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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
Slow to start but warmed up.
Good book about US family moving to the Congo and how their lives changed/progressed.
Good book about US family moving to the Congo and how their lives changed/progressed.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
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
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
poetic, sweeping. the polyphonic narration reminded me of faulkner and bolaño; a story that is beautiful and heartbreaking from multiple angles, as each narrator adds their own piece to a puzzle with no solution. every relationship—the sisters’ relation their family, their family’s relation to the Congo, the Congo’s relation to the United States—is both incongruous and complementary. contradictory in the right ways
the postcolonial politics, a central focus and strength of the narrative, are simplified in the last third; told/explained rather than shown/symbolized in the way the first two-thirds of the novel does so well. perhaps necessary for the popular readership of the US in the late-90s? to ensure that a largely white audience “get the point” by the novel’s end? it might be worth reading this alongside postcolonial novels written by africans (chinua achebe, ngũgĩ wa thiong’o) to hone the particular (and i believe, necessary) offerings of a white american’s story and lens.
last 50 pages closes the loop. incredible final chapter. transcendental
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked this book. Kingsolver did an excellent job creating totally separate characters and giving them each a distinct narrative voice.
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Everyone sucks here.
Kingsolver is an insanely talented novelist and I will eat up everything she writes. Did I want to read about white missionaries colonizing Congo? No, but what a wild ride. Unfortunately, the last 10% of the book absolutely ruined it. Personally, I feel like learning about the fates of the surviving Price women did not interest me at all.
Kingsolver is an insanely talented novelist and I will eat up everything she writes. Did I want to read about white missionaries colonizing Congo? No, but what a wild ride. Unfortunately, the last 10% of the book absolutely ruined it. Personally, I feel like learning about the fates of the surviving Price women did not interest me at all.