Rating: 
Summary: Long, Slow and Boring
Review: I read this book with my reading group, and after reading all the reviews I am wondering what we missed. Of the 10 in the group only 3 managed to finish. 5 read the first couple of chapters and never went beyond, and the last two quit about half way. I finished the book, but I found it overlong. It was extremely slow moving and frequently boring. I never cared very much about any of the characters with the exception of Adah, and it seemd as if the political agenda of the author frequently overwhelmed the storytelling. Not one I would be inclined to recommend or ever read again.
Rating: 
Summary: Down with the Evil White Devil
Review: How can so many commend this book? Though the writing itself is good, there is a real feeling of artifice - the characters are not believable at all. They are all one voice speaking in different dialects and sounding very contrived. Ideologically, everything about this book is a sham and a cliche. It reminded me of those "mandatory reading" books assigned in my communist school which were really propaganda - except those were a lot shorter and you knew what they were selling you from the start. Ms Kingsolver falls for every cliche in the book. However, the most revolting one (since it is such a flagrant LIE) is the implied notion that the problems of Africa and Africans are entirely the responsibility of white men. Funny how all those who espouse this view seem to flip over that chapter in the history book where we learn how the Arabs bought sold and dehumanized the African long before a white face showed up on the African shore. Yeah, white men exploited Africans - so did everyone else - including Africans themselves. Someone had to sell those slaves at the shore. And let's not even get into how African men treat women - but Ms Kingsolver doesn't really pick up on that since it wouldn't quite fit into her "good African" story. Whatis also forgotten is that the very concept of equality that the Africans seized on so eagerly is a construct of white people and the Western civilization. Africans themselves have enslaved each other for centuries - they heard about communism from the Russians and about Democracy from Westerners. And oh yeah, Christianity is all evil and bad - but those witch doctors and their chicken bones they are okay! The Christian missionary who wants to control the Africans - he's bad. But the scorcerer who controls the AFricans with fear and senseless superstition -he's good! At least the white man has some medicine that has real effect. I'd be returning my book, but all that paper seems useful in the bathroom.
Rating: 
Summary: A Work of Art!
Review: <<The Poisonwood Bible>> is meticulously researched, comprehensive, and a long overdue investigation into the fate of colonial and post-colonial Africa still so unfairly criticized for its allege primitive and violent acts commonly presented by the media without mentioning the role played by greedy Europe and America. Barbara Kingsolver provides readers with a full picture of how superpowers have managed to exploit, corrupt, and destabilize the already fragile sociopolitical situation of Zaire (presently renamed Congo) in search of its identity after two centuries of harsh European colonialism and cultural confusion. Barbara Kingsolver gives examples taken directly from American Newspapers as published in the sixties in order to illustrate how American citizens were badly informed and even manipulated by incomplete information. This needed to be said, and I admire Barbara Kingsolver for opening the readers' eyes as to how reality can be slanted by partial truths that dangerously pave the way to unfair stereotypes and prejudices. Throughout the novel, Barbara Kingsolver provides us with an introspective and feminine narration, empowering the female voices that portray Zaire's chaotic struggle for political and economic independence while the same women are struggling for their own survival and independence. I loved this parallelism. While reports on historical facts are traditionally reconstructed by "know-it-all men" who describe historical events as if detached from personal lives, Barbara Kingsolver uses the voice of five women (a mother and her four daughters) to reintegrate History into people's lives. To illustrate the replacement of traditional literary male canons with a more holistic feminine narration, Barbara Kingsolver had the wonderful idea of depicting a missionary father who claims to be in charge and in control of the Word, but who is symbolically denied any narrative voice in the novel... The father only becomes the passive object talked about in the mother's and daughters' respective diaries. Beautiful!... Barbara Kingsolver's unique artistic style managed to have sociopolitical events intertwine with introspective reflections on the fate of women. Like exploited Africans, women have suffered a long history of enslavement by ruthless masters/husbands. As in the case of enslaved Africans, women's bodies and spirits have been mutilated. Like Africans, women have learned how to express cultural resistance to abusive WASP men who take for granted dichotomies such as the superiority of men, and the inferiority of who is not; the superiority of whites, and the inferiority of who is not; the superiority of fundamentalist protestant sects, and the inferiority of other spiritual philosophies. In short, Barbara Kingsolver dares discussing the errors and sins of righteous men: <<You have nothing to lose but your chains >> she says (p. 495). I especially appreciated Barbara Kingsolver's work on linguistic ambiguities created by homonymic, polysemic, and phonetic issues that the missionary father failed to grasp for lack of an open-mind. He actually remained trapped in his one track-mind where words could only have one meaning, which eventually cost him his life: <<His punishment is the Word, and his deficiencies are failures of words>> (p. 213). For the sole reason of making his sermons more powerful the Reverend decided to learn Kikongo, a local language, naively thinking that language learning is only a matter of word-for-word translation. In his inability to take any criticism as to how to adjust intonation, he turned his own sermons into ridiculous stories. For instance "Batiza" can be pronounced two ways, meaning either "baptism" or "to terrify." The word "bantika" means "to kill" when pronounced correctly, but in the case of David's and Goliath's story, the Reverend pronounced "bantika" in such a way that David ended up deflowering Goliath's virginity. "Father in Heaven" became "Father of Fish Bait." Least but not last, every sermon closed with the phrase <<Tata Jesus is Bängala>> which led the local population to believe that Christianity was definitely strange: <<"Bängala" means something precious and dear. But the way he pronounces it, it means the poisonwood tree. Praise the Lord, halleluia, my friends! For Jesus will make you itch like nobody's business.>> (p. 276). Barbara Kingsolver uses these live examples of miscommunication to make us reflect about historical mistranslations that today's Bibles may be full of: <<God's Word was brought to you by a crew of romantic idealists in a harsh desert culture eons ago, followed by a chain of translators two thousand years long>> (p. 247). The reader is invited to wonder about all the translations and mistranslations of earlier translations and mistranslations: <<... did you think God wrote it all down in the English of King James himself?>> (p. (247) asks a Catholic priest who visited the Reverend's family and who ended up being chased away from the Baptist Reverend's home for the unforgivable sin of being a "Catholic Papist." Indeed, the Baptist Reverend stood categorically against the Catholic Priest's attempt to explain that even the Bible contains animist messages agreeing with local animist traditions that advocate respecting the soul of everyone, of everything, of every act and of every event that surround each and every one of us. Besides making fun of the father's language mistakes that his arrogance could not see, Barbara Kingsolver plays with the children's refreshing ability to create neologies. Among various examples, "Amnesty International" becomes "Damnistry International"; "circumcision" becomes "circus Mission"; the opposite of polygamy becomes "Monotony"; "Episcopalians" becomes "Episcopotaniams"... in short, language creations that make the readers laugh even during the most intense episodes of the novel. These plays on words are an absolute delight! To conclude this review (that I did not plan to be so long), Barbara Kingsolver's <<Poisonwood Bible>> is a Work of Art that deserves five stars. I would even give it six stars for its unique and extraordinary debates on the meaning of life, for its fascinating discussions about the impact of History on personal stories, and for its deep reflections digging out the ignorance and stupidity contained in partial truths, stereotypes, prejudices, absolute values and close-mindedness. I very highly recommend the reading of this extraordinary novel.
Rating:
Summary: Special
Review: A totally fascinating read and I haven't even finished it! Having travelled in Africa shortly after they attained their independence, I have never forgotten the magic of the place which may very well stem from the fact that it is so very primitive and such a stark contrast to our modern world. I never cease to be amazed that there are people who will devote their lives to trying to bring the natives of this amazing country into the 21st century. Their stark poverty and chronic starvation seem to be beyond all efforts to help them. I feel sorry for this family who is at the mercy of their zealot father. How dare he submit them to the dangers and poverty of living in the Congo. How selfish of him to inflict his passions on his helpless children. Hopefully, as I read on, there will be some justification. I am thoroughly enjoying the characters--they are diverse and unique and, tho somewhat precocious for children, I don't find them unbelievable. Children are a lot smarter than most of us adults give them credit for being. I did have a problem with some of the technical weaknesses--they seem to be totally unprepared for the living conditions in which they find themselves. Didn't either of the adults think to ask before they left the States what awaited them where they were going? Did Orleanna really think there would be a modern kitchen with a refrigerator and an oven and electricity? It is still a totally engrossing read and I can't wait to get back to it--
Rating:
Summary: I'll read it again!
Review: I couldn't put this book down. Not only was it an astonishing story, the style of Kingsolver's writing was wonderful. Wry, touching, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, I learnt a lot about the history of the Belgian Congo as well. Fantastic book.
Rating:
Summary: The amazing strength of a woman.
Review: The women in The Poisonwood Bible, the wife and four daughters of reverend Price despite their varied ages and personalities all come together beautifully to tell a moving and inspirational tale of their own personal growth. Orleanna and her daughters all grew to realize the faults of their husband/father and to learn however painful that they would be much better off without him. The Poisonwood Bible tracks the lifelines of each woman over a thirty year period starting in the Congo when Reverend Price first brought them there as a missionary hoping to baptize the young congolese. However the reader not only is allowed to see the damage done and the revelations made of these women in the Congo but also for thirty years afterward how this time spent in the African jungle is still effecting them. It is a book no woman should miss out on.
Rating:
Summary: Another Kingsolver masterpiece
Review: A great book. An eye opening view of the harships of the poor African nations through the eyes of a Baptist Minister's family.
Rating: 
Summary: Ambitious, compelling, worthwhile
Review: It took me a while to decide to read this, being as different as it seemed from Barbara Kingsolver's earlier work. And it *is* different, though in a very interesting way. It is broad in scope, focused in detail and emotion, and a truly compelling read. The focus on the four sisters, with some light shed by the mother, draws the reader in as the pieces of the story begin to fall into place. The prose is lyrical, the voices of the sisters are consistent and imaginative, and the political-historical context of the tangled geopolitical web that was colonial-postcolonial Africa is well drawn. One of my few quibbles: While there are more than a few deliberate instances of telegraphing tragedy, these are a little distracting. Overall, a tremendous work that should be given your attention; you'll be rewarded.
Rating:
Summary: a performer's dream...
Review: I had to read this book for a class in college. It was a performance class where one studied the literature of or about a particular culture, became immersed, then chose a passage to perform for the class. This book lent itself incredibly well to performance. The swift, abrupt switches between characters provided for a more compact and intensified emotional subtext to bleed through in performance. When i read this book for class, I read it in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. I carried it everywhere with me. I found my heart racing as tensions within the family and within the country came to a head. The aftermath, so beautifully depicted (especially in Orleanna's monologues) is almost as affecting as the events leading up to the deluge. Sure, the politics can be a bit ridiculous at times, but I really didn't care. My favorite character, Adah, whom I chose to portray in my final performance, is such a rich, complex tangle of emotional threads, which keep getting broken and mended till they are too strong with their own scar tissue to be broken. Few characters have shattered me like she does. Read this book. It will affect you. I promise.
Rating:
Summary: great reading
Review: This is one of the few books I've read in the past couple of years that created a whole world for me, showed deep insight into a wide variety of characters, provided the structure of an epic novel, and resonated with the greatness of classic themes. I would put it on a short list with works like Anna Karenina, Heart of Darkness, and A Thousand Acres. It was one of the few books I've read that gave me insight into my own values and cultural blind spots and made me question how I will spend the rest of my life. I will read it again.
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