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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
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:
Yes
Barbara Kingsolver writes so beautifully and gives each character such a distinct voice and personality. I think this is the second book I have read, and I enjoyed this one much more than the other.
It's amazing to me how in depth she goes into researching her stories, depicting the environment, the history, and the ramifications of significant people and events. Then inserts fully actualized people into these worlds and explores how they,with their various personalities, will react. How will they shape and be shaped by their circumstances and the places they live?
I listened to the audiobook of this and it was excellent and honestly made getting through it much easier. I often find myself getting restless reading dense, serious books but listening to them makes it so much easier. I think it's because beautiful prose sounds so wonderful when spoken. It's a different experience to reading words on a page.
It's amazing to me how in depth she goes into researching her stories, depicting the environment, the history, and the ramifications of significant people and events. Then inserts fully actualized people into these worlds and explores how they,with their various personalities, will react. How will they shape and be shaped by their circumstances and the places they live?
I listened to the audiobook of this and it was excellent and honestly made getting through it much easier. I often find myself getting restless reading dense, serious books but listening to them makes it so much easier. I think it's because beautiful prose sounds so wonderful when spoken. It's a different experience to reading words on a page.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Beautiful. Every character was real enough to touch; each of their perspectives were unique and thought-provoking. A lush, painful, and emotional ode to the Congo and to the differing ways human beings are shaped by trauma.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow. It's going to take me a while to process this one I think. But it definitely trumps Demon Copperhead (which I loved so much). I think the fact that so much research has gone into this and it comes from Kingsolver's own experiences of her time in Africa as a child, really makes it for me. It doesn't feel like fiction or history, just events happening in realtime, which is very impressive. At first I'm not sure I liked the multiple perspective angle from each of the daughters. But I grew to understand that it is a really clever device for showing the perspectives of white saviourism, racism, and western interference in Africa at this time. I learnt so much from this book but also really felt I understood the humanity of the characters and their different ways of responding to the events. I don't even think I'm articulating this well but all there is to say is that it was all in all a masterpiece of storytelling.
"There is not justice in this world. ...What there is in this world, I think, is a tendency for human errors to level themselves like water throughout their sphere of influence."
"There's the possibility of balance. Unbearable burdens that the world somehow does bear with a certain grace."
"If chained is where you have been, your arms will always bear marks of the shackles."
"'The air is just blank in America"'
"For every womanly fact of life she doesn't get told, a star of possibility still winks for her on the horizon."
"There is not justice in this world. ...What there is in this world, I think, is a tendency for human errors to level themselves like water throughout their sphere of influence."
"There's the possibility of balance. Unbearable burdens that the world somehow does bear with a certain grace."
"If chained is where you have been, your arms will always bear marks of the shackles."
"'The air is just blank in America"'
"For every womanly fact of life she doesn't get told, a star of possibility still winks for her on the horizon."
This is one of the most impactful and thought provoking books I’ve read. If you choose to read this, know that it will challenge your views of “right” and “wrong”- “Everything you’re sure is right can be wrong in another place. Especially here”. It is a fascinating look at so many things, including missionaries going to Africa - “Christian’s could invent and believe in the parable of the loaves and the fishes, for their farmers can trust in abundance, and ship it to burgeoning cities, where people can afford to spend their lives hardly noticing, or caring, that a seed produces a plant”. You can tell that this piece of historical fiction is highly researched, as the author spends a lot of time weaving the story together. While it is a long book, I found myself moving through it relatively quickly due to how well and beautifully it’s written. I loved the different perspectives of the same events and how each woman had such a different experience of the same childhood.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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