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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
I first read this book twenty summers ago after my divorce. It sustained me then through a very difficult week. I wondered if it would hold up after all these years to the legend it had become in my mind. So many books do not. I loved this one again this time around, although some of the romantic/sexual interests subplots annoyed me this time. Hinting or implying is always better than describing in that area for my taste. Besides that, I loved this one again and hope to read it and love it again in another twenty years.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Unfortunately earned the title of my least favourite Kingsolver - got annoyingly predictable and repetitive by the end, without any redemption from the lyrical prose.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
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:
Complicated
first book i’ve read from kingsolver and it cemented her as my favorite author. idk what is is she just gets me on a spiritual level
I loved this book! It is a beautifully written story of the lives of four very different people in a Virginia mountain community. Deanna is a reculusive forestry worker; Lusa is a newly-wed farm wife and bugoligist; Nannie is an organic farmer and Garnett is her nemesis/neighbor. Deanna's chapters are titled "Predators"; Lusa's Prodigal Summer is an extravagant tale of life and lust and love.
"Her heart emptied of words, for once, and filled with a new species of feeling...
Lusa sat still and marveled: This is how moths speak to each other. They tell their love across the fields by scent. There is no mouth, the wrong words are impossible, either a mate is there or he's not, and if so the pair will find each other in the dark." (47)
Talking about the age difference between Deanna and Eddie, he says,
"Damn, girl, get over that. Look at you. It takes more than thirty years to tune an engine to run like that." (182)
Deanna speaking to the Forest service delivery person.
"Tell me something, Jerry. If the President got shot this afternoon, what would you do tomorrow that'd be any different from what you'd do if he hadn't?'..."Why I like my life, Jerry. I watch birds. They do something different every fifteen minutes." (249)
"Garnet had a strange, sad thought about his own special way of seeing trees inside his mind, and how it would go dead, like a television set going off, at the moment of his death." (367)
"It dawned on Lusa that this was the Tree of Life (a mulberry) her ancestors had woven into their rugs and tapestries, persistently, through all their woes and losses: a bird tree."
"But he would have been wrong. Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen." (444)
This is the last paragraph of the book of the last, untitled chapter.
"Her heart emptied of words, for once, and filled with a new species of feeling...
Lusa sat still and marveled: This is how moths speak to each other. They tell their love across the fields by scent. There is no mouth, the wrong words are impossible, either a mate is there or he's not, and if so the pair will find each other in the dark." (47)
Talking about the age difference between Deanna and Eddie, he says,
"Damn, girl, get over that. Look at you. It takes more than thirty years to tune an engine to run like that." (182)
Deanna speaking to the Forest service delivery person.
"Tell me something, Jerry. If the President got shot this afternoon, what would you do tomorrow that'd be any different from what you'd do if he hadn't?'..."Why I like my life, Jerry. I watch birds. They do something different every fifteen minutes." (249)
"Garnet had a strange, sad thought about his own special way of seeing trees inside his mind, and how it would go dead, like a television set going off, at the moment of his death." (367)
"It dawned on Lusa that this was the Tree of Life (a mulberry) her ancestors had woven into their rugs and tapestries, persistently, through all their woes and losses: a bird tree."
"But he would have been wrong. Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen." (444)
This is the last paragraph of the book of the last, untitled chapter.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Simply put: I loved this book. It's going down on my list of favorites. And I can't think of a better book to read while being surrounded by the wilderness. If you love Nature, read this book.
I love her descriptions of the characters. I know these people! I love them. I love the nature aspect and the interaction of characters. I think it is a beautifully written book that I didn’t want to end.
One of my favorite books of all time. Comfort, ecology, predators, moths, and old chestnuts and brilliant words.