About this title: Taylor Greer, from rural Kentucky, buys a 1955 Volkswagen and drives west. Along the way, she picks up an abandoned 3-year-old Native American girl named Turtle, and by the time she pulls up at the Jesus Is Lord Used Tire Auto Repair Shop, Taylor is well on her way towards establishing an adventurous new life in the desert land of the Southwest.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial, New York
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060915544ISBN:0060915544
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Photo illustrated front cover, clean bottom corner lightly bumped, no crease at hinge or spine, text clean as new, 246 pages. extra nice copy looks about new. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060915544ISBN:0060915544
Description: Good. Tight Spine. Creased spine. Cover art varies. Fair+ cond. Cover worn: creased corners; curled. Stains at outer edges. First 50 pgs stains lower corner--affects text pp. 1-6; last 50 pgs stained lower corner. Bent/creased pg. corners. No markings. See my website for cover image. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: HarperTorch
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780061097317ISBN:0061097314
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. Some dog-earred pages. Cover is red, not yellow. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 323 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper & Row
Date Published: 1988
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice soft cover, lightly read, some shelf wear to cover, bend on bottom corner of front cover, 1" tear on bottom of front cover along spine, light wear on spine, stk #2272t7. 232 p. read more
Description: Very Good. 0060915544 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
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060915544ISBN:0060915544
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. FINE-CLEAN AND TIGHT BOOK. HARDBACK WITH DUST COVER. SHIPS QUICKLY. Hardback, Glued binding. 240 p. Audience: General/trade. FINE-CLEAN AND TIGHT BOOK. HARDBACK WITH DUST COVER. BOOK CLUB EDITION. SHIPS QUICKLY. f-Kingsolver, Barbara, Harper Perennial, 1989. Automobile travel; Book Notes; Fiction; Friendship; Indian children; Literary; North America; Orphans; Study Aids; West (U.S. ) read more
"Despite being an assigned novel, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Kingsolver is a master at creating characters with interesting personalities, and her characters are what drive the plot in this book. Take for example, Turtle, a three year old child who is taken in by the main character, Taylor. Although it may not seem like it, I found Turtle to be an inspirational character, with a complex and moving history and personality. The only complaint I have, is that it seemed as if Kingsolver tried to add suspense in this book, but overall, wasn't too successful. If you liked The Poisonwood Bible, I recommend reading The Bean Trees as well."
"Marietta Greer has just completed two miracles of her rural Kentucky upbringing: graduating high school and avoiding pregnancy. To celebrate, she jumps in her '55 Volkswagen bug and rides West, leaving her job at a Kentucky hospital counting platelets to stay true to her plan "to drive out of Pittman County one day and never look back" (11). On the road, she changes her name to Taylor and finds herself in Tucson, Arizona with a broken down car and a Cherokee baby in her arms.
Taylor is an honest, straight-forward protagonist that speaks with youthful tact and an open heart. Through her, Kingsolver voices the morals of an ideal United States brought down with prejudice and misunderstanding. The Bean Trees isn't a celebration of the Southwest and its adopted mixed-heritage culture as it is a vision into a world stricken by the hypocrisy of that adoption. Comparing her rural Kentucky hometown and Tucson, Arizona together to discover they're as foreign to each other as to be separate countries, Taylor declares herself an immigrant in her own right and easily warm up to Mattie--the local mechanic--and the plight of the hunted illegal immigrants coming and going from the sanctuary rooms above her garage. She is naive, but warm-hearted, as she struggles to comprehend the idea that a person can not only commit illegal acts, but can be illegal in the eyes of the law, too.
When I began the novel, I was not expecting to read about political and human rights issues. I was really surprised to discover Taylor navigating prejudices that are extremely close to home. Now that I've finished, I'm blown away with Taylor's sweet-below-the-surface personality and firm beliefs in the extension of natural human rights to everyone, not just citizens. She finds more in common with Estevan, Esperanza, and Lou Ann Ruiz--her roommate--than she does with the other local folks she meets in town. Themselves displaced from their own points of origin, Taylor and her group form fast friendships and a loyal support system as binding as any family she could ever imagine. Together they help each other survive in a foreign land, everyone as much part rhizobia as part wisteria vine. They are an incongruous family, the titular bean trees, a confusing connotation of the more widely known and beautifully named wisteria vine.
Kingsolver's debut novel is charmingly powerful and subtle in its celebration of families, whatever the form. I'm also entirely prejudiced when it comes to immigration issues and agree with Kingsolver's politics here (there are a lot of people who will not). I think it'd be difficult to get through this novel coming at it with a closed or contrary mind that would disallow for the suspension of one's own beliefs. The Bean Trees is filled with rich sentiments that call for an open mind and are impossible to ignore if you want to experience (and enjoy) the book to its fullest.
The best part about the book was the dialogue. Taylor and Lou Ann's colloquial conversations are disarming and honest. It's very easy to fall in love with their (and everyone else's) quirks--they bloom from the pages as studies of characteristics we've all encountered before; Lou Ann, the worrisome young mother; Virgie, the bigoted senior citizen; Mattie, the bleeding heart. Because of this, The Bean Trees readily comes to life, vividly reminding us of real life issues still very pertinent to our society, even after twenty years. Even little Turtle, who speaks her strange vegetarian language, manages to communicate effectively, if a bit eccentrically, and found in me a sympathetic heart. She speaks a recipe of nourishment, sprinkled here with food, there with a small army of 'Ma's determined to raise her right. Like Taylor and Lou Ann finding reprieve in each other's speech, she finds solace in surrounding her auditory world with comfortable, familiar things.
One of my favorites scenes is a complete spoiler, but I think it's the most powerful in the entire book: emotional and transcendent, reaching far beyond the actions on the page. I've dwelt on the political issues, but what drives the narrative are the characters, their personal journeys, and the relationships they form with each other. While it may be difficult to appreciate those aspects without also understanding the politics of what motivates them, it's hard not to grip the book firm with both hands when Taylor, Turtle, Estevan, and Esperanza sit nervously in Mr. Jonas Wilford Armistead's office, certain that any sudden movements will break the spell and destroy not one, but four lives. I held my breath and absolutely could not put The Bean Trees down or risk psychologically damaging someone.
I had nothing to compare Kingsolver's writing to. This is the only book of hers I've read so I can't say where on a Kingsolver scale this would land, but I really liked it. What am I talking about? I loved this book. This is the type of literature I think everyone should read and try to understand. It opens a dialogue that I hope engages people in a positive way."
"A decent choice for a quick, well written novel to pass a long airplane ride. Although full of confrontations with "hard issues" like immigration, violence, injustice & single motherhood, these themes weren't given more than an passing once-over. Although easy to fall into and even enjoy, the critical edge and depth that made Poisonwood Bible one of my all-time favorite books was absolutely missing here."
"The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver is the older twin of a book I read a year ago called Pigs in Heaven. As the first book of the duo, it chronicles the flight of Taylor Greer from a small, hick lifestyle to a freer life she didn't expect. Basically, Taylor's managed to be educated and not get pregnant when she finally takes her car across the country. But one night in a bar, a mysterious Indian woman gives her a young girl. Suddenly, Taylor finds that she's a single mother with no prospects - what's a girl to do?
While writing that summary, I was struck by how interesting the narrative elements seemed. Young, single, white woman faces world with young child that needs love; they triumph. However, I was, to put it bluntly, unimpressed by the entire book. The same thing happened with Pigs in Heaven. I liked the idea Kingsovler presented and I think she has brings real places into fiction, but I thought it was poorly executed. Structurely, both novels seem like tea bags to me in that you only get mildly-flavored hot water.
Another complaint that I had about Pigs in Heaven, which also holds for this book, is that there were moments that made me believe this novel wouldn't age well. Again, I can't remember any particular points, but certain sections would pop out at me while I was reading and make me think.... Hmmmmm....
I know Barbara Kingsolver enjoys popularity among literary circles, but I'm really perplexed by it. Compared to the hundreds of other candidates who are eminently more qualified to be read in classrooms, why choose her?
Oh yeah, there were bean trees and they were a metaphor, but I never thought it worked."
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