Rating: 
Summary: its a book about five indiviual women
Review: Language:
It seems that the language depends on the Character that is portraying the situation. There are five different individuals speaking their mind, thoughts, opinions, and it shows their individual view throughout the entire book. The language is quite easily understood, the language being used by all five characters is not very complicated.
Style:
The style that the author used seemed to work well with the context of the book. The book was used as a journal for all five characters. They had admitted their thoughts and exerts of their life. It was interesting how they all seemed to find the meaning of the Poisonwood Bible.
Characters:
The characters, which were all very different from each other, worked together for the book to come together. The fact she used five different peoples perspectives had given the book five diversely different dimensions. They were five different ingredients or flavors, all mixed together to make the final dish, the book. However they were all tied together by there one factor in common, and that is that they are connected by blood.
Plot:
The plot had been very scattered. So many things had happened in the book, one couldn't seem to keep them all strait. The setting of the Congo throughout the book had been a common thread in all the characters, and it was an interesting place to be. However there had been so many mishaps or events that had occurred that hearing about the Congo as much as we had, been tiresome.
Rating: 
Summary: For All to Know
Review: I had to write this review for class, and it wasn't meant to be absolute perfection. i hope you enjoy...Plot-
A Christian family goes to the Congo, to spread Christianity. But they run into problems along the way, and have to deal with the hardships of daily life in the Congo. It also delt with the relationships between family, and growing up. Style-
The author wrote form 4 different perspectives. Each perspective was from one of the girl's point of view. It was interesting to be able to hear from all of the girls, and their opinions on the situation that they were thrown into. Language-
Her language was descriptive and captivating. But at some points she did drag on a bit, and had too much description. But her use of words was well thought up, and the way she wrote changed with the persons (girls) perspective that she was writing from. Character-
Each character had their own way of speaking. You could tell which one was which just by how the author phrased their thoughts. I like being able to hear the views of each of the children and being able to see how their thoughts change as they grew up and matured. by the end of the book each girls voice stood out and resinated in my mind. Over all I beleive that Poisonwood Bible was a great book, and well worth reading
Rating:
Summary: a fun summer book!
Review: Book summery:
Bob Badman
Style: The stile of writing that Barbara Kingsolver used in the book The Poisonwood Bible was a type of journal almost. It switched around from each persons point of view except for the father. I found this way of writing very interesting, the reader could really get a sense of the characters whose opinions were expressed.
Language: The language varied depending on who was speaking. But besides that it seemed pretty much ordinary beside that fact that foul language was taken a little more seriously then today in the prices house. There was some Congolese that took a while to get use to
Character: There were five main characters in the book. The mother of the family who's name was ______. She was unhappy for most of the book. She didn't like the marriage that she was in and wanted to leave the Congo. The father who's name was Nathan. He was a priest who could do no wrong and could see all evil. He was busy converting the African people to Christianity. The oldest daughter was named Rachel. She was obsessed with her looks. And hated it in the Congo. The twines came next they were very different. The first one was named Leah. She loved her father for most of the book and in the end just felt sorry for him. Adah was a cripple for most of the book that couldn't talk and only wrote her opinions down. She hated her father and had a more real outlook on life the any of them. The lasts one's name in Ruth May she dies half way through from a snake bite, before this happened she was a fun character who loved pretty much everything.
Plot: The plot is a family that travels to the Congo to do missionary work with an African tribe. They come back completely change in every way. I liked the book a lot.
Rating: 
Summary: THIS BOOK ROCKS!!!
Review: The plot of The Poisonwood Bible was not the best part of the novel by any means. Unlike most novels, the plot is not the purpose of the book, but more of a bookshelf onto which Barbara Kingsolver can put many things. So, in one sense, the plot is very slow and lacking in exciting events, while in the other it an ingenious base for the rest of the book.
The characters were the best part of The Poisonwood Bible. Babara Kingsolver did an incredible job of giving the five women life. She gave them all distinct personalities, perfect bodies and backgrounds to support them, and she describes all this to the reader very clearly, through the use of both the character's own thoughts and actions, as well as the observations made by the other women. Barbara Kingsolver also shows the men and women who are not members of the Price family very well, with detailed descriptions of the characters. One of the most ingenious methods employed is to describe the same character through the eyes of several of the family members, so that the reader gets a very thorough understanding of the other characters. It functions much like triangulation: using two known points and their relation to a third in order to calculate the third's location. Barbara Kingsolver gave all of the characters life exceptionally well.
Language is one of Barbara Kingsolver's greatest tools in writing this book. In the words of Time magazine, "She is a gifted magician of words." She commands it so well that many times throughout this book I found myself almost reading a poem, engrained in the text. One of the most astounding parts of this book is that she uses a fairly simple vocabulary. What is amazing is that with very simple words she writes beautifully and describes countless things with exquisite detail.
Barbara Kingsolver has an extraordinary ability to describe anything from objects to obscure concepts. This greatly enhances her writing. However, she describes various things an uncanny number of times, which occasionally becomes annoying, for it slows the plot down. For the most part, however, her writing style is very fun to read and holds my interest and provided a nice education on the revolution of the Congo.
Rating:
Summary: Has its ups and downs
Review: I thought the book had a thick plot, not too complicated but it kept you reading, many things happened, that kept you reading yet the idea of it all taking place in one area, dragged on and sometimes got boring. I thought the characters, were great, I hated most of them but later I realized that it wasn't the particular character that i hated but that the charcter was meant to be that way to draw me closer to the book. After getting through the book I realy got a feel for each character and could feel like I knew this person. I felt the themes of this book were its best part, I will definitely say that the book drags on and can relly annoy you at times, but you'll keep reading and the variety of themes, such as religion, politics, death are what make the characters interesting and keep you into the book. The best part is how the charaters react to the situations, and different themes that are put in from of them. Its a pretty good book!
Peace on earth and much love dudes, party hard!
Rating:
Summary: Poison Wood Bible review
Review: The interesting book Poison Wood Bible, by the author Barbara Kingsolver takes the reader to the year 1969, into the world of the Congo. This unique piece of literature, tells the story of a preacher, his wife and his four daughters as they set out on a transformative journey, brining with them the word of god and ignorance from living in a civilized society. The family adapts to the new environment, trying to convert the people of the Congo into Christians.
Through her writing, she is able to capture the spirit of the culture, creating a vivid image of the Congolese lifestyle. The writing changes from one character's simplistic perspective, to another more poetical perspective. Her writing transcends the ordinary, and brings out the interesting aspects of the culture.
Through each of the stereotypical characters, the reader is able to get a sense of the inner personalities that make each character unique. The images Kingsolver evokes through her writing come to life and reflect the mood of the environment. One unique character that she creates through her writing is Adah, a crippled girl, who makes life seem like a poem. She is portrayed as a whimsical dark person, who uses her creativity in a silent way. Kingsolver also incorporates the Congo's history through the eyes of her characters, making it seem realistic. The historical perspectives seem more realistic, because they are through perspectives that do not give opinions on the events that take place.
This book was enjoyable, because, the diverse writing styles captured the essence of each character. Kingsolver is able to take an original theme and turn it into a transformative poetical story.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Summer Read...
Review: The Poisonwood Bible was a great summer read book. It took some dedicated time for reading but, for the most part, it paid off. This book was about a family containing Orleanna, a hard-working mother, Nathan, a father dedicated to religion, Rachel, a snotty beauty queen, Leah, a smart young woman, her crippled twin, Adah, and Ruth May, an happy little girl. The father brought them to the Congo where he wanted to fulfill his dream of converting the African people to Christianity. The book faced issues about conflicting religions, clashing personalities, and a father who would not listen to his own family. The plot of The Poisonwood Bible was adventurous. A family who is so used to the ease and convenience of life in the United States in a big mansion is picked up and plopped into a small house made out of mud and sticks. On top of that, this family was so caught up in the fact that their culture must be so much better than the one that they are living in, that they believed people would just bow down at their feet. While Nathan Price, was having sermons and begging people to give in to God, the rest of the family, the girls, were all looking for things to do to pass time. They began to learn that the culture was perfect on its own and did not need any persuasion from other cultures to change it at all. Ruth May found the other children in the village to play with and Leah found Anatole, her soon to be husband. Instead of Rachel finding someone to hang out with, someone else found her. The crazy witchdoctor of the village, Tata Kuvudundu, decided he wanted Rachel to be his wife, or at least to add her to the collection of five or six other wives that he already had. In the end, they all found a place for themselves where they were the happiest and everything was mostly all right. The style of the book was very detailed. Every character and object in the book was always explained in extreme detail. This is mostly a good thing because the author explained exactly how she wanted the characters to be portrayed, but it left little room for much imagination. Also, at the beginning of the book, there was so much detail, I could hardly read it, it was so dense. The language of The Poisonwood Bible was informal. The characters spoke in an everyday dialect. Each main female character had a chapter about her own thoughts and actions. Then the chapters would rotate around until everyone had a turn. This way, the reader got to see everyone's perspective, minus Nathan's perspective. This was a smart way to show the variety and difference of the characters. In conflicts, the reader was able to see all sides of the story to decide what they thought for themselves rather than have one character tell the reader what to think. The characters from the book were realistic because they acted like people in everyday life. Each character had such an extreme and different personality that it was exciting to switch between views. If there had only been one perspective, reading would have gotten dull, but the constant switches of perspective in The Poisonwood Bible made the read interesting and fun.
Rating:
Summary: hmmm
Review: Plot; The plot of the poisonwood bible is not only intriguing but passionate in the way that it describes the different view points in which the characters express. What is most important in this story is that it is written from primarily a woman's point of view. This gives the novel a completely new approach. The fact that it gives almost all the characters a chance to speak greatly ads to the book's importance. Style: The style in which the story switched characters in order to show the different view points is very interesting. It gives the story a new side that most readers would not normally see. It allowed everyone from the older mother to the littlest child to speak and have a voice. It was also important because it showed the viewpoints of that child as apposed to the old mother. Language: I thought it was interesting the language that was used in the story. The contradiction of the so called primitive natives and the dignified Americans. It was a great clash of culture which proved to be both positive and negative.
Rating:
Summary: interesting
Review: Plot: the plot was intriguing and fairly easy to follow. While the plot was not very complex it was captivating and probably the biggest asset to the book. It was primarily written from a woman's point of view, which gave the story a different personality than most. It took literature from one narrow angle and made it dynamic and diverse. Style: the style in this book was very unique. It was captivating how the author wrote from so many different perspectives. I found this style much more interesting to read than that of other books. Language: The language in this book was mostly similar to that of other books. When the character Adah wrote, though, her language was very distinct. She wrote phrases backward, put in poems relating to various things, and the reader could really explore her mind.
Rating:
Summary: Fufu for the mind
Review: Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is a magnificent piece of literature in which the author tells the story of a preacher, his wife, and his four daughters as they struggle to survive on a religious mission in the Congo. The book is written from the points of view of all five of the Price females, yet Kingsolver's own style is unmistakably present in each of the voices. She writes with an honesty that makes all her characters believable. Her prose that is neither dully straightforward, nor overwhelmingly lyrical.
Each character uses slightly different language. Adah finds joy in the intricacies of language. Her chapters are erudite and full of dark whimsy. Palindromes are her favorite form of expression. Kingsolver abandons her grasp of English in Rachel's chapters in a display of the character's ignorance. Leah speaks in simplistic, down-to-earth tones. Ruth May seems too advanced for her age in her language, though Kingsolver obviously makes an attempt to alter her writing to sound like a three-year-old. Overall, her language is pleasing to read.
The characters in The Poisonwood Bible are in-depth, though stereotypical. Leah is patient and boring. Adah is dark and silent. Rachel is flighty and the typical preppy American girl. Ruth May is an innocent toddler. Nathan Price is a patriarchal religious father. The redeeming quality is that Kingsolver herself has faith in her characters. She paints a vivid portrait of each one that makes them believable despite that our rational selves tell us that the characters fall too neatly into categories to ever show up as people in real life.
The plot itself is intricate and incorporates the tragic history of the Congo. The family's daily life is easily believable. Kingsolver's gift is that she can make us, her readers, see the connection and balance of the entire universe in the simple actions of every day.
|
