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bombycillacedrorum's review against another edition
4.0
Rich and absorbing, though I don’t know much else of the Congo so I can’t say how accurate Kingsolver’s portrayal of the actual Congolese is. (This is very much a story of 5 dipshit missionary white women in 1960 trying to become a little less dipshit, and while it rages against colonialism and missionary work, it never really focuses on the actual Congolese, so if you’re looking for that story, this isn’t it.)
lolaham3507's review against another edition
3.0
I was not really impressed with this one- I thought it was wordy and boring at many times. But the story (when it is actually being told) is an interesting and unique one.
alongapath's review against another edition
4.0
Abandoned on the first try; adored on the second. It just goes to show that every book has its moment. It took me fifteen years to get back to this one and I am so glad that I did. Perhaps I understand Kingsolver's voice a bit more now - her instructional tone, her slight sarcasm, her cutting wit and the way she sets the story up to reveal her beliefs - but I was more prepared to be swept away by her characters and setting this time.
Under the stern eyes of their evangelical Baptist father, the four daughters of Nathan Price each share their perspectives of their lives in the Belgian Congo. Initially their missionary placement is for one year in 1960 but, as politics play out, they stay on. Thinking that Africans simply need a dose of the American Dream, Nathan is surprised that nothing he knows applies here. Seeds grow but cannot be pollinated, roads exist but cannot be used for travel, sermons can be delivered but they don't translate. Nathan fights everything, every step of the way, as his daughters look on. But each of the daughters accepts the Congolese people, their language, their culture and their traditions and discover themselves in the process. Instead of a one year sojourn, they are forever marked by their time here and we see how each of their lives plays out after the mission ends.
For me, the first 75% of the novel was 5 stars but, in the final quarter, I felt there was no tension left as the girls aged and set on their different life pathways. The climax seemed to be At this point, Leah became less of a character and more like a text book, putting Kingsolver's political lessons front and center.
Rachel, the eldest, is by far the most likable of the daughters. She wants nothing to do with this year abroad and is desperate to get back to the life of fashion and hair styles. She is portrayed as simple and ego-centric. She goes on to live a life of excess and sin - the antithesis of her father's teachings.
Leah and Adah are twins but different in every way. Adah has many complications from birth which have left her paralyzed on one side and mostly mute. But she is extremely bright, poetic and observant. She is also insecure about her place in the family and wonders who loves her, if anyone.
Leah is also very bright but is gifted physically as well. She fearlessly leads the others and is the most pious of the four, admiring her father like no other. But her chapters are the most tiresome to read. She lectures endlessly, giving a voice to the politics of Congo/Zahir, and I believe that she holds Kingsolver's belief system about African nations seeking independence from colonisation.
Ruth-Anne, the youngest, is too young to form opinions about her Congolese experience but is the one who most easily adjusts to life there. She befriends other children and fits in without trying.
Orleana, the mother, has her say as well, looking back at the Congolese experience 30 years later, still trying to come to terms with the terror, grief and guilt that she carries.
Nathan sadly has no voice in this novel and is portrayed as a single-minded monster, both as a father and as a minister. It would have been interesting to hear his side of things rather than through the filter of his family and I feel the book is weaker because of that.
I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it. The narration is credited to Dean Robertson but I know it was Barbara Kingsolver herself, since her voice is one of my very favourites. She reads with incredible speed so the 13 discs went by quickly and her intonations added life to each of the daughters.
Under the stern eyes of their evangelical Baptist father, the four daughters of Nathan Price each share their perspectives of their lives in the Belgian Congo. Initially their missionary placement is for one year in 1960 but, as politics play out, they stay on. Thinking that Africans simply need a dose of the American Dream, Nathan is surprised that nothing he knows applies here. Seeds grow but cannot be pollinated, roads exist but cannot be used for travel, sermons can be delivered but they don't translate. Nathan fights everything, every step of the way, as his daughters look on. But each of the daughters accepts the Congolese people, their language, their culture and their traditions and discover themselves in the process. Instead of a one year sojourn, they are forever marked by their time here and we see how each of their lives plays out after the mission ends.
For me, the first 75% of the novel was 5 stars but, in the final quarter, I felt there was no tension left as the girls aged and set on their different life pathways. The climax seemed to be
Spoiler
Ruth-Anne's death which caused Oleana's spontaneous flight from her brutal marriage with Adah in tow and Leah's malaria-choked memories of being left behind.Rachel, the eldest, is by far the most likable of the daughters. She wants nothing to do with this year abroad and is desperate to get back to the life of fashion and hair styles. She is portrayed as simple and ego-centric. She goes on to live a life of excess and sin - the antithesis of her father's teachings.
Leah and Adah are twins but different in every way. Adah has many complications from birth which have left her paralyzed on one side and mostly mute. But she is extremely bright, poetic and observant. She is also insecure about her place in the family and wonders who loves her, if anyone.
Leah is also very bright but is gifted physically as well. She fearlessly leads the others and is the most pious of the four, admiring her father like no other. But her chapters are the most tiresome to read. She lectures endlessly, giving a voice to the politics of Congo/Zahir, and I believe that she holds Kingsolver's belief system about African nations seeking independence from colonisation.
Ruth-Anne, the youngest, is too young to form opinions about her Congolese experience but is the one who most easily adjusts to life there. She befriends other children and fits in without trying.
Orleana, the mother, has her say as well, looking back at the Congolese experience 30 years later, still trying to come to terms with the terror, grief and guilt that she carries.
Nathan sadly has no voice in this novel and is portrayed as a single-minded monster, both as a father and as a minister. It would have been interesting to hear his side of things rather than through the filter of his family and I feel the book is weaker because of that.
I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it. The narration is credited to Dean Robertson but I know it was Barbara Kingsolver herself, since her voice is one of my very favourites. She reads with incredible speed so the 13 discs went by quickly and her intonations added life to each of the daughters.
mary_kurtz's review against another edition
5.0
When I find a book that spiritually transports me through time and to places I could never possibly know, I am reminded as to why I love reading. This is such a book so gently written in five narrative voices, I felt a kinship with the characters. I leave this wonderful novel more educated and appreciative of the lives and culture it depicted amazingly well.
anneyryanmcintosh's review against another edition
3.0
I loved it, but it took too long to end. I don't even really remember the ending, to be honest. I didn't get it. But the story, characters, and writing was great. It just petered off at the end for me.
winterbinding's review against another edition
3.0
The Poisonwood Bible was a bit of a first for me, in terms of genre. I am not and have never been religious in my life. When I initially read the premise of the novel, I was extremely put off, though the book does a good job of staying away from the direction I was wary it would take. It was recommended to me by a friend from work, who I've gifted a handful of my older books to to encourage her daughter's reading habit; she lent it to me after telling me it was her favorite book, and she'd read it several times. It took me some time to get through, to be honest. I hit about halfway and sort of sputtered out and lost interest for several months. A combination of a somewhat slow middle and my personal life becoming a bit too busy for me to have much energy to really sit down and dedicate myself to soldiering through, I think. Once I picked the book back up, however, I finished up the remainder in about a week, eager to learn where the Price family ends up. I'm far more interested in the climate and political atmosphere of the Congo coming out of the book than I am the characters themselves, as it's not something I've read about before in any extensive matter, so I think I'd like to pursue that a little more now.
Overall an interesting read, though slow at some points. And interesting read that's sparked an interest for me in out similar literature, at the very least.
Overall an interesting read, though slow at some points. And interesting read that's sparked an interest for me in out similar literature, at the very least.
sarahwingo's review against another edition
4.0
I'm somewhere between 3 "I like it" and 4 "I really liked it" stars. I enjoyed parts of the books very much and was very drawn in and then other parts I found less compelling, somewhat tedious, perhaps a bit preachy?
Overall I enjoyed it though.
Overall I enjoyed it though.
bridget_in_md's review against another edition
3.0
It's probably sacrilegious for me to say The Poisonwood Bible was "just ok" for me. The first half of the book was slow for me, as I stumbled between the 5 different narrators (mom and 4 daughters) and therefore, 5 different styles of prose. I asked my friend "is this book supposed to be funny/a comedy of errors (it reminded me a LOT of the musical "The Book of Mormon") and being that it's NOT, I just trudged on through a story of a father who drug his family into the Congo with intent carry out his Christian mission, which did NOT go to plan at all, nor was the family at all prepared to live in the Congo. I almost wished I had read it with an eye of a comedy of errors because otherwise - the dad was a JERK all in the name of Jesus (which he ironically told the Congolese was "poisionwood" due to his horrible translation). I guess that is my problem - I don't like this particular setting (white family going in to "tame" the savages, all in the name of Christ, thus wiping out a beautiful and mysterious culture). When I reached the turning point of the novel and the mother finally took action, the prose between the girls just seemed all the same. I'm not sure if it was because time moved much quicker in the 2nd half, and the girls were older (and had lost the voices of their "youth" but it seemed much less choppy and easier to read. But... overall the book was just sad and only cared about a couple of the characters. I do think it was interesting the father never had a voice, and his story was told through his wife/daughters.
kats05's review against another edition
5.0
As I'm arguably the last person in the readers' universe to get to The Poisonwood Bible, I doubt there is anything left to say about this amazing book. In one word: a masterpiece!!
Once again, I am very grateful to be in a book club that "made me" read a book that's been sitting on my bookshelves for over a decade, and one that I needn't have been intimated by for so long.
I don't think I'll be looking to read any other books by Ms Kingsolver, though. I tried The Lacuna a few years ago and could simply not get into it, and I've heard very mixed things about Flight Behaviour, too, but this one may enjoy a reread in years to come.
Once again, I am very grateful to be in a book club that "made me" read a book that's been sitting on my bookshelves for over a decade, and one that I needn't have been intimated by for so long.
I don't think I'll be looking to read any other books by Ms Kingsolver, though. I tried The Lacuna a few years ago and could simply not get into it, and I've heard very mixed things about Flight Behaviour, too, but this one may enjoy a reread in years to come.