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isabelach 's review for:
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a long book. Like, I get why it was long, but it was just SO LONG. I feel like some things could have maybe been sped up, especially at the beginning. Like the beginning was so slow, and then the end was so fast, which I didn't mind at all. I think the reason I thought the beginning was so slow was because the message that Kingslover was trying to get across was extremely explicit to me. Therefore, I felt that she kept drilling at a point she already made, making it a bit repetitive and boring.
I had to read this for my summer reading assignment for my AP lit class, so maybe that's why I am so negative about the book. Like maybe the fact that I had to read this book made me not really like it already.
I did like how you can see the development of each of the daughters and also Orleanna. Maybe that was one of the upsides of the longer book format. I liked how through the chapters, my feelings toward each of the daughters shifted. For example, I didn't really like Leah that much, then I began to feel sorry for her, and then she became my favorite, and then she started to piss me off again, and then in the end I was happy for her. I liked to see Adah's growth the most. I think in the end, she was my favorite. I also loved to see Adah's and Leah's relationship. Their lives were opposite and parallel at the same time, and I loved how Kingslover made a yin-yang sort of thing.
I think the book only really got better after the climax of the story occurred. After that, it was a downward slide to read.
Even though I said all these bad things about the book, I still was able to enjoy some of it. I loved Ruth May's section and Adah's lyrical writing, Leah's relatability, and Orleanna's strive to be a good mother. Moreover, I liked how Kingsolver handled Nathan and how she was able to show the hypocrisy of what he did. Another thing that I thought she did extremely well was how she incorporated side characters. She didn't make them seem like side characters at all, but rather people who had a past, present, and future. She made everyone in the story feel real.
I had to read this for my summer reading assignment for my AP lit class, so maybe that's why I am so negative about the book. Like maybe the fact that I had to read this book made me not really like it already.
I did like how you can see the development of each of the daughters and also Orleanna. Maybe that was one of the upsides of the longer book format. I liked how through the chapters, my feelings toward each of the daughters shifted. For example, I didn't really like Leah that much, then I began to feel sorry for her, and then she became my favorite, and then she started to piss me off again, and then in the end I was happy for her. I liked to see Adah's growth the most. I think in the end, she was my favorite. I also loved to see Adah's and Leah's relationship. Their lives were opposite and parallel at the same time, and I loved how Kingslover made a yin-yang sort of thing.
I think the book only really got better after the climax of the story occurred. After that, it was a downward slide to read.
Even though I said all these bad things about the book, I still was able to enjoy some of it. I loved Ruth May's section and Adah's lyrical writing, Leah's relatability, and Orleanna's strive to be a good mother. Moreover, I liked how Kingsolver handled Nathan and how she was able to show the hypocrisy of what he did. Another thing that I thought she did extremely well was how she incorporated side characters. She didn't make them seem like side characters at all, but rather people who had a past, present, and future. She made everyone in the story feel real.