The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel

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Summary: THE POISONWOOD BIBLE
Review: WELL--THIS IS MY FIRST REVIEW. THE FIRST TIME I FELT COMPELLED TO COMMENT ON SOMETHING I'VE READ AND TO RECOMMEND IT. THIS BOOK OPERATES ON SO MANY DIFFERENT LEVELS, A THNKING FICTION-LOVER HAS TO BE ENGAGED. THERE ARE INTERESTING, MOSTLY BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS, A FASCINATING STORY, NICE, SOLID WRITING, GREAT SCENIC DETAIL--WITHOUT GOING INTO LONG, OVERWROUGHT DESCRIPTIVE PASSAGES--INTERESTING COMMENTARY ON RELIGION, US FOREIGN POLICY, NEEDS VS. WANTS...IT'S A GREAT WAY TO SPEND YOUR TIME, AND MIGHT EVEN CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING.

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Summary: Nearly Perfect
Review: Barbara Kingsolver is a gift to readers! Her books and characters teach us a little bit more about ourselves and the world that we live in. "The Poisonwood Bible" is a case in point. I read this hefty book in record time, absorbing the story, the characters, and the lush settings like a dehydrated sponge wanting more. The ONLY downside of the experience of the book is the feeling that the two daughters, although the most likely and even willing to change and grow through their African experience, evolved the least. They were basically the same people at the end as they were at the beginning. But, besides that one, very small dissappointment, the book was beautiful. A must read.

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Summary: Rumble in the Jungle
Review: While on the whole I tend to avoid overtly "political" books, Poisonwood seduced me with unforgettable (though, in the case of Rachel, a bit caricatured) characters, and lovely prose. Not since "As I Lay Dying" has the multiple narrator gimmick worked so well, and Kingsolver unfolds the story at just the right pace. Highly recommended.

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Summary: On a rainy day...
Review: An enchanting book that is best saved for a rainy day in bed. This book dug to the core sweetness and pain of motherhood.

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Summary: Can't Put it Down!
Review: I eat, sleep and dream this book. Each chapter reveals new thoughts and insights of the characters in a way that makes them a part of your life. Its definitely one of the best stories I've read in months. Read it!

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Summary: A new view of civilized vs. indiginous people
Review: Just when I had written off Kingsolver as a sentimental minor writer, she pulls off the Poisonwood Bible, a wonderful study of a missionary family which goes to Africa to redeem the primitives and are instead absorbed by them. Rev. Price is an egomaniacal man with a mission, a mission which does not in anyway fit the people he has decided to save. Even though he is wrongheaded and fanatical, he remains a sympathetic, rather tragic character, ultimately far more fragile than his wife and her four daughters who mostly and in different styles manage to coexist and survive in Africa through plagues, famines, and storms. The Africans come across as entire human beings for a change which makes the characters telling the story, the mother (from a distance of many years) and the four daughters (concurrently with their life in Africa) also more well-rounded. Leah and Adah are twins, one extroverted, the other so deeply introverted she does not talk, Rachel is the crass materialistic egotistical daughter, while doomed Ruth May actually seems to have a full life in Africa until she is bitten by a mamba and becomes a spirit overlooking the living, like a mamba herself, an invisible presence among the trees. I read this book without putting it down. Kingsolver also looks at the politics of the situation in Africa which, first flayed by colonialism is then carved up, its wealth made off with wholesale by the superpowers (especially the U.S. in its wrongheaded righteous attempt to stamp out Communism while giving corporate predators free rein), leaving the Africans to continue their endless struggle just to get through one day at a time. Perhaps that is after all a better way to live than to live like termites eating through the substance of the world.

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Summary: Kingsolver is an excellent storyteller and researcher.
Review: Found "Poisonwood Bible" haunting and perfect; I have greatly enjoyed Kingsolver's other novels, but with "Poisonwood," I felt her maturity and insight as an author develop even further.

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Summary: Great!
Review: This is an absolutely wonderful book - one of the best books that I have ever read. Warning - if you are not interested in the politics of Africa, don't buy it.

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Summary: Gripping-Eye Opener
Review: What a read! Years ago I went to a Fundamental-Independent Baptist Church and one of the hot items was being a missionary or doing mission work. It was treated as giving out candy in the name of doing the Lord's work. I believe in missionary related work but I think there are many, many Christians going out to lands unknown like the Father in Poisionwood. This read was so interesting and humbling to realize what we really need and what we don't. Great book to read right before the 'I want this' season. I hate the materialistic nature of our country. We are going to spend ourselves out of existance - money and greed are our 'green mambas.'

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Summary: Beyond this world incredible book....
Review: Both times I read this book, I cried, and had the most vivid dreams. God bless you, Ms. Kingsolver. You let so many of your readers touch not only spiritual parts of ourselves but also that unnameable pulse that connects us to others and to all of our histories and tragedies. I endearingly beseech of you to write more, more, more.