This novel is breathtakingly beautiful. It's a pity that I see copies of this book in Booksale being sold for P20 (less than 2 US cents) and people are not buying.

I have two copies. One is a mass paperback that I bought almost a couple of years back for P90 (US$2) but I decided to postpone reading it when I realized that this book is an Oprah book. Then when my good friend here in Goodreads marked this as "currently-reading" in early December (last month), I thought that we could be reading buddies. It so happened that I saw a paperback edition being sold for P45 (US$1) so I decided to buy it since the prints was darker and letters were bigger so I bought it to do a favor for my already myopic eyes.

But my friend is a fast reader. He finished this in 1 week when it took me almost 1 month to finish this epic magnum opus of Barbara Kingsolver (born 1955) who is being hailed, for this book, as America's Doris Lessing or Nadine Goldimer. Having read and liked Lessing's The Golden Notebook and Goldimer's July's People both of which I read last year, I agree with the comparison and I know that Kingsolver should be happy to be compared to these two Nobel laureates from another continents. Lessing is British while Goldimer is a South African.

There are many novels that came into my mind while reading this book: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness because the setting is also in Congo although of the later years of Belgian occupation or to be more specific towards the granting of its independence in 1960; Nadine Goldimer's July's People because the Price family is white family living in an all-black community of Kingala in the heart of Congo which is similar to the Small's family living in South Africa; Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook for the political undertone or its ferocious and fearless political indictment (in this book, Kingsolver reminded her readers US President Eisenhower had a "role" in the assassination of President Patrice Lumumba just to install its puppet President Joseph Mubutu in 1960); Louisa May Alcott's Little Women because the the four Price sisters - Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May also have varied contrasting characters much like the March sisters - Jo, Beth, Amy and Meg and lastly William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury for the lengthy but definitely interesting narratives of each of the children giving their own perspectives to the story.

Having compared this book with those 5 great novels is I guess the best way to describe the structure, message and beauty of this novel. Reading it is like seeing and holding a beautiful piece of art inspired by equally beautifully crafted previous pieces. Going through the narratives of the mother, Orleanna and the sisters are like marveling in awe at this beautiful piece of art in 5 different pairs of eyes. It is simply one of my memorable literary experiences that I will remember for a long time. I was mesmerized by Kingsolver's attention to details particularly on having totally different personalities and distinct voices to each of the sisters: the self-centered Rachel, the innocent Ruth May, the obedient Leah and the passive observant Adah. Their transformations from the time that they landed in Congo to Ruth May's death to their old age are really well-captured and believable. It is like reading Charles Dickens David Copperfield told 5 times without spending 1,000 pages for each.

Oh well, before I quote another favorite book of mine, I hope you get my message: this book is a beautiful book and one of those that I will remember for many, many years. And I do not mind having more copies if a hardcover first edition comes my way at say less than P50. I will give it to my other friend who collect all those first edition hardcover books. Note to the fast reader: he recently told me that what he liked only is the death of Ruth May from snake bite. Those pages actually broke my heart and again made my breathing hard and difficult while visualizing how Orleanna was mummifying Ruth May with mosquito nets.

5th book read in 2011: 195 books to go!

My local book club is discussing this book tomorrow morning --

I read this before I joined Goodreads. This story was 'gripping' -(I still remember my gut was hurting at times) -

This novel left a lasting -- YEARS LASTING impression --

Highly recommend it!!!!!!!!

Riveting...We read this aloud at home and I found it to be beautifully and movingly written, by turns charming and horrifying. Her articulation of the most subtle nuances of experience, the profoundly different narrative voices she assumes like an experienced character actress, and the way she fluently plays with language, show Kingsolver's love and mastery of her craft.
Having been brought up by ultra-religious Christian parents myself, I found the children's and wife's experience strongly resonant and painfully authentic.
I think you have to have lived it to know how accurate and insightful she is in her exposition of the nature of evangelical authoritarianism, it's effect on character, the power of rigidly imposed gender roles, the monomaniacal aspects of monotheism, the not-so-subtle and pervasive racism and sexism.
I think the comparison to imperialism is smack on, and a valuable association that deserves, even needs, to be drawn, particularly in the world in which we live today, where the confluence of these two rivers of inhumanity threaten more every day to once again overflow with devastating consequences.

It cannot be too boldly stated that these twin terrors have together shaped our world for the worse, anciently and modernly.
As a victim and survivor of both, to greater or lesser extent, Ms. Kingsolver has a natural right to portray them, and does so authoritatively.
Both have an inherent dismissivness toward the dignity and value of individuals, engendering similar resentment, hopelessness, and a sense of helplessness, in their victims.
The conceit and destructiveness inherent in both clearly make them horses of the very same color. We ignore their resemblance and relationship at our peril.
It's important to know that this is Kingsolver's most autobiographical novel. She's writing from personal experience, as well as an impressively large body of knowledge about Africa and it's politics.
She knows these people and places like the back of her hand.
Like her main characters, she carries them wherever she goes.

What a terrific story. Such a nut case of a father. I hate sanctimonious people! Somebody should have shot him. Great detailed read about the struggles of living in Africa.

This book was pretty magnificent.

Essentially, it's about a crazy missionary who moves his family from Georgia to the Congo in the 60s. He's all like, "Jesus Saves!" And his children are all like, "...Daddy, I have malaria."

The Price Family: Nathan (crazy missionary), Orleanna (the wife and mother, who is not quite sure how she came to be in the Congo) and their four daughters: Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May. All have a turn at first-person narration except for Nathan.

The strength of the book lies in author Barbara Kingsolver's complete and utter commitment to each woman's unique voice: the guilt-ridden Orleanna, the strong and outspoken Leah, the vapid and materialistic Rachel, the brilliant hemiplegic Adah, and the young, spirited Ruth May.

Kingsolver weaves the political turmoil in the Congo throughout the novel, and uses the family's narrative voices to illustrate the differing views to such a complicated plight: e.g., you have the objective observer, the ugly American, the conscious participant, etc.

There are symbols and themes galore in here, enough to have a field-day and write pages and pages. When I started to have an inkling at what Kingsolver was going for, I was pretty much in awe: the book is a scathing indictment of American colonialism: our superiority and blind arrogance, best embodied by pretty much anything Nathan does throughout the book. But the writing never felt overdone, or show-offy. It's above anything, just a brilliant, solid story.

5 stars.

This book really made me think about why we adopt certain beliefs: what comes from the environment we are immersed in vs. what comes from within. I loved how Kingsolver shows the world view of an entire family who is experiencing the same basic situations in the Congo, but each member deals with these things very differently. It also brings up issues with culture differences and the obstacles in trying to persuade a culture to change. It poses the question of should they change, is the American culture superior, is Christianity superior, is democracy superior, is wealth superior to poverty? Each character answers these questions differently. How our actions or inactions affect other people is another commentary this novel addresses. The story brings up ethical issues that arise in getting involved with other countries: do we do it because we believe we are superior or to exploit their resources or to sincerely try to help other people have a better life? Lots of interesting things to think about in this book.
Here is the synopsis from Amazon.com: As any reader of The Mosquito Coast knows, men who drag their families to far-off climes in pursuit of an Idea seldom come to any good, while those familiar with At Play in the Fields of the Lord or Kalimantaan understand that the minute a missionary sets foot on the fictional stage, all hell is about to break loose. So when Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: "We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle," says Leah, one of Nathan's daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable, and they've arrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse?
In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortune across a span of more than 30 years.

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.

DNF

3.5 stars

There is something distinct and refreshing about the short, simple, sometimes lyrical sentences in this book. And wow what a story. The angle the story took of a post-colonial African country was also interesting. The remorse and reflection was illuminating, something that nonfiction from similar settings and era really fail to do.

The story takes place in the former Belgian Congo, also formerly the republic of Congo, then Zaire, and now The DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). The political setting is the reign of the authoritarian, Mobutu, and the events leading up to getting the country from colony to democratic country, while also painting the picture of post-colonial education--or the lack thereof--and how that played an important role in rectifying political turmoil.

The angle of the missionary family was a good addition to a familiar story. The missionary dad in this family resembles the dad in Purple Hibiscus and The Smell of Apples : oppressive, controlling, devoid of reason. The family of six (dad, mom, and four girls) leave their home in America and settle in rural Africa, within a small village that hasn't yet caught up with the modern world, and this dad is somehow tricked into believing that he is the superior power sent to rule the inferior Africans. You can only imagine where the story goes from there. I must say, I saw bits and pieces of Things Fall Apart in this work.

There is some melancholy and beauty, though the book feels as if it could have been a hundred pages shorter. There were five narrators, all who were supposed to have different styles and voices, yet at times they blended together into the voice of an overall arching narrator. At times, Adah, one of my favorite narrators, started to sound like an older woman and not the young girl she was supposed to be. The history of the Congo was muddled in certain places and with five narrators, it was just hard to keep excited. I ended up growing to like Leah and Anatole's characters better because of the purpose their juxtaposed relationship seemed to fill within the bigger narrative.