1.79k reviews for:

Prodigal Summer

Barbara Kingsolver

4.07 AVERAGE

readmomteach86's review

4.0

When I was just a few chapters in I truly didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did. The more I went, though, the more I loved the characters. Each story had such a beauty to it—an unconventional love story that pulled you in with such subtle attraction. The interconnectedness of them all was an added treat. There’s nothing Ms. Kingsolver can’t do.

dfenske's review

DID NOT FINISH

Couldn’t get through it. Nice writing, pretty descriptions but didn’t grip my attention after 100 pages.
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7madzgb's review

5.0

So good. I love stories about wilderness, nature, the way of women, and how all stories intertwine. 

floweress's review

5.0

beautifully written. meant to be enjoyed without questioning what comes after

jengucky's review

5.0

One of my absolute favorite authors! This book and The Poisonwood Bible also two of my top ten...

longw_rth's review

5.0

easily one of the best books i’ve ever read. i cannot even describe how much i love these characters. this book is like a love letter to nature. i didn’t want it to end.

catch me grieving the american chestnut for the next millennium. i love you ms. barbara

rootytootyrissa's review

5.0

OH, oh. How I absolutely adored this one.

How funny that Barbara Kingsolver, a native of Kentucky, was a name that escaped my notice and was recommended instead by a Brit, when I'm thousands of miles away in a different country. How right she was to suggest it to me--this book ticked all the boxes for me. It taught me things--it provoked a flurry of emotions--and it made me stop and appreciate the sheer beauty of nature, all in Kingsolver's beautiful hand.

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.

As a child that grew up running loose in the hills of Tennessee, but one who went on to study biology and agriculture, this book was an absolute marvel to me. So many aspects of the war of nature vs. humans are looked at within, all beautifully portrayed. The struggle of modern farming--the war on large predators--city folk vs country. But it's not just that, a book about nature and farming communities. It's a book about people, about family, about finding one's place, and the connections that exist between us all. I can't tell a lie, this book brought me to tears a few times, and made me laugh out loud at others.

She laid the side of her face against his frail old heart, where the pink shell of her ear could capture whatever song it had left.

It was only when I reached the end of this book as well in audiobook form that the wonderful southern diction was revealed as being read by Kingsolver herself! What a reading voice she has!

In conclusion: an absolute beauty. Who knew this one would muscle its way into my favourites so quickly.

retiredlady64's review

5.0

Loved this book. Anyone questioning the mental health benefits of being in nature should read it.
emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Kingsolver’s novel truly shows how nature is a wonderful thing. It focuses on three different characters: a park ranger, an entomologist (insect science) and an elderly chestnut tree grower. All three have lost a loved one, and are trying to solve their recent struggles that involve introversion, family and feuding. It moves in its own pace and we get a wonderful novel that also has a lot of human nature that grows on you. A- (91%/Excellent)

this is the bible for girls who take spiders outside instead of killing them