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A review by steveatwaywords
Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
This is an exceptional collection of work, written part as balm against the wounds of 9/11, part as assemblage of pastoral ethic against the self-serving amoral politics of our time. As such, much of it resonates as powerfully now as it did nearly 20 years ago.
Kingsolver covers a wide range of topics--more than one might think relevant to a post-Twin Tower memoir--but they have a coherence at once intensely personal (letters to her daughter and mother are particularly moving) and philosophically articulate. True, Kingsolver is quite traditional, even unapologetically folksy, in her beliefs. And for any enviro-conscious readers, her naturalist lifestyle feels by now quite old-hat and even out of date with the political assertiveness of our times. After all, absenting one's self from the debate hardly makes for an ethic of responsibility.
But Kingsolver demonstrates in many ways that her writing is very much that engagement. At moments heavy-handed and even quaintly preachy (as she speaks of the perils of television, for instance), she nonetheless forwards a way of thinking about what peaceful virtues--with a little reflection and privilege of choice--our lives might instead discover. Don't believe she is unprepared for the violence around us (far from it), but she finds no value in our unending machinations and political rhetoric which excuses it. Fundamentally feminist, politically left, and domestically conservative, Kingsolver walks a line which itself is somewhat bygone, though in her beautiful prose feels necessary.
Wisely, Kingsolver largely speaks for herself, recognizing that not everyone's experiences can ever be hers. Nonetheless, I felt myself nodding far more frequently than smirking, reading an argument for living I might envy though never fully embrace.
Kingsolver covers a wide range of topics--more than one might think relevant to a post-Twin Tower memoir--but they have a coherence at once intensely personal (letters to her daughter and mother are particularly moving) and philosophically articulate. True, Kingsolver is quite traditional, even unapologetically folksy, in her beliefs. And for any enviro-conscious readers, her naturalist lifestyle feels by now quite old-hat and even out of date with the political assertiveness of our times. After all, absenting one's self from the debate hardly makes for an ethic of responsibility.
But Kingsolver demonstrates in many ways that her writing is very much that engagement. At moments heavy-handed and even quaintly preachy (as she speaks of the perils of television, for instance), she nonetheless forwards a way of thinking about what peaceful virtues--with a little reflection and privilege of choice--our lives might instead discover. Don't believe she is unprepared for the violence around us (far from it), but she finds no value in our unending machinations and political rhetoric which excuses it. Fundamentally feminist, politically left, and domestically conservative, Kingsolver walks a line which itself is somewhat bygone, though in her beautiful prose feels necessary.
Wisely, Kingsolver largely speaks for herself, recognizing that not everyone's experiences can ever be hers. Nonetheless, I felt myself nodding far more frequently than smirking, reading an argument for living I might envy though never fully embrace.