The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
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Book Reviews of The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
Book Review: The Poisonwood Bible
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and I thought it was fantastic! It is about Nathan Price, a Baptist missionary who decides to go to Africa and convert people of the Congo. He, his wife Orleanna, and his four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, leave for the Congo in 1959 with only their most important belongings. Life in the Congo is not easy, and Nathan Price is making it worse for the five Price women. He has develpoed a fanatical need to convert the Congolese people, something they are not interested in. After several horrifying events, the Price women decide that they have to get out of Africa - and away from their father.
The book is told in the views of the five female Prices. Orleanna, the mother, narrates the first chapter of each section, and the four daughters narrate the chapters in between. I like the fact that you get different views of a different situation, because it shows the major contrast between the characters.
I also liked how each experiences the Prices went through were unexpected. Living in Arizona, one does not usually see elephants or green mamba snakes. I learned very much about Africa, just from reading about all the different wildlife and also the style of living.
I think that the moral of the story is: When desperate, human beings will go to the extreme. This moral helps to explain the story in some parts, mainly towards the end of the book.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have!
~Sarah Hofstadter
Book Review: Funny, heartwrenching, disturbing
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book and did not want it to end. When an author can take you through so many emotions, they have been successful. It took me about 75 pages before I was really into it and then I devoured it. So much of my family is from the south, so I could really appreciate the attitudes and opinions of the girls, their appearance, what to take to this unknown world and then to their tremendous shock to find they had arrived so terribly unprepared. Although sad, so much of how the girls approached each situation was funny. Each chapter is narrated by one of each of the characters which really allows you an intimate relationship with each person in the story. As a mother, it was heartwrenching for me to read of the dangers these girls were in and what resulted. As a Christian, it was disturbing for me to read of how this Baptist minister approached teaching the word of God. He did not take into account the culture he was entering giving it no heed. He seemed to be oblivious to anything accept what he wanted to accomplish. What was even more disturbing was how he treated his family. He was a terrible witness to the Lord all the way around. There was no love for his wife, his children nor for the people he came to minister to. Amazingly this mother and these girls persevered through incredibly difficult circumstances. This is my first Kingsolver novel and am curious to try another. I highly recommend this book and would love a sequel.Book Review: Convincing voices in the Poisonwood Bible
Summary: 5 Stars
As a South African living in the United States, I identified with the American missionary family of the Poisonwood Bible but I also identified with the African people of the Congo with whom they learn to live. I admit that I relished somewhat the stunningly ill-prepared manner in which this traditional Southern family lands in the center of the Congo jungle, but soon found it impossible not to empathize with their situation. The book is narrated from the family's point of view, each member taking turns many times before the book finishes. I'm not usually a fan of this approach, since it so often prevents one from identifying strongly with any one character. However, each of the personalities in Poisonwood Bible is richly and convincingly presented, and one feels an immediate connection with each one. This is a phenomenal story of family trial, tragedy, and growth, set in a very real Africa far removed from the quaint, safari-infatuated misperception of those who have never felt real African soil between their toes. The characters are placed awkwardly in the throes of 1950s and 1960s revolution, disease, and bungled government; a situation that sadly seems to persist in the DRC today. Although this historical background is well portrayed, the book maintains a very personal tone - it is always about the characters themselves. The Congo slowly works its way into their blood, showing itself as beauty, anger, and indifference.Book Review: More Realistic Than You Might Think
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved The Poisonwood Bible.
I grew up in that sort of culture (ultra-fundamentalist Christian, critical of other people's lifestyles and beliefs, and thinking that it is our God-given duty to convert everyone else to our own religion) although my immediate family wasn't in missions. But my aunt's family was, and in the same time frame as the book. My cousins were born in Africa and one of them has been a missionary in Zambia now for over 25 years, for the same church that we grew up in.
So I really related to the book and can vouch for its authenticity.
Interestingly, my sister hated The Poisonwood Bible. She said that, for her, it brought back too many bad memories. I said that it educates people about what some (many?) religious missions are like. Her reply was that most readers think that the extreme belief system portrayed in the book is a fictional invention of Kingsolver's; and that only a few people like us, who have experienced it for themselves, realize that missions like that really do exist.
This is typical of the responses I've seen to this book: two very well-real people with exactly the same background, but with two opposite opinions. A book that inspires this kind of discussion is undeniably thought-provoking and mentally stimulating.
Book Review: whaddya mean life isn't fair?
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is intense, historically accurate, carefully written, and really worth reading. Written from the perspectives of 5 girls/women from children in the 50s to adults in the 90s, it is impressive how their story(ies) unfold(s) from each of their viewpoints. Their delusioned father/husband preacher who is just whacked out nuts from WWII and his personal rendition of the gospel (the poisonwood version) contrasts with the spirituality of Africa and others who had attempted to convert the natives. The whacky blind allegiance of a mother who doesn't follow her initial gut instincts and ends up with her biggest fears becoming a reality, and her children who must live with the consequences of their parents' decisions.
It's as refreshing as it is disturbing to learn history from fictionalized eye-witness accounts of the truth. The huge difference between the truth and the American media is here too, it helps me understand how we allowed such things to happen (well, mostly b/c they didn't give a flying fig about people of a different complexion)...the trust factor involved...as Uncle Sam's mask unveils a completely different face from what the majority of the characters first experience. Wow. I think Kingsolver put her heart and soul into this book, along with a number of people who helped her out.