Kristin L. (beautyredefined) reviewed on + 32 more book reviews
So I've finally gotten around to reading and finishing The Poisonwood Bible. This has been on my list for quite a long time, and I'm glad I read it. Told through the stories of the mother and 4 daughters, the first two-thirds of the book detail the struggles of a missionary family in the Congo in the 1960's while the last third reveals just how much the Congo had transformed each of them.
WARNING - Some Spoilers!
How can anyone really hope to return to a "normal" life in America after seeing and living in such poverty - where death was a way of life and you had to struggle for mere survival. Faced with malaria and ravenous ants, the Price girls each bring a unique experience to their tale of the Congo. None of them leave quite as they came, and yet their basic personalities remain the same.
Rachel was the popular platinum-blond teenager back "home" in Georgia. I really liked this character the least, and you get the feeling that Kingsolver didn't like her that much either. She wasn't the brightest bulb, but she knew how to take care of herself, and that's what she focused on during the whole of the book. At times, her chapters were just annoying though, with her malapropisms and complaining.
I particularly enjoyed hearing about life through the eyes of Adah, the mal-formed twin with an uncanny ability to see the symmetry in things. She loved palindromes and poetry, and she had an irreverent wit about her that made her narrative intriguing. With her gift for language, she often mused about the dual meanings of words in the Congolese village of Kikongo, and she saw life and death dancing with each other in a precarious balance.
Leah, Adah's twin, was another character I found I could relate to. During her early days in the jungle, she found herself doing what she could to gain the approval and attention of her father, Nathan. I really couldn't understand the character of Nathan. He was a man driven mad with his goal of changing Africa to his ways. He tried to force the Congo into something it was not, and he could not accept failure. This stubbornness spelled out disaster for his family, especially during the politcal tumult of the Congo's first elections and governmental upheaval. I'm sure that I'll never understand the religious zealot's refusal to bend and compromise, or even leave when it was clearly dangerous to remain. Without taking the time to know those in his village, how could he hope to change their underlying beliefs and superstitions?
I guess I'm surprised by the fact that the women stayed in the same household with him as long as they did, but I cheered for them when they marched out of there. Orleanna, the wife, was probably the most poignant character of the book. Her sections are always distant reflections of what happened, and your heart just breaks listening to her tell the story of her own destruction through her marriage to Nathan and her unbreakable tie to Africa.
This really is a book worth reading. Kingsolver has done her homework on the history and lives of those in the Congo and gives life to the tiny village of Kilanga. I found the two missionaries, Nathan Price and Fyntan Fowles were amazing contrast. While one refused to adapt the Christian message to the Congo, the other took the traditions of the Congo and told the message of Christianity through those traditions. It's not surprising that one succeeded and thrived in Africa while the Congo destroyed the other.
Anyway, enough random ramblings. Read the book. It's good.
WARNING - Some Spoilers!
How can anyone really hope to return to a "normal" life in America after seeing and living in such poverty - where death was a way of life and you had to struggle for mere survival. Faced with malaria and ravenous ants, the Price girls each bring a unique experience to their tale of the Congo. None of them leave quite as they came, and yet their basic personalities remain the same.
Rachel was the popular platinum-blond teenager back "home" in Georgia. I really liked this character the least, and you get the feeling that Kingsolver didn't like her that much either. She wasn't the brightest bulb, but she knew how to take care of herself, and that's what she focused on during the whole of the book. At times, her chapters were just annoying though, with her malapropisms and complaining.
I particularly enjoyed hearing about life through the eyes of Adah, the mal-formed twin with an uncanny ability to see the symmetry in things. She loved palindromes and poetry, and she had an irreverent wit about her that made her narrative intriguing. With her gift for language, she often mused about the dual meanings of words in the Congolese village of Kikongo, and she saw life and death dancing with each other in a precarious balance.
Leah, Adah's twin, was another character I found I could relate to. During her early days in the jungle, she found herself doing what she could to gain the approval and attention of her father, Nathan. I really couldn't understand the character of Nathan. He was a man driven mad with his goal of changing Africa to his ways. He tried to force the Congo into something it was not, and he could not accept failure. This stubbornness spelled out disaster for his family, especially during the politcal tumult of the Congo's first elections and governmental upheaval. I'm sure that I'll never understand the religious zealot's refusal to bend and compromise, or even leave when it was clearly dangerous to remain. Without taking the time to know those in his village, how could he hope to change their underlying beliefs and superstitions?
I guess I'm surprised by the fact that the women stayed in the same household with him as long as they did, but I cheered for them when they marched out of there. Orleanna, the wife, was probably the most poignant character of the book. Her sections are always distant reflections of what happened, and your heart just breaks listening to her tell the story of her own destruction through her marriage to Nathan and her unbreakable tie to Africa.
This really is a book worth reading. Kingsolver has done her homework on the history and lives of those in the Congo and gives life to the tiny village of Kilanga. I found the two missionaries, Nathan Price and Fyntan Fowles were amazing contrast. While one refused to adapt the Christian message to the Congo, the other took the traditions of the Congo and told the message of Christianity through those traditions. It's not surprising that one succeeded and thrived in Africa while the Congo destroyed the other.
Anyway, enough random ramblings. Read the book. It's good.
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