Rating: 
Summary: Endearing and Entertaining
Review: Lou Ann, Mattie, Turtle, Taylor- none of their lives are subject to envy, and yet, somehow it doesn't seem that bad. Barbara Kingsolver's novel highlights some of the perks good friends can bring to a less than perfect world and uses a less than perfect lead character to tell us about it.
Taylor takes us with her as she leaves her small town in Kentucky and settles into a new home in Arizona, all the while keeping us reading with her playful, chatty voice.
We get her details of the exotic scenery, for example, when she crosses the Arizona state line she admits to thinking that "the whole scene looked too goofy to be real," what with the clouds that were "pink and hilarious-looking, like the hippo ballerinas in a Disney movie."
We get to go to work at the Burger Derby with her and learn about Sandi, her "horse-crazy" co-worker. There's Lou-Ann who would have won all the "enthusiastic-employee awards" for her new job at the Red Hot Mama's salsa factory. And Mattie, owner of Jesus is Lord Used Tires, brings in a few new friends from Guatemala, the names of which Taylor has "not yet gotten straight:Es-something and Es-something."
All in all it's quite an eclectic, eccentric, and exciting group of friends, thanks to the polish of Kingsolver's language and her ability to create a narrative that is both endearing and entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: My ALL TIME favorite book
Review: I first read The Bean Trees in 1988. I was commuting into NYC at that time, and I noticed that when I read this and laughed OUT LOUD on the subway, no one asked me for money. So, aside from being one of the best books I've ever read (read it seven times since), it also came in handy as a panhandler-deterrent.
In fact, I loved this story so much, I was compelled to write to Barbara Kingsolver and- amazing- she wrote back to me. I still have the letter, tucked away into my like-new, shiny hardcover anniversary edition. The original paperback is falling apart, but I refuse to throw it out. I just fell in love with Taylor and Turtle, not to mention the supporting characters, such as Mattie and Taylor's mom. The story is just paced so well, and the characters become people you know and love. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to read, and they often ask for reading suggestions. This book is ALWAYS on the top of the list. Some others that have since become favorites are Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons (it's "swell"), Plainsong by Kent Haruf, and Animal Dreams, also by Kingsolver. All are simple but intense studies of what it means to love and be human. Classic "stranded on a desert island" kind of stories.
Rating:
Summary: Love, Compassion, Friendship, Persistence
Review: Taylor Marietta Greer grew up in rural Kentucky (Pittman County) hoping to avoid pregnancy, motherhood, and getting away from home. When she ventured out with great ambition and a barely-working, cantankerous car, life took a whole different turn. Some woman at the Oklahoma Cherokee nation abandoned three-year-old, American Indian girl Turtle and Taylor, for the first time, met the complication of life. Upon arriving in Tucson, Arizona, Taylor realized she must come to terms with motherhood and settling down. She was hired by Mattie who owned the Jesus is Lord Tires Company and became roommates with Lou Ann, a woman divorced by her husband Angel. Taylor spent the first half of her life avoiding motherhood and tires, and later she counted them as blessings. The Bean Trees is a book of determination, compassion, and love. It's a quick read that will warm your heart and make you sniffle. Through raising Turtle, Taylor learned that she could never protect the child from the world. What would be interesting, maybe even in the long run, is to share her life with the kid and give Turtle her best effort. The Bean Trees is the first book I read written by Barbara Kingsolver. Her storytelling magic absorbed me completely from the beginning. I could not put the book down and read cover-to-cover. Great tale on love and friendship, abandonment and belonging.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: It is about a girl (Taylor) that leaves her hometown Kentucky on a road trip to find her a better life, on the way she stopped at a restaurant and got told by someone that she needed to take this kid (Turtle) because she was in danger. So she took the kid and ended up going through a lot of stuff with her. The two of them drove all the way to Tucson, Arizona. They meet Mattie, who helped them. So towards the end of the story Taylor went to go find the Aunt of Turtle so she could adopt her. Taylor ended up adopting Turtle at the end of the book and going back home to Lou Ann and Mattie and Duane Ray. I think that this is a good book for people to read if they like fictional dramas.
Rating:
Summary: My thoughts on Bean Trees
Review: The book proves that love conquers all and without it we couldn't do anything. In the book it helps everyone get through everything. This is an excellant book. I laughed and cried as I watched Taylor learn more about herself. Taylor helps Turtle get over her horriblr past which in turn helps Taylor grow as a person. This is a great book and I suggest that people should read it.
Rating:
Summary: Emotions
Review: This is my reaction as a High School student to The Bean Trees. This book came as a surprise to me. At some points in the book I wanted to cry and at others I wanted to bust a gut. So if you haven't already read this book, go read it! The emotions that this book sends through you are unbelievable. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes emotionally stimulating books
Rating:
Summary: A book worth your time!
Review: ... We had to read The Bean Trees in our English class.
The Bean Trees is a fictional drama about a young lady named Taylor Greer. She had two goals, to get out of Kentucky and to avoid pregnancy.
When she was on her was to Tucson Arizona she went to a restaurant to eat when she was done a lady came out and put a baby on the seat and said, you have o take her. Taylor really didn't want to have a baby because she was single woman and didn't think that she would be able to take care of her.
Well later she found out that Turtle had been sexually abused and that she was a baby who needed a lot of attention.
Taylor and Turtle made their home in Tucson Arizona.
While they were living there they met a nice couple from Guatemala and they left Guatemala City so they would not be killed. Their names were Esperanza and Estevan.
Turtle said her first word and it was bean. She was so glad that Turtle finally was opening up to the world and not scared anymore.
After an incident in the park. Social Services came and told Taylor that she needed to go through the proper adopting procedures to be able to keep Turtle. She then went to the Cherokee Indian Reservation to see if she could find Turtles Aunt so that she could have permission to adopt her. She couldn't find her Aunt though. So she went to the adoption center and Esperanza and Estevan posed as her parents. The adoption was done but was it legal?
I would recommend this book because it is a really good book and I think it is awesome someone's life can change just over adopting a little girl.
Rating:
Summary: a Desert Island book!
Review: Barbara Kingsolver is one of the finest writers today.
Her characters are offbeat, yet completely believable. The dialogue sparkles. And her descriptions are vivid, without being
overdone. There is a scene of an approaching storm in the desert that is so vivid you can nearly smell the rain!
If you love fine writing, this book should be on your shelves, or better yet your purse or backpack.
Rating:
Summary: Kinsolver Delivers a powerful family story
Review: Who says a 'good' family has to have two parents, what if it had more? What if one inspired young women set out on a seemingly aimless journey and found the true meaning of family? That's what I got, and loved, from "The Bean Trees". It's a truely inspiring novel, and full of surprises. If you've ever enjoyed any of Kingsolver's later works, you must visit this one as well. As she always seems to do, Kingsolver wraps what you or I would consider normal everyday Americans with 'underdogs' of many sorts and weaves them together with an issue that is greatly ignored by the American media and public. It's easy to fall in love with these characters, you want to take them in, to help them or just to converse with them. The novel is witty and pertinant and fun. It mad this big guy cry.
Rating:
Summary: A novel of love & friendship-one of the best books ever.
Review: Meet Taylor Greer. Clear-eyed and spirited, she grew up poor in rural Kentucky with two goals: to avoid pregnancy and to get away. She succeeds on both counts when she buys a '55 Bug and heads out west. But when our plucky if unlikely heroine pulls up on the outskirts of Tuscon and arrives at the Jesus is Lord Used Tire Center with an "inherited" three year old Indian girl named Turtle it's time to meet the human condition head on. Taylor, after an amusing search, finally finds a roommate and settles down to start a new life with Turtle. However. Some of her assumptions about her new daughter prove to be in error and she finds she has a greater task than she bargained for on her hands. What I most like about The Bean Tress is the sense of connection you have with the characters and their no nonsense approach to life. These are people on the edge of society trying to work within the rules doing the best they can with what they have without regret, remorse or any sense of victimization This is a novel of love and friendship, abandonment and belonging and the discovery of surprising spiritual resources arising from apparently empty spaces, The Bean Trees is one of the best books I have ever read.
|
