Rating: 
Summary: An Eye Opener
Review: When I began reading The Bean Trees I was rather bored. The book didn't seem interesting and the plot started out slow. As I proceeded to read on I became more intrigued. The plot slowly started to unfold more in the story. The characters became a little bit more clear. Eventually I got to the point where I didn't want to put the book down. Each character was well defined and had their own personality. There were no two personalities a like in this novel. The characters seem to change as the story goes on, and they eventually grew on you. My favorite character was Taylor. Taylor like myself was an ordinary girl. Her main goal in life was to not become like every other girl where she lived. She wanted more to life, but like in everyone's life she had struggles to. This book represented life and the transitions you go through throughout your life. I know personally I am going through a transition in my life so I could relate to Taylor and what she was going through to a certain point. I think the main focus of the book was Taylor, but it was more based upon learning to accept life. Taylor really opened up my eyes and showed me there is more to life then just myself. By the end of the story I had felt like I had learned a lesson from Taylor's experiences. The Bean Trees was a wonderful book that anyone could fall in love with. It's not a story that takes you on a wild adventure, but it is a story that takes you through life. You can't run away from life, and it can never be perfect. You can however accept what you have and realize that you are happy with where you are.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book by my favorite author
Review: I first want to say that Barbara Kingsolver is my favorite author. The first book I read of hers was Animal Dreams and I've been captivated by her ever since. I truly enjoy everything that she writes and look forward to every book I get of hers. Bean Trees is my favorite book by Barbara as this book pulls at my heartstrings. I cried the first couple of times I read it. Her use of imagery and her descriptions of places makes me feel like I am right there with the characters and seeing what they see. I like that it's not a complex book that requires all my brain cells to read. It's a wonderful book and I can read it no matter what mood I am in. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It's a wonderful story and Barbara does a great job of telling it.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay-But a Bit Strange in Characters!
Review: I was able to get through this book okay, but found it a little boring. It jumped around a lot. Taylor Greer is an eighteen year old girl striving for independence in her life. She also wants to cut the strings with her boyfriend to avoid pregnancy. In her travels from her hometown of Kentucky, she meets the human condition head-on when a baby is placed in her car. The mother takes off and leaves. So Taylor has no choice but to love it and calls her Turtle for the way she grabs onto things. As the book continues, other strange characters enter the scene, and the story line skips around quite a bit. This is what I didn't like about the story as a whole; otherwise it would have been good.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and captivating
Review: If you like self-discovery novels, you'll love Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees. The imagery and plot of this novel are fascinating. This novel is one that young women everywhere can relate to on many levels. Taylor Greer takes a road trip from her hometown in Kentucky to find out where she belongs in the world. Along the way she picks up an orphan child that she's stuck with. She's broke, doesn't have a job, and she has a kid she doesn't know how to take care of. She ends up in Arizona, where she meets many interesting people and a few unexpected twists and turns. While reading this book, I found that I couldn't put it down. I was captivated by Taylor's life, on the edge of my seat so to speak anticipating what would happen to her next. I loved this book and one day I expect I will be reading it again.
Rating: 
Summary: The Bean Trees
Review: I read this book as a senior in high school. After reading many novels in my high school career I would have to say that Barbara Kingsolver does an outstanding job in portraying the struggles of a single mother on her own. Taylor the main character of the novel starts off by leaving her home in Kentucky to head west to try and start a new life of her own. On her journey out west she has many lifetime experiences that most people would not like to have. Although she did have these experiences she took them head on and never regreted the decisions that she had to make. The biggest experience for her and will last her the rest of her life was when someone gave her a baby girl because they could not take care of it anymore. Traveling with her and the new acquired passenger Turtle the two go through the good times and the bad times of life together in becoming an inseperable mother daughter combination in the end. This book was extremly touching and would not only appeal to single mothers but to all kinds, with problems they endure in life, as the different problems in life seem to always present themselves through out the novel but are solved with the love of someone or something in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Easy book to read
Review: I read the Bean Trees, by Barabara Kingsolver, as a sophomore in High School. Now as a senior at a different school, I was again required to read The Beans Trees for a novel project. I had no problem reading it twice, it was an okay book and an easy A! This novel is a journey of a young woman named Taylor Greer. It is a book about love, friendship, growing up fast, finding who you really are, and belonging in the world. This was one of the most easiest books I have ever read, and I would recommend it for people who like happy, upbeat books. The only problem I had with this book is that some of the chapters were boring and you just wanted to get through them. But if you look past that, it gets the readers attention and you just want to find out what happens between Taylor and Turtle (the child she was left with) at the end. If you want an easy book, this is it!
Rating: 
Summary: Tucsonian
Review: Living in Tucson and having migrated here from the Midwest at about the same age as the main character, and being from a blue-color background and having worked in the area the book talks about I think the author's characters are from a fantasy world and represent the authors personal politics. I found the characters very boring and self-indulging. It is a good example of liturature that doesn't present the opposing views of life that make reading meaningful to me.
I almost made it half way before I said I don't have to read anymore of this book and exchanged it at the library.
Rating:
Summary: Life With Beans
Review: The story The Bean Trees is about how people, no matter how different they are from one another can come together. The Bean Trees deals with issues of race and motherhood when a young white woman takes in an Indian child as her own. The main characters in this story are, Taylor a spirited young woman. Turtle a neglected little Indian baby. Lou Ann, Taylor's best friend. Maddie, Taylor's employer, she also houses illegal immigrants. Esparanza and Estavon, two of Maddie's "friends."
The main characters are all fighting for freedom and ownership. They all form bonds along the way, thus they help each other by whatever means possible. The characters are always running into problems along the way. For instance, trying to get away with breaking the law, working odd jobs, and just trying to maintain a decent life. Not only do they run into problems, they share many adventures of the perfect life. They do lots of traveling and meet new people along the way, some they always remember and others they will want to forget.
I have two favorite characters. The first is Taylor. I like her because she is a young and unpredictable woman trying to raise a little girl all on her own. My second favorite character is Turtle. I like her because she is quiet and mesmerizing. On a personal basis I feel that I relate to these characters through their emotions. I did enjoy the book very much. I found it to be very entertaining, always full of excitement. My favorite part of the book was when Taylor legally adopted Turtle. It was such a long and anticipated wait, and when it finely came, I was overjoyed. The only thing I would change is the beginning because it starts off kind of slow. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read because readers will get a lot out of it. This book is very powerful.
Rating: 
Summary: Stop! Stop! I'm already dead....
Review: It has been 3 long years since I read Barbara Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees", and to this very day, I still feel completely violated in the worst possible way. This book was an utter nightmare, and I'm pretty sure Kingsolver is an avatar of the Dark Lord we call Satan. Seriously, this book made me wish I had never been born, and only by jabbing my eyes out with a moldy chopstick did I keep myself from drifting off into a coma. Sometimes, I'd be in my bed, trying to go to sleep... and that's when I feel the dark shadowy presence of Turtle, just watching me, breathing heavily. The ramifications of Kingsolver and her atrocity in my life are indescribable. STAY AT LEAST 30 FEET AWAY FROM THIS BOOK AT ALL TIMES! Run for the hills! RUN!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: BORING
Review: This is a terrible book. The only book that is less exciting is the Chosen. If you do buy this book read it and see for yourself, but it is a waste of money. Why would an author write about such a stupid topic. Hope you don't buy it.
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