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Book Review of Prodigal Summer

Prodigal Summer
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Helpful Score: 6


I like Barbara Kingsolver's novels, but I'm afraid to read her nonfiction because what if it's more preachy than her fiction is?

The woman can write, and I loved getting lost in the descriptions of western Virginia, and the earthy connections she makes between the reader and the scenes. At the same time, it's like she's the green movement's Ayn Rand. Her bad guys are laughable straw men (and here I'm thinking of The Poisonwood Bible in addition to Prodigal Summer), and her protagonists are both good and didactic.

Still, this narrative of three loosely connected people in one particularly rich fertile summer is a great read. And nature is a horn dog.