The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

[BookStop]

Synopsis 'The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa. The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy. Taking its place alongside the classic works of postcolonial literature, this ambitious novel establishes Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.'


This book does not fall under the category of spec-fic at all, but is so powerful, tragic, and amazing I had to share.

The story is narrated by the four Price sisters, interrupted by commentaries from their mother, about their time in a small village in Africa. They'll discuss religion, politics, racism, and sin; each girl having their own take on things, none of them having a clue as to what they've gotten in to. Their mother will try to protect them all from Africa, from their father, and from God.

 

[Foxbat]

Sounds interesting and a little bit different. Think I'll have to look out for this one.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Sounds interesting and a little bit different. Think I'll have to look out for this one.

The Poisonwood Bible is a wonderful book, Foxbat. I would definitely recommend it. I actually approached it with trepidation because it was one of those "Oprah's Book Club" books, which are not usually the kind of thing I seek out to read. But, I had to read Kingsolver's book for, of all things, an upper division geography class at university, and I'm so glad I did. The characters are vivid, the background fascinating, and some of the issues examined are very interesting.

If reading it piques your interest in Congo, I'd also recommend King Leopold's Ghost (I can't recall the author of that one offhand), which is a non-fiction treatment of Belgian rule in the Congo. One of the things this book points out is that King Leopold wanted a colony in Africa because...well, mostly because all the other European rulers were getting one. Kind of the ultimate in keeping up with the Jonses, and not at all a good reason to go in and take over a country (not that there are a lot of good reasons to do so). I had to read that along with Kingsolver's book in that geography class.

Edit: I just went and checked...King Leopold's Ghost was published in 1998 and was written by Adam Hochschild.

 

[Foxbat]

You guys have sold me. I've just ordered a copy from Amazon.
Unfortunately, my 'to read' pile just seems to get bigger everyday so God knows when I'll actually get around to reading it.

Never read King Leopold's Ghost...another I'll have to watch out for. As for the Congo, I think the only thing I've read in that setting is Conrad's Heart Of Darkness....at least I seem to recall that the Congo was the setting for that one. My memory is not what it used to be

 

[littlemissattitude]

Actually, in King Leopold's Ghost, Hochschild identifies three or four individuals who might have been the inspiration for Conrad when he wrote Heart of Darkness.

 

[Carolyn Hill]

I was blown away by The Poisonwood Bible. My quilting buddies had to convince me to read it because I usually just want to read SFF and nothing else, but once I started reading, I couldn't stop. It's an extremely powerful novel, gripping and emotionally wrenching. Well worth reading.

After finishing it, I read several other Kingsolver novels. (Again, I mention that I don't usually read nongenre fiction. So the fact that I read more of her novels tells you how much I appreciated The Poisonwood Bible.) The others were fine--but none had the same intense effect on me as it had.