A review by welkinvault
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very slow book, with a measured, gently moving plot.   Beautiful & thoughtprovoking.  The prose is like poetry.  This gorgeous novel celebrates the complexity of life in the Appalachian mountains.  Human dramas are interconnected with an exploration of all the living things (chestnut trees, coyotes, moths, produce even the goats).  Kingsover has a deep passionate knowledge of  environmental conservation and that is interwoven as her characters grapple with love, grief and rhythms of nature.  People lives as well as nature intertwines.   Can be just a tad heavy handed, but god I loved it!

And loved the ending, that the last thoughts were that of the coyote. 

I came to this after Demon Copperhead.  Apart from the love of the Applachian countryside, this is a very different novel.  I will have to find more of her novels. 
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