The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: beautiful
Review: This is Kingsolver's best novel. It's a masterpiece with none of the uncertainties of some of her earlier books. She has found an issue that she explores with great knowledge, compassion, realism, imagination, enthusiasm, zest, humor, sorrow and a personal touch. The story is involving, the characters are believable and politics are presented as they occur in reality -- integrated with the people's lives and having a sometimes tragic, sometimes positive impact. The novel also settles the question, once and for all, whether Ms. Kingsolver is a "serious" writer or not. She has shown here that she is not afraid to take on an issue of epic proportions, and I am sure she has enlightened many and infuriated some with this brave, wonderful book.

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Summary: A history lesson and a multilayered portrait of Africa
Review: I loved this book. The writing is beautiful, and I enjoyed the use of different voices for each character. Some passages were breath-takingly poignant(the children's spontaneous "Mah dah mey I?" tribute to Ruth May)and stayed with me long after I finished the book. My perception of Africa has changed, colored by Kingsolver's vivid details about the landscape and people of the Congo. I learned alot about the political climate and history of the Congo,for which I was grateful, and didn't resent in the least. It's been disappointing to read reviews by people whining about political correctness, "diatribes", and the "bashing" of men, whites, americans, etc. I really appreciated a different kind of perspective for a change, and the chance to examine american biases and assumptions.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, disappointing ending
Review: I was enamored with Kingsolver's writing style in this novel, I found it beautiful, witty and moving. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending. I did not feel that Rachel deserved to become the weak, self centered woman that Kingsolver made her. She became ridiculously stupid. I also felt that Kingsolver became preachy and too political with Leah's character, which was ironic because I think Kingsolver's intention was to condemn preachiness and intolerance. I was satisfied with Orleanna's character and Adah's character was beautiful and refreshing.

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Summary: Loved It!
Review: Although I don't usually relate well to books featuring Americans, I thought this book had a universal appeal. The story is set in the Congo of the 1960s and is the story of the family of Baptist missionary, Nathan Price. The story is told from the point of view of his wife, Orleanna and each of their four daughters. Although the jumps from one narrator to another are quite frequent, they were excellently handled and the narrative never sounded jerky. It had a wonderful flow. Each of the narrators has her own distinctive voice, so much so that I could open the book to any page and tell who was doing the narrating just by the tone of voice. This really made the people come alive. And, although I had a hard time identifying with the women, being a man, I did feel I had come to know them extremely well and understand their problems, hopes and fears. The politics of the Congo were well integrated in the narrative and never "stood out." Be assured, this is a story about a family, not a political treatise. I also became entranced with the setting and thought the author did an excellent job of bringing the Congo alive. Definitely five stars.

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Summary: Africa anew
Review: The Poisonwood Bible is an intelligent and thought inspiring narrative on how well intentioned but misplaced missionary zeal can totally ignore the real needs of the culture it is trying to 'redeem' and at the same time those of its own family members. Innovative and original in the way Kingsolver unfolds her story through the eyes and mind of the various components of the family, eash with their individual outlook and age perspective, the book truly gives a new insight into africa - just as the characters will be indelibly marked by their experience, so too will the western reader be given a fresh look at Africa's troubled colonial past.

Rating:
Summary: LABORIOUS, FORCED AND CONTRIVED
Review: The Poisonwood bible, set in the troubled Congo of the 1960s and spanning thirty-five years, is the story of fire-and-brimstone Baptist minister, Nathan Price, his wife, the emotinally distant Orleanna and their four daughters, the self-indulgent Rachel, the tomboy Leah and her bitter and twisted twin Adah, and the curious and adventurous Ruth May. The story is told from the point-of-view of the women in the family. It encompasses a brilliant and fascinating premise that was almost completey destroyed with poor execution and storytelling. From the opening sentence, all credibility and belief in the characters is destroyed. Orleanna, not educated beyond high school, who calls herself simply, "a housewife from Georgia," speaks like a Georgia housewife yet thinks in prose that would rival the musings of Michael Ondaatje. Rachel is even worse. Attempts to portray her as not-too-smart fail on all counts. Her malaproprisms quickly become tiresome and grating. What's worse, if accepted, they would reveal a brilliant mind rather than one that was lacking. Ruth May, an otherwise engaging five-year-old is also troublesome. At times her thoughts seem to be those of a typical five-year-old; at other times she sounds more like thirty. (At one point, Ruth May says, "Rachel was Miss Priss, now she's a freak of nature." I have never met any five-year-old that could understand, much less make, that comparison.) Each voice is so overly distinctive that the entire book feels forced and contrived, two elements really good prose always avoids. The author also never lets us forget we are reading a book. This problem begins immediately when Ruth May says, "My name is Ruth May." This is almost as bad as the archaic, "Dear Reader." There are other problems with the book, the most evident being Adah's deus ex machina "miraculous" cure and the fact that the narration continues long after the story is really over. I was going to give this book three stars because the events in the lives of the Price family are interesting and well worth telling, but upon further reflection I decided to reduce my rating to one star instead. I just couldn't get past all the mistakes.

Rating:
Summary: A good choice
Review: Really a good book. Well worth my time. Read it!

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Summary: There are Christians and then there are Christians
Review: I enjoyed many of the wry observations made through Adah and found some of the use of language by other characters quite beautiful. However, I was disappointed that none Nathan's daughters discovered true Christianity as they matured and wriggled out from under his brand of God's love. It doesn't wring true that a person,for example Leah, would truly be seeking God and not find Him. And for those of you who are thinking that she did, there is evidence of God in his creation, but He is NOT his creation.

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Summary: A Suite of African Chant
Review: I love liturgical dramas, whether or not they are performed in church. I am reminded throughout The Poisonwood Bible of oratorio, in which soloists step up to the fore and sing along thematic lines unique to each character. With each of Kingsolver's characters, I hear a different mode of chant, a different language, a new pattern of drumming, dancing rhythms and antiphonal choruses in the background. I hear diatribe, supplication, anathema, love-calls. This is a musical, vital book. I do not begrudge Kingsolver her many pages of political preaching, I listened with rapt attention to her sermons because they were based on sound research and love for the people, whereas Nathan's could not be heard with complete dismissal. Leah's voice conveyed what God would have us do for these people, liberation theology in the rough, wheather she would have liked that label or not. I didn't get too emotionally involved with condemning Nathan, either, he was so beyond hope, and showed us glaringly that religion and prayer are not the same thing, do not need each other, and have totally opposite effects. I would have appreciated knowing, though, much earlier in the story, that he was consumed with survivor's guilt, now recognized as a bonified mental illness. I personally know the likenesses of all the characters who performed in this work, and they are real, let me tell you. I have probably reflected each of them at times (except Nathan, thank God)in my own life with reasonable mimicry, and that was a profound wake-up call to me. Orleanna's walking away from the ready to be buried body, her leaving that to Nathan as her perpetual blame and accusation, was a beautiful epiphany of responsibility on her part. I forgave her everything at that moment. But Nathan's misappropriation of Baptism in God's gift of rain was his crowning sacrilege, and his fate I feel, was sealed that very moment. But why didn't Kingsolver allow them to find Ruth May's grave so many years later? Why couldn't they at least have been given that? Read this book, weep, then go out and scrutinize faces for the same physical and spiritual hunger that the Price family saw and experienced, and feed it. In this way we will all practice Biblical justice. We and the world can be changed by this book. Thank you, Barbara.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I love Barbara Kingsolver's other books, but when I read this one I was really disappointed. The book had wonderful writing, but the ending was disappointing in that the father put his family through all that, and then it seemed that he never accomplished what he went to the Congo for in the first place. The family was forced to stay in the Congo by the father's choice, and it kind of leaves a feeling that the family went through alot of unhappiness for nothing.