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Summary: Did not live up to recommendations
Review: This book was recommended to me many times, so finally I got around to reading it. While Kingsolver's language is deft and skillful - I have read more than a few who fall short of her level - the book disappointed me. As a Christian myself, I found it hard to swallow that stereotype of a Baptist preacher that Reverend Price was. My favorite character was Leah, but I couldn't really relate to her any more than the others. Also, after the Price women left the village, the book seemed to plod. The rest just seemed to be a long, long, ending. Looking back on what I wrote, I realize I sound very critical so I will say that Kingsolver is a better writer than many will be. I think it is just that I received such glowing recommendations and I was let down.
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Summary: The Poisonwood Bible
Review: The most remarkable aspect of this wonderful book is that it is told in the voices of several different females...all moving and authentic. I hope Oprah's choice of it brings Barbara Kingsolver the full, wide recognition she deserves. The book will change your view of the Congo forever.
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Summary: The Poisonwood Bible
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Kingsolver was able to write in each character's personality and appropriate vocabulary. I have recommended this book to all my friends.
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Summary: A moving story of a missionary family in the Belgian Congo
Review: I found this book to be entertaining and educational. I marveled at the way the author told the story of a missionary family's foray to the Belgian Congo through the eyes of a mother and her four daughters. The book was a wonderful primer on the Congo and the events that occurred during it's struggle for independence. I found myself wanting to read more and more of the book - not only to find out what happened to the wonderful characters, but also to find what would happen to the country itself. A great vacation read! You'll be thinking about the characters and the events in this book for a long time after you've finished reading about them.
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Summary: A little too ambitious
Review: This book has wonderful writing and characterization. The author, however, tries too hard to fit in her agenda, which has interesting parts, but is too broad. This is one of Kingsolver's main flaws, but most of her books are more about the characters and less about the message. All of her books are good, but this one is my least favorite.
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Summary: Wow!
Review: I couldn't put this book down, and read it straight through. As of last night at 2 a.m.,it's right up there with "100 Years of Solitude" in my personal favorites fiction list. I liked Kingsolver's earlier books very much, but this book is at another level of excellence, combining a very gripping story line with fabulous descriptive power and a solid historical background. I particularly liked her alternating narrators and was awed by the way this ordinary family's life deteriorated, and then by the survival of the mother and daughters. "Our Father," as Adah calls her earthly fundamentalist father, is one of the most memorably drawn characters I've ever encountered. Every mother out there will want to grab him and shake him. It's possible that some Christian fundamentalists will take issue with his portrayal, but as Christian myself, I found a great deal to ponder in this book. I knew Barbara Kingsolver was a very good writer, but never knew she was a writer of this magnitude. Five stars aren't nearly enough.
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Summary: A Page-turner!
Review: I couldn't put it down. Barbara Kingsolver has written a masterpiece. Eloquent, well-put together and intense at times.
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Summary: The Poisonwood Bible : Barbara Kingsolver
Review: I loved this book. The language is captivating and spellbinding. I am aquainted with the history of the Congo and was there many times. Kingsolver manages to weave a GOOD story within a historical and nature context that is real and true-she managed beautifully to bring the Congo back vividly. The harm and uselessness of missionary work ,where missioners are not sensitive to the 'godsence' of the local people, is sadly brought to focus.The reader experiences the heartache and pain of a wife who has to cope against all odds in a harsh country -for 'The Power, the Kingdom and the Glory' It left me with a sence of sadness for what was done on this beautiful continent by well meaning governments ,who became involved with the plea of Africa, merely for monetary gain. Against this back ground, she weaves the strenght's' and weakness's of her charachters in a credible and acceptable way. I recommend this book as a'MUST READ'
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Summary: Yes, Oprah has done it again.
Review: Why in the world Oprah would want to show a book like this on her show is beyond me, it was the most backbone-breaking, SLOW, BORINGEST book I have ever read, and believe me, (I have read a lot). I am real sick of Oprah Windfree and her retarded ideas, my wife likes to sit on the couch, eat doughnuts, and watch Oprah all day while Im at work, she has ALL of the shows taped. Just because of this book, I am divorcing my wife.
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Summary: The best book I've read in years
Review: This book surpassed my expectations, which were high from the subject and the author. Barbara Kingsolver not only paints a family with the brushes of 5 distinct voices but also portrays a complex political history in personal terms. I was swept away by the writing, the emotion, and the compassion for a very distant and different culture that The Poisonwood Bible pulls together in a seamless whole. An excellent book that I began recommending to others before I'd even finished it.
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