The Poisonwood Bible

Avoidable Self-Abuse

Women put up with a great deal from men. This is a truism which can’t be reinforced too frequently, if only to remind women that they often collaborate with masculine arrogance to their own - and the world’s - disadvantage. Getting out from under, as it were, requires hitting them where it hurts - not in the private parts but in the intimacies of family life. Essentially, men have no defense against feminine dismissal of their pretensions as merely foolish.

Most of the common male presumptions are contained in The Poisonwood Bible - superior intellect, more serious spiritual existence, greater ability to organise and act, and a keener insight about what it takes to survive in the world. These are observed, suffered, and analysed by a family of four girls who are dragooned with their mother to a remote mission station in the Congo in the early 1960’s. They submit because they have been taught to do so. Submission is a requirement of their interpretation of love, loyalty, and family commitment.

Reverend Paterfamilias is of course incompetent in every aspect of the family’s African endeavour. From his doctrinaire dismissal of local culture, to his refusal to take advice on gardening, he is a persistent failure. The women compensate. The man considers he has learned. He hasn’t. He remains as fundamentally ignorant as he has always been.

“Our Father“, as the disabled daughter refers to him sarcastically, is a misogynistic religious fanatic who would crumble into a heap of ash without the constant hidden and unappreciated support by his female family members and the other women of the village they inhabit. The Reverend is yet another species of animal which thrives in Africa: the parasite.

It takes their African life and its cultural dislocation to demonstrate to the women just how parasitical the man is. Their experience slowly relativises the certainties of their previous cultural existence. From the rationalisation of racism, to the Calvinist mores of work and dress, to the subtleties of their own subservience, they begin to recognise the elements of the cultural prison which encloses them and the oppressive tactics of their chief warder.

“How we wives and mothers do perish at the hands of our own righteousness.” This is the point of revelation for the Reverend’s wife. Unlike her husband, she recognises her true helplessness, her profound vulnerability to the world as it is without the mythical protections of either religion or technology. She also begins to understand that most of those purported protections are beneficial not to her but to her husband.

One by one all the women of the family come to recognise the sole male as the exploitative fool he is. “Everything you’re sure is right can be wrong in another place.” Is how one daughter puts it. In fact he was wrong anyplace, as many men are, men who wield power, who coerce and make victims of those who do not. They need not be fundamentalist preachers of course; but they generally have the same kind of ambition to dominate.

Oddly, this realisation leads to guilt. In part perhaps because it is as much about the culture from which they have emerged and to which they will not return. But mainly because their historic subjugation has led to avoidable tragedy. They should have known better than to have confidence in this man and his delusions. They couldn’t, of course, without the experiences he had imposed upon them. Hence the paradoxical guilt.

wonderfully written and surprisingly engaging masterpiece, illustrating the fluidity of perspective, the strength of women, and the damage that greed and possessiveness can inflict. very strong and individualistic characterizations for each of the narrative voices. understanding of a certain place and time in the Congo comes slowly but steadily to the reader and never feels forced. although kingsolver's liberal tendencies are clear, to me at least they do not unbalance the novel - except perhaps in the depiction of the minister/father. overall a novel of wisdom and beauty, well worth re-reading.

The Poisonwood Bible was certainly one of the best narratives about Africa that I have read in a very very long time. I give it five stars for the excellent research, writing style, narrative and insight. As a novel it managed to include a wealth of information on interpersonal relationships, political and religious issues and African culture. It took some guts to pinpoint the issues between different races, cultures and countries involved in Africa in such a way that the truth, which is underscored by various historical sources, and many of them, upset the readers to such an extent that many reviews are more shocked outbursts of anger than anything else. But for born Africans, both black and white, the narrative is well known, very familiar and very true!

The Price family's involvement in different aspects of African life after their disastrous beginning in the Congo as a missionary family, was an excellent way to tell more than one story which are all connected to a grave in the deepest forests of the Congo.

I was not convinced of the children's voices in the book. It was clearly voices created by an adult, but it did not hamper the spellbinding narrative to keep the reader engrossed in the story.

Although Tata Price was a missionary, he could have been anything else and still had the devastating influence on everyone around him due to his controlling brutal ignorant, unbending personality. He also could have been German, British, Portuguese, French, or even (nowadays) Chinese. The serious colonization of Africa started with the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, at which the most powerful European countries agreed upon rules for laying claim to particular African territories, the British, French, Germans, Italians, Spanish, Belgians, and Portuguese set about formally implementing strategies for the long-term occupation and control of Africa.

In 'Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham, an even more detailed story unfolds of events in Africa that would ultimately conclude in the final revolt starting in 1960 on the continent itself. But it wasn't the beginning of the African revolt at all. The first successful African Revolution took place in Haiti (1791 -1804) and was inspired by the French Revolution(1787-99) so by the way.

The Americans, therefor, were not the only 'culprit' or even the biggest one. The book should have pointed that out in some or other way. But of course it would have made the narrative too tedious and would not have fitted quite into the story.

However, spilled milk is spilled milk. It's good to know more about history and learn through novels about other countries. Insight is always a good thing. Africa is also not the only continent which was concurred throughout thousands of years and certainly won't be the last. Whatever happened, the role of the missionaries were manyfold. But the lasting legacy is their ability to educate people. Of all the different conquerors through the ages, Christianity, no matter how it was done, introduced intellectual freedom through education everywhere it went and was the forerunner of free societies all over the world.

Barbara Kingsolver wrote a great book and skillfully introduced many aspects of African life to readers who would otherwise not have obtained this information. She also highlighted the true rulers of Africa - which is not the democratically elected Black leaders in power on the continent at all.

It is one of those books that every single person who benefits from Africa's wealth in minerals, oil, and any other products should read!!! And that is just about the entire world!

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant book!!!!

5 epic, no wonder this book is so well-loved stars, to The Poisonwood Bible! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Review of the audio.

This book has done nothing to change my opinion that all missionaries belong in large black kettles, boiling slowly over an open flame, while the natives they had hoped to convert stand hungrily by, waiting for a hearty meal.

Though technically a minor character in the book, patriarch Nathan Price looms large over his small tribe of women. With no regard for the well-being of his family, he drags his wife and four daughters to deepest Africa, because, of course, he is on a mission from God. Price embodies everything that I find wrong with religion - close-minded rigidity, the belief that every word of the bible is absolute and must be obeyed, and the uniquely Christian belief that man has been given permission to run roughshod over all of nature. His attitude toward his wife and children is scandalous. States one daughter - he considers himself "captain of a stinking mess of female minds." He abuses them both verbally and physically. In short, he is one of the most loathsome characters I've ever met.

Price turns out to be unpopular with the natives as well. He disregards completely their established beliefs and traditions. His attempts at baptism in a crocodile-filled river are met with understandable distain. Ultimately, it his love of religion over his family that is his undoing.

Much of the book deals with the struggle of the Congo to find independence, a chapter in history of which I was woefully ignorant. The United States plays a shameful role in orchestrating many of the coups. Perhaps this is why we were not taught about it in school.

The book is narrated in turns by the daughters. Each girl picks up the story and moves it along, rather than simply providing yet another viewpoint of previous incidents. The girls all have unique voices. Leah gives a straight-forward, even handed narrative, always trying to see both sides of the story. Her twin, Adah, who suffers from some brain damage, does not speak aloud and is fond of anagrams. Ruth May, the youngest child, adapts most easily to life in Africa. And then there is vain, supercilious Rachel, the oldest girl, who sometimes hilariously misuses words - "It's a woman's provocative to change her mind." Ironically, she is the sister who manages to best sum up the saddest facts of the book - Father thought "he'd save the children and what does he do but lose his own?" and "You can't just sashay into the jungle aiming to change it over to the Christian style, without expecting the jungle to change you right back!"

This is a good story, well told and memorable. It is also a learning experience.

“The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes.”

This book follows the Reverend Nathan Price and his family; his wife, Ordelia and four children: Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May. Nathan Price becomes a missionary and moves his family deep into the Congo, far from their home lives in Atlanta, to teach those in the village the ways of believing in the one "true" God. Upon arrival the Congo is completely different to their typical way of life, and through the eyes of the women in the family, particularly those of the daughters, we get to imagine their experiences of a different culture and obstacles they face.

This book markedly points out the differences of life of those from being comfortable in the USA to a different lifestyle in the Congo. Not only is the culture and environment a complete shock, but also society is completely different to what the Price family is used to.

This book had beautiful writing and vivid descriptions, especially those of nature and detailing the atmosphere of Congo. This is a compelling read based on family, loneliness, identity, religion and loss.

This book is set around the de-colonisation of the Congo and the years that proceed after it with political tensions running high. It shows the girls when they first arrive, to when some of them leave the Congo and what becomes of them. Not only detailing in the history of the Congo during the 1950's- 1980's and the political tensions arising from it with America's involvement, but also tensions within the family. It is obvious at the start that Nathan Price is thoroughly devout in his religion, using it as punishment for his children if they behave in a way he deems inappropriately. We also witness the differences and tensions among the sisters, all of whom have completely different and often conflicting personalities.

While I say that this book didn't have a happy ending, it had instead a very realistic one instead, as each female in the Price family offer deep reflection of their time in the Congo and the effect this had on them for the decisions in their lives.

Religious devotion many times leads to fanaticism which kills the family unit. This happens everyday--here is a chronicle of this. This diluted (& superscary-in-a-different-way) version of "The Shining" is complex, emotional. It is written similarly to "The Joy Luck Club", in different vignettes all of which are articulated in a distinguished, feminine P.O.V.

The location is the Congo before and after independence--the plot is about a preacher who treks to the jungle with his family. We end up caring so much for the four doomed Price sisters because their personalities are so different; this affords the reader a chance to breeze through the resounding narrative and never arrive at boredom. Rachel is superficial... a "Paris Hilton" (ha) figure... a Princess with no kingdom and, alas, no King. Leah is the tomboy whose roots remain in Africa even after the "Exodus." Adah is the idiot savant whose keen observations place her in the position of poet. And little Ruth May is the anchor-- the treasure. The mother is a victim of an over-religious spouse who is ineffective both in the community and household. He is in the background, just like all the historical pinpoints of paramount significance (chief of which is Lumumba's assassination, the rise of the dictatorship and the segue to the countless genocides...), & the women (including the thoughts of an older mother Price on her deathbed) are where they belong, in the forefront. They are the heart and brains... & everything is displayed and named as though they were trying to assimilate us into their world, just like they had to evolve in harsh Africa. Whereas they had many hardships & moments of deep despair (were alone, except for "The Eyes in the Trees"), we the reader have awesome tour guides in all these accounts of the five unique women.

One of my favorite books of all time. If you like a solid read, a well-developed plot and characters, this book is it. Kingsolver--I love her writing style! Smart, funny, compassionate, gritty...and her storytelling skills are supreme. This is a longer read, but I've always preferred a thicker book to shorter novels. But this one I've actually read several times, and each time I find something new to love and appreciate.