Rating: 
Summary: Great read on many levels!
Review: I found this book to be very interesting in terms of family dynamics, "religion", and culture. There was the simple (or not so simple) dynamic of a family of women. Because the story is told in the voices of the sisters and mother, the reader gets a glimpse of how the each female family member views, feels, and reacts to the scenes in the book. And Kingsolver does not simply retell the scene through different eyes (that would be boring). She was able to move the story along with each passage "written" in the language of one of the daughters or the mother.Interwoven throughout the story are the cultural perspectives of the Belgian Congo's inhabitants. This was most powerful for me in the passages about the fire ants and the passages about the garden. I thought it was a beautifully written book that will remain on my favorite current books list along with Memoirs of a Geisha and The Red Tent.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!!!
Review: I LOVED THIS BOOK! It is literally my favorite book of all time. I chose it initially because I had read and enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver's earlier works of fiction. This is her best novel thus far. I traveled in Africa a couple of years ago, and this book brought back all the happiness, guilt, anger, fear, and sorrow that I had long since pushed from my mind. Africa is a tricky place to discuss; most people think of the game parks or maybe the Sahara. Kingsolver manages to correct these assumptions. She personifies the region so well that one can easily find themself "in" the book, involved with the true-to-life characters. I read all 543 glorius pages in one weekend! I simply couldn't put it down. It is a masterpiece, and will be enjoyed by all.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: The Poisonwood Bible is one of the most thought provoking and thoroughly enjoyable books to come out in the last ten years. I finished it last night and have already sent the book off to my mother so that she can see into the lives of these women as I did. Ms. Kingsolver's use of the English language was wonderful and intriguing - such as the backward/ forward reading by Adah. As some of the other reviewers metioned the book did slow down at the end but how would we all have felt if we did not get to see into the sisters lives in their 30's, 40's and 50's. I would not have changed one sentence in this novel and I thank Ms. Kingsolver for sharing this story with us.
Rating: 
Summary: Men,traditional families and our Christian God ,,be gone....
Review: The writer has great descriptive powers but her basic anti men view and the rejection of traditional values found in the King James Bible along with the ideal as the "noble savage" should have been stated openly and up front by the author. The reader would then understand the slanted views of the World and Africa presented in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Kingsolver Recommends
Review: Great book! If you enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible for its attention to detail and its carefully delineated characterizations, you may also enjoy "The GI Generation". Written by Frank Mathias, the "GI Generation" vividly describes life in a small town in pre-World War II Kentucky. With a fluid and often hilarious narrative Mathias lets us live as a child of the 1930's. His writing has that "ring of truth" which amplifies the humor and poignancy of the tales he tells. He never forgot how ten-year-olds view the world. A delightful, engrossing, touching memoir giving much needed context to the lives of those who gave the supreme sacrifice. Barbara Kingsolver has this to say about "The GI Generation": "What a joy it was to read this book by an author from my own hometown, who observes our little dot on the map with both humor and good grace. This memoir is an important reminder that urban life is not the only life: it reveals, for instance, that for people living close to their needs and far from the command-posts of the cash economy, a thing like the Great Depression could be largely irrelevant. Frank Mathias respectfully renders small-town history as a worthy piece of something larger: ourselves. America." ~Barbara Kingsolver
Rating:
Summary: Complex, perhaps overlong, but satisfying novel...
Review: In the Poisonwood Bible Kingsolver has written a many-layered, multiple-themed novel of family relationships. A missionary family leaves mid-America during the '60s and moves to the Congo, with unexpected results. The novel speaks with the voices of the women involved, the mother Orleanna, and her three daughters; Leah, Rachel, and Adah. Kingsolver ably gives voice to each of these women, and shows how each views their experience and the man in their lives (the preacher father, Nathan) differently. The book takes a bit of determination to read, but rewards same with depth of characterization and plot. We follow the various family members over some 30 years of their lives, from the US to the Congo, and back again. Each woman reacts differently to the experience of living in Africa, some reach out and embrace the country and its people, some reject the experience and strive to remain the American girls they once were. The process is fascinating to watch, and it is easy to identify with the characters. The book does bog down a bit from place to place, but by the time it does you're hooked and so slog on to the finish. It's not mind-candy, but it is a rewarding read.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I was so engrossed in this novel that I couldn't work. Every chance I got I was reading it. I honestly didn't want the book to end. I really loved reading from all points of view. My favorite sister was Adah. This book is very descriptive and you could actually see all the characters and the places. Near the end it did get a little slow especially with Leah's story, but overall it was great. I'd recommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: An educating and entertaining novel
Review: Barbara Kingsolver has truly written a wonderful book, full of family, love, abuse, and history. There is something that nearly everyone could identify with, whether it be the nationalistic pride felt by Leah's husband, the American arrogance displayed by Rachel, or the stuggle to fit in such as Adah demonstrates. I would have to agree with another review that the last section of the book was slow and difficult to wade through. Right as we are immersed into the adult lives of the three girls, Kingsolver belittles them next to the large historic events that have and are occuring in Africa. And honestly, we are more interested in what is happening in the lives of the girls. It was wonderfully encapturing. I found myself loving and hating various characters in the book, so much so that I would have to force myself not to skip one section merely to read one written about the character I truly enjoyed. From the jungle in which they are dumped to the Africa which will never truly escape them, these girls are a masterpiece which Kingsolver has created.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written...until the end.
Review: As a fifteen year old girl living in the year 2000, maybe it's just pickiness that causes me to say I think this book lacked the excitement I crave. Although most of the first half was really interesting and very well written, the second half drove me crazy. I was excited by all the events that took place in Belgian Congo, but once the family was seperated it seemed like page upon page of endless bla bla bla-ing. Not very interesting. I believe a book that spans over ten years is just too much.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and thought provoking
Review: I loved this book and couldn't put it down. The characters narrative of their story was ingenius and put a different twist on one family's slide into hell. They say whales beach themselves, sometimes, because their leader as made a major error in judgement. Poisonwood Bible is the description of a family's personal disaster that actually results in hope for the remaining individuals.
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