Reviews

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

henrydavid's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

schofield24's review against another edition

4.0

This was an interesting and educational book, but for me one reading was enough! I remember identifying strongly with the characters who, as Americans, went to a foreign land and whose lives were forever changed; I was living overseas at the time and felt many of the same emotions. It was just what I needed.

savaging's review against another edition

4.0

I wanted to read this book when I was still in high school. 15 years later I've finally gotten around to it. And what would it have meant to me if I had read it then, this fascination with the mud and the oppressed tied to a conflicted maltheism? Would I have been able to stomach it?

There are flaws in the book. The narrative structure doesn't always work: we're expected to believe self-obsessed Rachel can somehow record verbatim difficult geopolitical debates. Also Kingsolver wrote a terrible last sentence. "Walk forward into the light." I wanted to cross it out of the library copy, as a benefit to other readers.

But there was much more that I loved, and anyway the character of Adah alone can cover a multitude of sins. The little demon-imp of a girl writing:

"Yet we sang in church 'Tata Nzolo'! Which means Father in Heaven or Father of Fish Bait depending on just how you sing it, and that pretty well summed up my quandary. I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentence. I can understand a wrathful God who’d just as soon dangle us all from a hook. And I can understand a tender, unprejudiced Jesus. But I could never quite figure the two of them living in the same house. You wind up walking on eggshells, never knowing which Tata Nzolo is home at the moment."

dmfw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

henrietta_reads's review against another edition

inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

westernsunshine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mcc's review against another edition

dark

2.5

I remembered reading this book and not liking it. Since then I've seen nothing, but glowing praise and recommendations of this book, so I decided to give it another shot. Books can hit you differently at different points in my life and I thought there very well may be something that hits differently than when I was in my early 20s. I hated it just as much (if not more?) than I remembered. 

Kingsolver is an excellent writer, which is why I gave it an extra half star than my gut feeling. But ultimately the subject matter and plot was just revulsive to me - perhaps this was what she wanted me to takeaway from this? If art is supposed to illicit strong emotions, well it achieved it.

But a story about an abusive and controlling father who drags his family to live in destitution in Africa and then subject an entire village to his blind, single-minded ideas about what is right and wrong was just too intense of a concentration of white-male patriarchy in one place, I couldn't help but be totally repulsed by it and wish him the sad, lonely demise that he deserved. I guess I liked seeing how each daughter with their distinct personalities went in radically different approaches with their lives as a reaction to that, but ultimately it was just sad and enraging.

jrmarr's review against another edition

4.0

I'm not quite sure how to review this book. I think it's closer to 3.5 than 4 for me. There were parts of it that were incredibly moving - I was brought to tears by some passages. But the latter sections felt overly long and not terribly necessary. But the women of the Price family have stayed with me long after I've finished the book, and I am left with an overwhelming sense of the horrible legacy of colonialism and exploitation of the region. I'm not sure we've learnt all that much either.

cricket_strom's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative medium-paced

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

4.25

june_zhu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0