About this title: In 1959, a missionary named Nathan Price transports his wife and four daughters to a remote village in the Belgian Congo to convert the natives. The family is met with hostility from the locals, particularly a vengeful witch doctor. They also face bands of desperate rebels, dangerous wildlife, and the inevitable petty inconveniences a hyper-conventional Midwestern family might expect to face in an alien land. After tragedy strikes, the family leaves the Congo and Kingsolver details the subsequent fates of each of the female members, each narrating in her own distinctive voice. Besides being a ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 560 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 560 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. edgewear; been read wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 560 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: HarperTorch
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060512828ISBN:0060512822
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Light spine creasing Front cover has a slight bend in the middle cover Text is CLEAN and tight From my SMOKE FREE colleciton. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 672 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Some edge and corner wear. No marks. Cover curling. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 560 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. "Haunting...A novel of character, a narrative shaped by keen-eyed women. "--New York Times Book Review. read more
Edition: Reprint.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial, US
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Shipping upgrade! ! Order processed within minutes of your purchase! In business since 1975. Private owned. Not a mark on it not even a name. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 547 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Near Fine. Trade Paperback. Harper Perennial, 1999. Near Fine Book. Aside from a small cover tear, overall a clean and tight, lightly read copy. Media mail packed in protective bubble lined shipping bags, Priority in a Flat Rate Envelope. Shipped quickly. Prompt response to questions. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Two reading creases on spine. No chipping. Minor corner curling on two corners. Text is clean and bright. Binding is tight. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 560 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Fine. 0060930535 Excellent condition Soft cover book, clean pages, No creases to spine, this book is Near NEW! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Perennial
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Good. No Jacket. Corner Missing Front Cover/First Page, Edges Shelf Worn, Spine Creased, Sm. Spot Inside Front Cover/First Page, Text Is Unmarked, Good Copy. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: HarperTorch, Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060512828ISBN:0060512822
Description: Fair. 0060512822 Mass Market Paperback, previously read used book in acceptable condition, great reading copy, fair amount of shelf wear..._ read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780060930530ISBN:0060930535
Description: Small rip to cover at tail. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. No Writing. No Hightling. Tight binding. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 560 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
"This novel portrayed the struggle of an American, Christian family to survive in the poor, politically unstable former Congo. Each character represented a different value system:
-Rachel was the Westernized, materialistic primadonna. -Adah was the depressed, self-described "deformed," cynical poetic intellect. -Leah was the most complex, least one-dimensional character who transformed from a stout believer in her fathers' radical Christianity to an atheist hippy-type who marries a Congolese man and renounces Westernized life. She was given the lengthiest, most preachy passages, so is probably the closest representation to Kingsolver's own opinion. -Ruth May was pure, unbiased innocence. Her cute, childish observations were often comic relief from the weightiness of the other voices, but unfortunately she was the one to fall victim to the climax of cultural clashes. -Orleanna was the grieving, abused mother and wife. -Reverend Price was the evil, radical, imposing Christian who would rather preach the word of God than save his own family or help those around him.
These characters with their unique personalities are not unlike any family one would have seen in America in the 60s or even today, and it is through each of their paradigms that we learn about how an unruly climate and environment leads to poverty which leads to political instability.
Like a sandwich, the best part of the novel was the middle, as the main conflict unfolded and eventually played out; for example: Tata Ndo's awkward marriage proposal to Rachel, the futile church congregation using the newly learned principle of democracy to interrupt Reverend Price's sermon to vote to reject Christianity, the ant attack on the village, Ruth May's eventual death by snake bite, and Orleanna finally dragging her daughters out of there. (I apologize if these are not in chronological order, I do not have the book in front of me.) The beginning was a little slow as I got used to the different voices, but when I did, the pace picked up as the story unfolded. In the final Exodus section, I was eager to find out what happened to each of the characters, but it seemed like Kingsolver used much of it to preach her political views/commentary, mostly through Leah's voice and actions - i.e. choosing to leave America to return to the former Congo, and despite the poverty, raise her family there and support her revolutionary husband Anatole. I felt like the novel could have successfully concluded sooner after they left the Congo. Nevertheless, this novel is just one more testament to the human tragedy and suffering that occurs as the West forces its ideology and power upon third world countries for profit under the guise of salvation."
"I started this book around 4 or 5 years ago and couldn't get into it. My psyche was trying to tell me not to bother. I decided to finish it (for some reason picked it over a classic like Les Miserables) and I did like the writing style and I did like the story, but it is very much anti-American, anti-Christian, and pro-communist! I should have expected exactly that from an Oprah book club book.
The book praises Patrice Lumumba (the Congo's first democratically elected prime minister) for being a communist who believes in democracy and conversely vilifies Mobutu Sese Seko (the man who took power after Lumumba was assassinated) for being a dictator who believes in capitalism. Mobutu was not a capitalist. He was a dictator who ran a kleptocracy (a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class at the expense of the population). Dictatorships are bad and Mobutu was no exception. He made the people of the Congo suffer enormously, but the book does not make him a villain for being a dictator, it makes him a villain for being a so-called capitalist (Dictatorships are okay for Liberals due to their favorite communist dictator Fidel Castro).
The incessant glorification of communism and the opposing drawl of America (and Christianity) is bad in this book is sickening. The Christian minister is portrayed as a controlling father and husband who puts his whole family in danger by staying in Africa in an unstable political climate and who ends up going crazy. The previous Christian minister is someone who actually lives Christian principles, but was kicked out of position of minister by his own church for cavorting too closely with the natives. Leah defines communists as people who "do not fear the Lord, and they think everybody should have the same kind of house" and from her standpoint "it is hard to fathom the threat" of communism (oh please as if millions of people haven't died due to communist rule). Rachel, who argues with her sisters against communism, is portrayed as a dumb blonde who misuses words and who also happens to be shallow and heartless. Adah who is seen as the smart one of course agrees with whatever Leah thinks. This theme culminates near the end of the book the sisters get together and go sight-seeing. They go to a palace in Africa where human bones and remains were used as building materials. Leah suggests that we shouldn't judge the chief for murdering all those people to build his palace just because we are from the West and don't understand. She says that what looks like "mass murder to us is probably misinterpreted ritual. They probably had ways of keeping their numbers in balance in times of famine". Both Rachel and the Bible are then made fun of by Leah and Adah when Rachel points out 'thou shalt not kill'. So ... if you are a chief in Africa facing elimination by starvation it is okay to knock off a few people to save the rest, but if you are an American in a world full of nuclear weapons capable of eliminating life on this planet you shouldn't take out one man who may increase the chances of nuclear holocaust (according to the book Lumumba's assassination was orchestrated by Eisenhower to eliminate an additional communist threat during the Cold War). If you think one is okay, you have to think the other is too. You can't justify one just because of where you live or what color your skin is. Nice hypocritical message Barbara Kingsolver."
"I read "The Poisonwood Bible" for two reasons: Because I've always wanted to read a Barbara Kingsolver book and I am intrigued by secular takes on Christianity in modern-day writings.
I just finished it today. It is the story of a missionary family's trek to the Congo, told through the eyes of the four daughters and their mother. The father is a misguided preacher who is trying to escape past demons by force-feeding Christ to a culture that he has neither researched nor desires to understand (the name of the book is a reference to his misuse of the native language -- so instead of calling the Bible something holy, he's referring to it as a poisonous tree).
All in all, I am glad I read the book -- the discussion of the Congo's tumultuous history and the commentary on how the United States and various European nations have tried and failed to control something so wild and free was very interesting. It is a theme I saw repeatedly play out in this book -- when people/nations are unwilling to take the time to understand where others are coming from (be it individuals or people groups), the result is long-running anguish, regret and the destruction of lives and families. The writing can be very good -- the death of one of the daughters (which is disclosed early in the novel, although she is not identified) had me literally weeping over this book.
That all said. There were parts of the book that dragged for me -- and the whole catalyst for why these four girls and their mother were transplanted to Africa (a highly controlling husband/father) was never completely resolved to my satisfaction (he sort of disappears in to the jungle halfway through the book, never to return).
From a Christian standpoint, I was also disappointed in how missionaries were generally portrayed -- self-seeking, greedy and Bible-thumping morons who were either frothing at the mouth or couldn't get out of the country fast enough when the going got tough. There were also doctrinal errors (I spent several years as a Baptist and I never attended a church that believed baptism was a necessary ticket in to heaven -- quite the contrary, actually).
It would have been a fascinating foil to have a truly Christ-focused, God-seeking missionary family in these people's midsts ... while I appreciate how the only "good" missionary in this book didn't completely reject God, his buffet-style approach to what he accepted/discarded about the Bible was disturbing. Yet it was clearly held up as the preferred example for the rest of characters in the book."
"People love this book, and I think I understand why. It's got a collection of strong characters, each chapter is written from a different character's point of view, and it's set in Africa, which is exciting. But there are a few reasons I don't think it's great literature.
The main things I expect from a good novel are: a) that the writer doesn't manipulate her characters for her agenda, b) that the characters' actions are consistent to the world the writer has created for them, c) good, tight prose, and d) the characters are nuanced and aren't entirely perfect or hideous. In this novel, the father character is entirely hideous and the mother and each daughter represent a plight of some kind. Their existence is to present arguments for and against lots of important issues in Africa, but for me that kind of thing is an extremely dissatisfying fiction experience.
I suppose there is an argument for fictionalizing reality in order to make it more palatable and invite a larger audience to your cause, but I don't think this novel is successful in that regard. I found it overly preachy, critical, and completely disrespectful to its characters, who I believe deserve a better story in which to thrive."
New Republic "With the publication of THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, this easy, humorous, competent, syrupy writer has been elevated to the ranks of the greatest political novelists of our time. She is something new: a political novelist who is careful not to step on anyone's toes. Barbara Kingsolver does not finally give a hoot about Africa." -- Lee Siegel
Nation, 01/11/1999 "...Barbara Kingsolver has dreamed a magnificent fiction and a ferocious bill of indictment." -- John Leonard
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