The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Good But Inaccurate
Review: As an African Christian English teacher, I found this novel to be a very entertaining and challenging read. However, I take objection to the way-too simplistic treatment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Africa. First of all, what Baptist preacher anywhere in the world would put the Apocrypha on the same level as the protestant Bible? That's highly improbable. Second of all, where are any of the myriads of positive conversions to Christ all over the African continent, including Zaire/Congo, despite the despicable excesses, hypocrisies and distortions of too many of the European/American missionaries? Where are the miraculous healings and transformations of human life? Where are the indegenous missionaries who absolutely refuse to equate Christianity with western civilization? Where is any reference at all to the presence of the Gospel on the continent hundreds and hundreds of years even before the coming of the European missionaries to Africa ? Where is the historical Jesus in all of this?(And by the way, there is no evidence whatsoever that Christians "invented" the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. To state that flatly without so much as a question is a clear indication that the author is as dogmatic in her disbelief as Nathan is in his belief.) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is far more realistic and fair in its treatment of Christianity in Africa as it exposes the abuses of the Bible at the hands of the European missionaries. Finally, born and raised in West Africa where driver ants marching through houses and devouring everything in their path was not an uncommon occurence outside the city, I never once saw or heard of whole villages being submerged under a massive army of ants. I may be wrong about the Congo, but I do wonder whether or not that has ever happened even there.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book
Review: Beautifully written; a terrific book. Fantastic examination of motherhood and family. This may be the best book I read in '99.

Rating:
Summary: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Review: I loved this book! I was an adult during the time of Patrice Lumumba. I am so ashamed that it took this work of fiction to awaken me to Congo (Zaire) history. Any book that inspires me to read more about its subject has done its job and more. I loved the five women who narrated their stories and loathed their religious fanatic husband and father. I was awed by the skill and wit it took for the author to create Adah. Remarkable. This is quite a departure for Kingsolver, who usually writes about the American Southwest. Brava!

Rating:
Summary: Hits and misses
Review: Clearly this is Barbara Kingsolver's most difficult and ambitious work... departing from the light heartedness, amusing narrators in the Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven. The five women who narrate the story are captivating... and i thank Kingsolver for exposing her politics... it seems to me that most American readers do not want to have to face politics in "pleasure" writing, as ignorance is bliss. :-) She gave me an amazing history lesson about Zaire, and the U.S.'s fear of socialist economic systems. This is a fine work, despite the minor problems with its length, etc. Definatly worth reading, and serves as a much needed wake up call to us Americans, who are all too comfortable in our capitalist revery, unaware of what it costs the rest of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Remember this is FICTION!
Review: I am almost through the final chapter of this book and want to remind readers that this book is a work of fiction! So any discrepancies or expansions on the truth were the author's perogative! Who cares if lions don't live in this part of Africa? Who cares if the savannah and the rainforest cannot exist in the same geographic area? It works with the story and makes it a spellbinding tale if you remember to give up any need for total factual reality. Perhaps the author is trying to make political statements; if you take the book as pure entertainment (however gutwrenching it can be at times), it is worth the read. I am reminded of the Clan of the Cave Bear series, the proverbial caveman soap opera, which was also criticized for its lack of accuracy. Who cares - did it keep your attention and did you enjoy reading it?

Rating:
Summary: The Poisonwood Bible
Review: The Poisonwood Bible was a good book which showed how religion can manipulate some people (The Father) I was fascinated by the way the girls portrayed their Father and Mother and how thier lives changed so significantly while living in Africa. This is a definate 'read' book.

Rating:
Summary: Thank-you Edmond's Bookshop!
Review: I buy a lot of books and this one was recommended by a little bookstore that I have truly grown to love. I wanted a book I couldn't put down and they have hit it right with every recommendation. Other reviewers who rate TPB highly have captured my sentiments exactly. I just want to add that the malapropisms, the "politics on the sleeve," the way the story was told, and any other jab at this work only added to the depth, historical understanding and general enjoyment of this marvelous book.

Rating:
Summary: Full fathom five thy father lies
Review: Exquisite. Humbling. Overwhelming. Ms. Kingsolver thrusts both hands into the deep, slithering, breathing, convulsive tilth that is Africa and shapes it into a beautiful tale I'm still savoring. I opened this book with quite different views than I possessed at the finish. I am amazed by my own ignorance; just when I think I understand this wonderful, frightening, burdensome world, I find something like this book that throws me back on my heels. If you liked Out of Africa, read this book. Perhaps Ms. Dinesen and Ms. Kingsolver have vastly different views--one having been a colonial herself--but the _language_, the imagery--my God! The only lull for me was toward the end, in Leah's political themes, and that was mainly because I don't know that much about the Congo's history or how it involves America. Bewildering and changing and full of revelations, however. What are you waiting for? Read the book!

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, exciting story--but real thing is better
Review: Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible" is a gripping, well-written novel. The perspectives of the different characters at varying ages add tremendous depth to the story (though I did find the character of Rachel too consistently shallow to be believable). However, I could not help but be saddened throughout the book by the superficial and fairly ignorant treatment of the heart and motive of true Christian missionary work. From the bibliography, it appears that the author did a fine job of researching the history, geography, and people of Africa, but skimmed over the book's all-too-peripheral subject of Christianity. Real-life missionary stories (Elisabeth Elliot's "Through Gates of Splendor" and Bruce Olson's "Bruchko," to name a few) are packed with more emotion, more action, more tragedy, and ultimately, more hope than Kingsolver could ever dream up.

Rating:
Summary: gab gab gab
Review: I read the book cover to cover waiting for it to get off the ground. Barbara has some worthwhile things to say on philosophy, politics, religion, economics, and culture. Unfortunately, she rambles on and on in first person accounts from four females. She could accomplish her literary objectives with half as many words.