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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Brilliant book about colonialism in the Congo though the 20th Century. It feels really heart breaking the characters on both sides don’t seem diluted or patronising. The story is told through the eyes of 3 children of different ages who all have different perspectives and opinions which means the true context moves in slowly. at its core theres real history and clearly a deep understanding of America’s part in the corruption and looting of the Congo. Would highly recommend reading.
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A Baptist pastor, his wife, and their four daughters take over a mission in the Belgian Congo in 1960. We get to see the perspectives of each of the daughters in a story about the arrogance of western ideals and the pitfalls lurking behind blind faith. Kingsolver does an excellent job of giving each character a unique voice though her messaging can come off as blunt at times. It’s difficult to fault her for that though, as it mostly centers around the injustice done to all of Africa. Her messaging is blunt because what she is writing about is blunt.
I was assigned to read this book and write an essay over the biblical allusions present to get into my 11th grade AP English class. We did not discuss how many of the villagers are described as missing limbs, how the father embodied western arrogance, believing that he could impose his religion and culture on the village, improving it in the process. We did not talk about the themes of colonialism, justice, or the history of the region we were reading about. Instead we studied the biblical allegories (which albeit there are many) in the text. An excellent, weird, and interesting novel wasted on an opportunity to sneak more religion into my public education.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Misogyny, Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, War
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
Seriously so so so good and so interesting. Would be so fun to really get into and analyze and discuss
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Grief
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
My Catholic English teacher forced us to read this. It turned out to be fun, family story, father is gigachad sometimes.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Some books, possibly the best books, are experiences. That most definitely describes this epic work. Any review I might write here would not match the scale of the book, but I will try to offer some thoughts. I won't take up space with a summary, since that is available elsewhere, but get right to what made the book so powerful for me.
Characterization. I'll focus on the main characters here: The four daughters are very different, starting with the Nellie Oleson-like eldest daughter Rachel, who launches malapropisms at her detractors (real and imagined) as if they were poisoned arrows. We can occasionally laugh at her (one of my favorites: "Thyroid Mary"), but when she isn't overwritten, we might recognize the whiteness of settler colonialism at perhaps its most pernicious, because it comes with such a set of excuses and sense of self-righteousness. There are also moments where she might remind us of certain "leaders":
"Heck, wasn't I the one hollering night and day that we were in danger? It's true that when it happened I was the oldest one there, and I'm sure some people would say I should have been in charge." (465)
Leah strives to be pious (at least initially) and to please her father, but unlike her older sister, we see far more growth in her character. Adah, Leah's twin sister, is physically disabled, but likely the smartest of the bunch and relies upon manufacturing palindromic phrases (the juxtaposition of this linguistic ability against her sister Rachel's is not lost on the reader). The youngest, Ruth May, has probably one of the more "hit-you-over-the-head" narratives in the book, but we learn why. Then there is the father - Pastor Nathan Price, and the mother, Orleana. Except for Rachel, occasionally, no one is a cliché. We grow to care both for their individual narratives, as well as that of the family. Some of the other major characters, like Anatole, for example, we see mostly through the eyes of one (or more) of the daughters and this is important to remember because Kingsolver seems to do this to recognize her own positionality.
There are so many pull quotes -- I'm glad I read this on my kindle so I could easily share them on GR, but aside from the story itself, Kingsolver's gift with language is astounding. Even the simplest description becomes fresh in her words: "In the local market, a bubble of stopped conversation moves with me as I walk." (472) And occasionally, we get something akin to an aphorism: "we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes" (496).
Truly the book deserves an essay-length review, but if I am not up to the task it is for lack of time, not desire. For readers unfamiliar with the history of the Congo in the twentieth century, I'd recommend even just a quick Wikipedia review before launching into this book (and I almost NEVER , as a historian, recommend Wikipedia). This would make a VERY interesting "companion" read to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
It took me a good chunk of the summer to finish this book -- not because it is long, but because I had to set it aside occasionally. It is rich, sorrowful, deep, informative -- there's just a lot. But I think it deserves that time and attention.
Characterization. I'll focus on the main characters here: The four daughters are very different, starting with the Nellie Oleson-like eldest daughter Rachel, who launches malapropisms at her detractors (real and imagined) as if they were poisoned arrows. We can occasionally laugh at her (one of my favorites: "Thyroid Mary"), but when she isn't overwritten, we might recognize the whiteness of settler colonialism at perhaps its most pernicious, because it comes with such a set of excuses and sense of self-righteousness. There are also moments where she might remind us of certain "leaders":
"Heck, wasn't I the one hollering night and day that we were in danger? It's true that when it happened I was the oldest one there, and I'm sure some people would say I should have been in charge." (465)
Leah strives to be pious (at least initially) and to please her father, but unlike her older sister, we see far more growth in her character. Adah, Leah's twin sister, is physically disabled, but likely the smartest of the bunch and relies upon manufacturing palindromic phrases (the juxtaposition of this linguistic ability against her sister Rachel's is not lost on the reader). The youngest, Ruth May, has probably one of the more "hit-you-over-the-head" narratives in the book, but we learn why. Then there is the father - Pastor Nathan Price, and the mother, Orleana. Except for Rachel, occasionally, no one is a cliché. We grow to care both for their individual narratives, as well as that of the family. Some of the other major characters, like Anatole, for example, we see mostly through the eyes of one (or more) of the daughters and this is important to remember because Kingsolver seems to do this to recognize her own positionality.
There are so many pull quotes -- I'm glad I read this on my kindle so I could easily share them on GR, but aside from the story itself, Kingsolver's gift with language is astounding. Even the simplest description becomes fresh in her words: "In the local market, a bubble of stopped conversation moves with me as I walk." (472) And occasionally, we get something akin to an aphorism: "we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes" (496).
Truly the book deserves an essay-length review, but if I am not up to the task it is for lack of time, not desire. For readers unfamiliar with the history of the Congo in the twentieth century, I'd recommend even just a quick Wikipedia review before launching into this book (and I almost NEVER , as a historian, recommend Wikipedia). This would make a VERY interesting "companion" read to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
It took me a good chunk of the summer to finish this book -- not because it is long, but because I had to set it aside occasionally. It is rich, sorrowful, deep, informative -- there's just a lot. But I think it deserves that time and attention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Racism
Moderate: War