Reviews

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

farktronix's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

drlark's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

I remember reading this close to when it came out and absolutely LOVING it. But that was about 20 years ago, and my experience this time was quite different. Following three loosely intertwined stories, Prodigal Summer takes place in one eventful summer, where our three POV characters navigate the natural world alongside their family, neighbors, and lovers. Deanna is a Forest Ranger living on a mountain, tracking a family of coyotes when she meets a young hunter. Lusa is a young entomologist who's just married into a farming family. And Garnett is a grumpy old man who's a little obsessed with his neighbor. He's also trying to resurrect the American Chestnut from near extinction. Lusa is by far my favorite of the three. 

Barbara Kingsolver writes as a naturalist in this book. Her deep reverence for the land and its creatures, humans included, is so clear on every page. What's also clear, though, is that she Has Something To Say in this book, and by god, you will hear it. A lot. To me, this felt like a collection of all the conversations she wants to have with her community. Her main characters are so convinced of their rightness, even if I agree how important it is to protect predators as part of the food chain, and how awful chemical pesticides are for the ecosystem, I found this to be overly preachy and tiresome in many scenes. Especially because this is a book that meanders from one conversation to the next without much happening. The ending gave me all the warm fuzzies, but getting there was quite a struggle.

rustyray's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Excellent, follows the stories of three outdoorsy women in rural Appalachia. One kinda second person POV from an senile neighbor while the others we follow directly. Our main ladies are at different stages of acceptance of feminity in biology and society. All characters very well written and I could hear their voices and feel the judgements. Nicely interwoven natural history. Some scenes got very slow, especially if we were in the character's head for pages on end. 

Quotes 

Or it was possible she was witnessing the fatal, final disorientation that overcomes a creature as it reaches the end of its life. Once as a child.... she'd found a Luna moth in that condition: confused and dying on the pavement in front of their truck. Up close,  it was a frightening beast rithing and beating against her hand until whiffs of pale green fur slipped off its body and stuck to her fingers. Her horror made her want to throw it down, and and only her previous conceived affection for the luna that made her hold on... It glared at [her] seeming to know too much for an insect and, worse, seeming disdainful. She hadn't give up her love for luna after that, but she'd never forgotten, either, how a mystery caught in the hand could lose its grace.

She breathes deeply and tried not to hate this snake. Doing his job, was all. Living out his life like the thousand other copperheads on this mountain that would never be seen by human eyes; they wanted only their one or two rodents a month, the living wage, a contribution to the balance. Not one of them wanted to be stepped on or, heaven forbid, to have to sink its fangs into a monstrous, inedible mammal a hundred times its size- a waste of expensive toxin at best. She knew all of this. You can stare at a thing and know that you personally have no place in its heart whatsoever, but keeping it out of yours is another matter.

What did she want him to do? That was the question. When a body wanted one thing wholly and a mind wanted the opposite, which of the two was she? ...it didn't matter what she chose. The world was what it was, a place with its own rules of hunger and satisfaction. Creatures lived and mated and died, they came and went, as surely as summer did. They would go their own ways, of their own accord.

nj1960's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

One day of the most beautifully written books by Barbara kingsolver  set in Appalachia (a misunderstood area)where this author lived and grew up..

irisdg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The most beautiful, immersive novel with characters that carry so much depth. This book is a work of art.

elliebou's review against another edition

4.5

Great spring read, so much nature, loved how Barbara never fails to tie multiple story lines together. Questionable borderline incest plot line but this was ultimately avoided and maybe just an exploration of intimacy? I’ve decided not to judge. 

savaging's review against another edition

3.0

At some moments I really enjoyed this. Like a romance novel but with interesting moths around.

But by the end I had rolled my eyes too many times and had to push my way through the final pages. Maybe it's because it feels like Kingsolver is moving plot points toward sentimental ends. Which is fine -- unless you do not share these sentiments.

Spoiler

I don't want Deanna to come off the mountain and have babies instead; I don't want Nannie to start a romance with that old grump; I don't want Lusa to take on her dead husband's last name and dedicate herself to the furtherance of this other family. All disappointing conclusions for these women.

Kingsolver cracks open the door to other possibilities besides traditional patriarchy for her protagonists, but then by the end wraps all the women back up into tidy, safe familial obligations.

After all, she seems to be saying, this is what is 'natural.' All the birds are doing it.

henrietta_reads's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

faithemt's review against another edition

5.0

Excellent!! The review is on the blog!
you can access it here:
https://goldintheclouds-faith.blogspot.com/2020/05/2020-book-review-16prodigal-summer.html

aidanrt's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25