About this title: Codi Noline returns home to Grace, Arizona to confront both her past and her ailing father. But the town is threatened by an environmental disaster, and Codi also comes face-to-face with some family secrets. This book won the "Los Angeles Times" Book Prize for fiction.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060921149ISBN:0060921145
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Light edge and corner wear. No marks. Tight binding. Tanning pages. Previous owner's name inside. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 352 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060921149ISBN:0060921145
Description: Very Good. 0060921145 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060921149ISBN:0060921145
Description: Very Good. 0060921145 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780060921149ISBN:0060921145
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Slight stain on book edge does not affect text; pages lightly tanned, appear to be unmarked. read more
"My library puts this novel in its Romance category. And it is indeed a most intelligent romance. An alternate title might be Healing Grief, (but I doubt the library has a Grief category). At first, I found myself rooting for the walls main character Cosima had erected around her heart due to heartbreaking lifetime losses. At some point in the novel, however, I began aching for Codi (Cosima) to let people love her. And the ways in which Kingsolver surrounds Codi with opportunities to let love in are varied, creative, beautiful, and often funny. The only negative was that sometimes I felt that an American Indian character's "respect the earth" beliefs crossed the line into "worship Indian philosophy." Having said that, I will also say that the Indian wisdom Kingsolver chose to include fit perfectly with the healing Codi needed to embrace life and love again."
Animal Dreams
Reviewed by Jane on
2010-01-13 00:00:00.0.
My library puts this novel in its Romance category. And it is indeed a most intelligent romance. An alternate title might be Healing Grief, (but I doubt the library has a Grief category). At first, I found myself rooting for the walls main character Cosima had erected around her heart due to heartbreaking lifetime losses. At some point in the novel, however, I began aching for Codi (Cosima) to let people love her. And the ways in which Kingsolver surrounds Codi with opportunities to let love in are varied, creative, beautiful, and often funny. The only negative was that sometimes I felt that an American Indian character's "respect the earth" beliefs crossed the line into "worship Indian philosophy." Having said that, I will also say that the Indian wisdom Kingsolver chose to include fit perfectly with the healing Codi needed to embrace life and love again.
Rating: 4
"Kingsolver is a master at making characters real, experiencing the same insecurities and struggles that we are familiar with. The plot is well-paced, subtly mirroring the deterioration of her own father with the deterioration of her hometown, Grace. In both cases Kingsolver looks deep for causes, explanations, and meaning, all without every getting heady or losing the story.
It is also beautiful regional literature, most notable in the way that it weaves the Mexican and Native American history and culture of the Southwest with the depiction of the region today. Kingsolver does this without long explanations or descriptions but through the eyes of her protaganist, in her relationships and conversations.
As a story, this is about the struggle to find your own identity and your home, about being an outsider, and about the struggle to preserve the rich traditions of the past, as realized in America's people and places, in the face of a changing, forgetful world."
Animal Dreams
Reviewed by Peter on
2009-12-22 00:00:00.0.
Kingsolver is a master at making characters real, experiencing the same insecurities and struggles that we are familiar with. The plot is well-paced, subtly mirroring the deterioration of her own father with the deterioration of her hometown, Grace. In both cases Kingsolver looks deep for causes, explanations, and meaning, all without every getting heady or losing the story.
It is also beautiful regional literature, most notable in the way that it weaves the Mexican and Native American history and culture of the Southwest with the depiction of the region today. Kingsolver does this without long explanations or descriptions but through the eyes of her protaganist, in her relationships and conversations.
As a story, this is about the struggle to find your own identity and your home, about being an outsider, and about the struggle to preserve the rich traditions of the past, as realized in America's people and places, in the face of a changing, forgetful world.
Rating: 4
"I love the way this woman writes! It's as if I know the main character and we've become friends. How does she do that?! I enjoy her descriptions of local and scene. I don't mind that her personal philosophies often come through in her characters. I reread passages that strike a chord, like "hope gives a great deal of yourself away" and "You find you're not the center of tne universe, suddenly it's all flipped over, you have it in you to be a parent. You're not all that concerned any mjore with being someone's child. It helps you forgive things." One way I measure a great book is if I find myself thinking about it after I've put it down. I finished this one a week ago and it still niggles my thoughts."
Animal Dreams
Reviewed by Donna on
2009-07-23 00:00:00.0.
I love the way this woman writes! It's as if I know the main character and we've become friends. How does she do that?! I enjoy her descriptions of local and scene. I don't mind that her personal philosophies often come through in her characters. I reread passages that strike a chord, like "hope gives a great deal of yourself away" and "You find you're not the center of tne universe, suddenly it's all flipped over, you have it in you to be a parent. You're not all that concerned any mjore with being someone's child. It helps you forgive things." One way I measure a great book is if I find myself thinking about it after I've put it down. I finished this one a week ago and it still niggles my thoughts.
Rating: 5
"Whenever my reading needs a boost, I turn to Barbara Kingsolver. She is the queen of description and simile. I love the poetic way in which she writes. It's always a treat to have a book you don't want to put down. I haven't read this in so long...or maybe it's one that I missed, but I loved it like the others she's written.
A few favorite quotes...
"Hallie and I were so attached, like keenly mismatched Siamese twins conjoined at the back of the mind."
"But children robbed of love will dwell on magic." (I've seen that, and this passage made me cry!)
"I was the woman downtown buttoning her child's jacket, her teeth like a third hand clamped on a folded grocery list, as preoccupied as God."
"Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth but not its twin." (that's deep!)
Okay - moving on to Prodigal Summer. I need more Barbara right now!"
Animal Dreams
Reviewed by Karen on
2009-07-19 00:00:00.0.
Whenever my reading needs a boost, I turn to Barbara Kingsolver. She is the queen of description and simile. I love the poetic way in which she writes. It's always a treat to have a book you don't want to put down. I haven't read this in so long...or maybe it's one that I missed, but I loved it like the others she's written.
A few favorite quotes...
"Hallie and I were so attached, like keenly mismatched Siamese twins conjoined at the back of the mind."
"But children robbed of love will dwell on magic." (I've seen that, and this passage made me cry!)
"I was the woman downtown buttoning her child's jacket, her teeth like a third hand clamped on a folded grocery list, as preoccupied as God."
"Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth but not its twin." (that's deep!)
Okay - moving on to Prodigal Summer. I need more Barbara right now!
Rating: 5
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