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mandersm 's review for:
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible is a modern classic that tells the story of five daughters and their mother brought to Africa by their preacher father to be missionaries in the Congo. About half of the novel tells of the year or so when the family lives among the villagers, attempting to baptize them. Soon, however, things go awry as The Congo attempts to become independent, and the family is told to leave but doesn’t. The second half of the book tells of the way that each family member’s life plays out in the chaos of this decision. I really enjoyed how Kingsolver discusses the issue of colonization against the concept of missionary work, offers historical information that I was much unaware of, and develops each of the characters from children through adulthood. I also greatly enjoyed how her descriptions of the father made it incredibly easy to hate him - what ends up happening to him is also perfect - and to sympathize with the women whose lives he completely upturned in honor of his often misguided and self centered decisions. The book was a little long in places but overall a well written and worthwhile read.