over the weekend. The political aspect moved very slowly in the end, but other than that I felt it was and execellent novel.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable read
Review: I read through many of the reviews below and I am amused to have experienced a momentary sense of guilt because I found the book to be an enjoyable read yet some of the reviewers believe that means I'm illiterate. I think that maybe the author did not "DO" what I would have with the characters. In a sense the ending of the book is dissatisfying, however I don't think that means that is bad. If you want to escape for awhile and live in someone else's skin in a foreign land. This book did that for me more than any other I've read in the last 10 years. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Many Layers, Many Messages, Many Provoked Thoughts
Review: Barbara Kingsolver has written a dynamic text that asks much of the reader as she guides you on a journey that is both physical and metaphysical. The reading has many layers from mere plot to intense comments on religion, politics, power, masculine vs. feminine energy, geography, history. This reading is in part a slice of liberal education at large. A caution to the reader is the fact that the narration is shared through five visions, five life philosophies, and five life experiences. Kingsolver does a fabulous job reminding us that "truth" and "experience" are subjective as each of the narrator's views the same situation and translates that experience in very different ways. What I liked best about the book was that I questioned my own belief systems as I was either identifying with or disagreeing with the characters. Cheers to your interpretation!
Rating:
Summary: Need a nap? Read this book.
Review: I was exited to read this book. The minute I started that excitement disappeared. I tried to read this book several times and I made it about halfway through before completely giving up. I was so disappointed I wanted to return the book and get my money back. I couldn't read another boring word.
Rating:
Summary: Visit the Congo without leaving your home!
Review: This book will take you on an adventure - emotionally, mentally, and physically! Barbara Kingsolver places you in the Congo, during another place and time, through her amazing use of words. Emotionally you become a part of the Price family; feeling the sacrifice, devotion, and anger that each member faces throughout different times in their lives. Kingsolver made each character the author of their own "chapters" which gave them dimension, and a strong emotional connection between the reader and the characters. This is a book with amazing insight about life in the "real world". I gained a whole new outlook on the meaning of each moment in our individual lives. Finishing this book gave me a feeling of despair, not because of the content, but because it was over. I found this book very nourishing to the soul!
Rating:
Summary: Culture shocking
Review: Here is a family that is not prepared for what awaits them with they go to the Belgian Congo as missionaries. The cake mix that mom smuggles in has turned to a brick when she wants to prepare it for her daughter's birthday. I read this book about a year ago and I can still see the place where they lived in my mind's eye. The garden that failed. The villagers in the tattered clothing. Each character had her own distinct and interesting voice. My one criticism would be that the father was a bit of a mystery. Why was he so unbending? What was his suffering? Nevertheless, I would not hestitate to reccommend this book or run to the library for her next book.
Rating:
Summary: The Poisonwood Bible
Review: This is a fascinating book, written from the perspectives of four different girls/women, who travel to the Congo at the behest of their evangelical missionary father/husband. I learned a tremendous amount about the history of the Congo and the realities of life in a third world country, as well as insights into the responsibility we accept or abdicate for our own lives. Outstanding reading.
Rating:
Summary: Long, dull, disjointed -- couldn't finish it
Review: I was intrigued by the subject matter and the ultimate question of whether we should be sending missionaries to the Congo or other areas to change the basic beliefs of a culture. Unfortunately, this book did not wrestle with this question. The style (different voices for the 5 female characters) leaves you feeling as though you are reading 5 separate books; and the chapters by Rachel are unreadable due to the author's attempt to make her nearly illiterate. I finally quit half-way through the book (and the other reviews suggest that the first half was the best part!) If you are interested in the basic question of sending missionaries to new places, read Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow" instead of this book.
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