Rating: 
Summary: At Home with Kingsolver
Review: "Homeland and Other Stories" showcases Barbara Kingsolver's remarkable ear for heartland speech as well as her talent for painting the every day struggles of people through exquisite but understated detail. Kingsolver never falls into melodrama nor does she show disrespect for her characters. This is a beautiful and powerful collection.
Rating:
Summary: At Home with Kingsolver
Review: "Homeland and Other Stories" showcases Barbara Kingsolver's remarkable ear for heartland speech as well as her talent for painting the every day struggles of people through exquisite but understated detail. Kingsolver never falls into melodrama nor does she show disrespect for her characters. This is a beautiful and powerful collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as her other work, but still enjoyable reading
Review: Barbara Kingsolver possesses an amazingly adventurous breadth of literary talent. She has written novels, short stories, essays, nonfiction, and poetry. Although I don't believe her short stories stand out as brilliantly as does the rest of her writing, they are nonetheless enjoyable reading.The two stories in this collection that particularly stood out to me were the title story, "Homeland," and "Covered Bridges." "Homeland" is the moving story of Gloria St. Clair, a native of "a coal town hacked with sharp blades out of a forest that threatened always to take it back," and her "Great Mam," a woman who belonged to the Bird Clan, "one of the fugitive bands of Cherokee who resisted capture in the year that General Winfield Scott was in charge of prodding the forest people from their beds and removing them westward." It is particularly lyrical and full of evocative images, metaphors, and language, drawing on Kingsolver's own Kentucky and Cherokee roots and apparent love of the land and its native peoples. "Covered Bridges" has a familiar Kingsolver protagonist with a background that reflects Kingsolver's own educational and professional background in biology, and particularly her interest in quirky, little-known biological facts. Lena is a specialist in toxicology and operates a poison hotline at the county hospital. We also discover that Lena has a deadly allergy to the stings of bees and wasps. "Covered Bridges" explores the relationship between Lena and her husband and examines the question of whether or not they want to have children. I readily recommend Kingsolver's earlier work, but discourage reading her more recent work, starting with "Prodigal Summer." I admire her most for the risks she takes in tackling new and different projects and genres (even "Prodigal Summer"), rather than rehashing the same, well-worn theme. Reading these stories provides a fuller picture of who she is as an author and where her passions, concerns, and interests lie.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful short stories
Review: Homeland and other stories is a wonderful collection of extremely well-written short stories! Exploring the themes of family and nature, Barbara Kingsolver opens our eyes to different points of view, and shows us new ways of looking at old points of view. Kingsolver is, in short, a genius! The masterpiece of this collection is Rose-Johnny, a story about a very masculine woman and the little girl who befriends her, and the price paid for truly being "different" in American Society. Other great stories are: Homeland, Stone Dreams, and Quality Time. Read this book, make your soul grow.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful short stories
Review: Homeland and other stories is a wonderful collection of extremely well-written short stories! Exploring the themes of family and nature, Barbara Kingsolver opens our eyes to different points of view, and shows us new ways of looking at old points of view. Kingsolver is, in short, a genius! The masterpiece of this collection is Rose-Johnny, a story about a very masculine woman and the little girl who befriends her, and the price paid for truly being "different" in American Society. Other great stories are: Homeland, Stone Dreams, and Quality Time. Read this book, make your soul grow.
Rating: 
Summary: The storys is about the family and love.
Review: I think this is a pretty good book to the people age about 30 years old or older.But not for the high school student yet. Because they can't feel when they said for the family was very importance to them. I think when they get older they may can feeling it. And the marriage women may like it, because the storys character they are mostly is marriage women, a lot the time it sounds like the story is talking about them.
Rating:
Summary: Each story says something worth remembering
Review: Lovers whose relationship nearly founders when a new environment changes both partners in ways neither expects. A woman working in a "man's job" (mining) who suffers the consequences of a strike in ways no man possibly could. A seemingly pleasant neighbor who abuses an elderly lady's trust, but doesn't see his own actions in that light. In each of these 12 short stories, Barbara Kingsolver draws her characters clearly and says something worth remembering about life, love, and human nature. Not every writer can handle this format and the novel equally well, but Kingsolver's touch is as deft here as in her much longer works. Especially good reading for those nights when you don't want (or can't afford) to be kept up by a book you can't put down!
Rating:
Summary: Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Homeland...
Review: Picture yourself driving down a quiet road populated with homes that are dusted with the twilight of evening shade. You stop the car and step out to observe. From the roadside in this residential area, all you can see is the glowing window squares of warm, yellow light coming from inside the houses. You know that it's probably time for the evening meal and there are mundane conversations, celebrations and arguments abounding. As an outsider, there is little to see and virtually nothing to hear. Kingsolver changes all of that, when unseen and unheard, she wanders invisibly throughout the homes and lives of each and everyone in the neighborhood. Kingsolver creates a terrific collection of short stories that define no incredible event or A to B adventure. There's no earth-shattering disaster and certainly no crisis to be explained. She takes a very short and innocent peek into the mundane lives of different households and explains what she sees and hears. Dear reader may rejoice that not all he reads requires a roller coaster ride of feeling to make the novel interesting. Sometimes the story only need be simple and sweet.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as her other work, but still enjoyable reading
Review: Rose-Johnny is the shining star in this awesome collection of short stories. It deals with many different small-town prejudices, and the outrage at the 11 year-old level that little Georgeann feels. My favorite story, from a humor standpoint, is Blueprints. Although it is not a funny story per se, the comments and thoughts that Lydia makes about Whitman's friends are hilarious. These friends are so concerned about Mother Nature and the environment, but haven't bothered to visit them once they moved out of the evil city into the foothills. These same friends insist that fertilized eggs are better for you than unfertilized eggs (show me the scientific evidence), and name their children after vegetables. I am sure these guys look at you wrong if you don't buy organic coffee beans from Guatemala. I think Barbara Kingsolver has little tolerance for those nature-type-wanna-be's (here, here). All these and the rest of the stories are beautifully crafted, with many reflections on nature. Wonderful book, not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Rose-Johnny is the shining star
Review: Rose-Johnny is the shining star in this awesome collection of short stories. It deals with many different small-town prejudices, and the outrage at the 11 year-old level that little Georgeann feels. My favorite story, from a humor standpoint, is Blueprints. Although it is not a funny story per se, the comments and thoughts that Lydia makes about Whitman's friends are hilarious. These friends are so concerned about Mother Nature and the environment, but haven't bothered to visit them once they moved out of the evil city into the foothills. These same friends insist that fertilized eggs are better for you than unfertilized eggs (show me the scientific evidence), and name their children after vegetables. I am sure these guys look at you wrong if you don't buy organic coffee beans from Guatemala. I think Barbara Kingsolver has little tolerance for those nature-type-wanna-be's (here, here). All these and the rest of the stories are beautifully crafted, with many reflections on nature. Wonderful book, not to be missed.
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