I began reading this book with hesitancy and a good portion of discernment. It had been recommended by a non-Christian co-worker as a good book for me to read since "you want to become a missionary." I'm really glad I read it though. There are a number of things I really appreciated about the book.

I really liked how the author, Barbara Kingsolver, told the story through the eyes of each of the characters. She was able to pull off a consistent and believable use of a different storytelling voice for each individual. This is something that, if done poorly, could result in a book that is a total nuisance to read. But when done well, as in this case, it sweeps the reader along into the hearts and minds of the characters.

I felt like Kingsolver captivatingly addressed the concept of mission effort gone awry. I'm glad I had the chance to read Kingsolver's work, because I think it captures the misgivings that many of my non-Christian friends have when they think of "Christian missions." As an example of this, my husband Mike can recount the conversation he had with a co-worker where the guy he was working with got kind of offended at hearing Mike's interest in missions: "What gives you the impression that you can just go over and tell the Japanese people to believe in your God?"

Kingsolver captures some of the concerns & misunderstandings of modern missions that our friends may feel as they hear our interest in missions.

Kingsolver's descriptions also ring true with some of the crazy foibles that have been recounted in true missions history. When I took a missions course called Perspectives  the unit on "The History of Missions" was particularly eye-opening. Kingsolver is not just pulling these ideas out of thin air. There have definitely been some crazy abuses of people and culture -- some gross insensitivities displayed by some missionaries of the past.

One more thing I enjoyed about this book was the sometimes humorous, sometimes sobering pictures and impressions that it left in my mind. Archetypes of sorts, that I will carry with me in the future. Whenever I pack to go overseas, I will probably always think about piling on 15 layers of clothing, stuffing small kitchen appliances in my bosom, and boxes of cake mix in my coat pockets as I board the airplane.

-Jen

This year I’ve been re-reading some literature I first read while too young to fully appreciate or simply don’t remember well—this one I read as a teen, and liked for its critique of Christian fundamentalism, but remembered almost nothing else about. As it turns out, it was well worth the re-read.

The novel focuses on three teenaged and one kid sister, dragged to a village in what was (in 1959) the Belgian Congo by their tyrannical missionary father. Narrated in turns by the four girls and occasionally their mother, it traces their many missteps in dealing with a culture and way of life they know nothing about, and their coming-of-age, just as the Congo gains its independence only to be undermined by a U.S.-backed coup.

By far the book’s most impressive feature is the voices. All five points-of-view are in the first person, which almost no one pulls off successfully. I’ve said before that no author should attempt multiple narrators before having at least 10 novels under their belt, and this was only Kingsolver’s 4th! Though, per the supplementary material, she spent an entire procrastinatory year writing the same scenes over and over from all five perspectives to fully inhabit and differentiate their voices. (Which makes me wonder how many palindromes she invented but didn’t get to use!) At any rate, the voices are all distinct and believable and bring the characters to life; they’re impressive and simply a pleasure to read. And as a literary author, Kingsolver clearly trusts herself and her audience: moments of great emotional weight are often quite understated, not dwelled upon and sometimes relayed through a peripheral point-of-view. And yet we don’t need everything spelled out; we come to understand these people and what events mean to them, and that restraint adds heft to the story.

There are plenty of other impressive aspects as well. The book’s first 400 pages are compelling and often intense, growing increasingly dark but without losing track of mundane realities. It’s an immersive story that drags the reader into the characters’ experiences. The settings are vivid, and Kingsolver has clearly done her research into the setting and its history. Most first-worlders-in-the-jungle novels take the invent-a-tribe route, but here, while the village is invented the culture is not, and much of the story is informed by translations from Kikongo. It is respectful of the locals and interested in their actual lives, rather than just what they represent vis-à-vis the American family (there is some tendency to romanticize “the simple life,” but this is generally balanced by showing actual social problems and personality conflicts in the village—with one or two exceptions, situations not improved by meddlers from abroad). Kingsolver wrote this book in part because she wanted to bring awareness to U.S. involvement in Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba’s murder, and it’s a good novel to read if you want to learn more about consequences of meddling with poorly-understood foreign countries. But (at least for the first 400 pages) the book keeps the focus firmly on the protagonists while the history plays out in the background. And the book leaves the reader with a lot to think about regarding its characters and everyone’s responsibility for the state of the world.

That said, the last 140 pages are essentially the world’s longest epilogue. We follow everyone through decades of their separate adult lives, largely in narrative summary and without the momentum of those first 400 pages. There’s something to be said for seeing the aftermath, how the events of the main story reverberate throughout the survivors’ lives, and I was interested enough in the characters to care, but 140 pages is still a lot. This is exacerbated by the fact that nearly half of those 140 pages go to Leah, whose adult life is far more chaotic than her sisters’—you’d think this would be a good thing, but so much incident packed into so little space quickly becomes dry, not helped by Kingsolver’s trying to shove all of Congolese history in there too. Though admittedly, I was also just frustrated with the adult Leah, the way she runs on outrage and what felt like performative virtue, without doing anyone much good. I was far more interested in reading about Adah—who was always my favorite by a mile, and who does do some good, perhaps because she lacks Leah’s obsession with righteousness—and even Rachel, who is fairly awful as a person but at least has an interesting voice. Leah gets stuck with the “default” voice, the one that’s distinctive only by not being distinctive when her sisters’ voices are, which isn’t a problem in the main story with its quick POV shifts but does cause her later, longer sections to drag.

This is not to say the novel is otherwise perfect. The characters didn’t always quite satisfy me, the biggest offender being Rachel. The four sisters fit neatly into four archetypes of fictional girls—girly-girl, tomboy, nerd, and baby—but Leah, Adah and Ruth May all have more going on than just that. Whereas Rachel’s entire personality is girly-girl and selfishness. To Kingsolver’s credit, she’s still well-written—she’s relatable; I suspect a lot of us can see the worst of ourselves in Rachel. But for Rachel herself that worst is all there is: she seems genuinely incapable of love or empathy, and I was left uncertain whether this was intentional. Some secondary characters also seemed a little more extreme than circumstances seemed to warrant, though opinions may reasonably differ.

At any rate, this is a book that will leave the reader with plenty to think and talk about, and one that has held up well thus far. Certainly worth a read for the interested.

Sometimes, when I write reviews on certain books, the words I need are so far out there somewhere I can't grasp them all long enough to use them. Or I cannot gather them at all. The task almost feels heavy. Perhaps I won't know how to capture my emotions and thoughts. They are unnamed. I know some of you relate. There are books, and then there are BOOKS. The Poisonwood Bible is one of those BOOKS for me. It hits a little too close to home. And though I have not been a full-time missionary, I have done some mission work and known the faces of beautiful people who remain misunderstood and forgotten. I have had versions of toxic Christianity ingrained in the fibers of my being. I am thankful I am no longer that person. I didn't run in the opposite direction. I just learned the truth of who God is and how He loves. Stories like this are real. I never copy another's book synopsis, but I cannot say it better than Goodreads:

"The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical 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"

I have known every character in the Price family - each girl, each boy, each woman, each man. I found myself voice-acting while reading aloud. It helped me move forward and give each character a more distinct quality throughout this epic story. I wanted revenge on Nathan Price. I wanted Rachel to be humbled. I wanted Orleanna to learn her worth. I wanted Adah to soar above everyone else. I wanted Leah to have peace. And I wanted Ruth May to be free. These characters are so complex! This is my second Kingsolver novel. She has an unbelievable skill in convincing you that her characters are real. I remain awestruck at her brilliant intuition and creative instincts. I continue to ask myself the same questions when I read her stories: "How can she know? How does she have such an accurate file for that mind, that circumstance, or that character's makeup?" I marvel at her ability to keep the reader captivated for days, even after the reading is complete. I still have much thinking to do about this one. I will leave you with this quote from the text:

"If chained is where you have been, your arms will always bear marks of the shackles. What you have to lose is your story, your own slant. You’ll look at the scars on your arms and see mere ugliness, or you’ll take great care to look away from them and see nothing." - Adah Price, The Poisonwood Bible

I am not going to rate “The Poisonwood Bible” because I have attempted to read this book 3 times! I at least made a huge effort to wrap my head around the book but failed. There are so many amazing books I would prefer to spend my time reading...good-bye “The Poisonwood Bible”.

A rook who would be king. And the piece that will fall? Patrice Lumumba, a postal worker elected to head his nation. The Belgians and Americans agree, Lumumba is difficult. Altogether too exciting to the Congolese, and disciplined to let White control the board, preferring the counsel and company of the Black. (PG 318)

I honestly don’t know how to convey what I read here to you all… it was too powerful

How does a country let foreigners destroy them and then their own peoples, their own government Fx them too? It’s too big for my small brain to comprehend. When people know history, like truly delve into it, can these same people continue to 100% trust their government and feel safe ever again? I think when you look at everything logically and decide NO, I CANNOT it doesn't mean you're unpatriotic but it means you're awake and full of questions and that is healthy for a human being. You are not a conspiracy theorist because you ask questions. There are many things people have laughed at but have recently have come to light that these things didn't happen as was told to us, ie JFK (David Blaine must've given them a magic bullet!) Other things I can mention but will probably get ridiculed here but who can say I am truly wrong or you are truly wrong? We don't know, that is the point. We are kept in the dark as were the Congolese and it was the Americans, Belgians, Brits all over again. If someone did whatever was done to these Congolese in these particular countries, DAMN, imagine WWIII! Imagine the outrage but then a man tries to fix the country, the CIA murders him and plants another moron in office that's bedding the highest bidder. A man in power prostituting himself for shiny, big things, not for the well-being of its people.

I Googled many of the events in the book and while it is historical fiction the background and the governments of that time are real. It makes me sick to know this stuff and that it's 2023 and they would do it all over again OR it is still happening in plain sight. We fight for political correctness and gender equality, which is important to some, but where people are being murdered for the sake of democracy no one bats an eye or goes protesting at any government house. We need what they have and if we don't do it someone else will take it. We call them savages and make filthy cartoons about them but do we take the time to realize they are a people of their own nation with their own injustices? They don't need us. They've been fine for thousands of years.

It's probably a dumb, emotional review but this book pissed me off for the right reasons. History is slowly being dissolved and retold so this must be taught to my kids and their kids by me. The funny thing is I didn't want to read it and it took me two times to finally get into it but it's one of those books that I should have read years ago.

Can a country and its politicians be called narcissistic psychopaths? If they were diagnosed for a mental illness by a professional would they be on anti-psychotic pills for the rest of their days? Would they be considered mass murderers or serial killers? Would you vote for these people knowing what you know about their background or how they came into "old" money? Doesn’t it bother people that your hard earned tax dollars are being used to rape and murder people in other countries yet making you live in fear in your own because of inflation? I feel tricked and robbed with a big sprinkle of gaslighting.

Just questions that crossed my mind after reading this. Trying to think outside the box, like technicolor.

As Brother Fowles told us a long time ago: there are Christians, and there are Christians. (PG 435)

God doesn't need to punish us. He grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves. (PG 327)

This was a wonderfully written story that was difficult to read. The prose and characterization was great but the subject matter was pretty rough. And by that I mean the situation the characters find themselves in and what they have to endure is rough. This book also serves as an examination of the American experience and impact on the Congo during the 1960's.

The story revolves around a family of American missionaries who travel to the Congo (which was still under Belgian administration) to spread the good word of Jesus to the natives. The family comprised the father, mother, and four daughters (Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May). The story is hold as a rotating narrative by the four daughters with occasional passages by the mother told after the events of the story take place.

Right off the bat you know things will not go well given the disposition of the father. Namely, not the sort of man who views females as worthwhile people ("Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes...It’s hard to say which is worse, seeing it run out and waste the water, or seeing it hold in and wreck the shoes.”). He was the driving force behind the move to the Congo even though everyone, including their church, cautioned strongly against it. But he would not be denied and viewed himself as a sanctified and protected man of God.

If you are unaware Congo has a really screwed up history. Mostly it was at the hands of the Belgians. It basically served as King Leopald II's private domain where natives were abused and exploited to create wealth for the Belgian crown. The conditions were so inhumane the rest of Europe forced him to give up the territory to the Belgian civil government. When early 20th century Europe thinks you are treating the natives to inhumanely you KNOW some terribly atrocities are going down. Not that the civil government was much better. Congo served merely as a place to extract wealth and natural resources. Little to no investments were made in the native population and atrocities continued on the rubber plantations and mines.

It was fascinating seeing the experience of the family through the eyes of the daughters. They all had a very different reactions and the writing really illustrated their different voices and perspectives. Rachel, the oldest, was the most resentful having been taken from a life of material abundance (relatively speaking) to dirt poverty in a strange land. Leah idolized her father and did her best to follow in his foot steps. Adah, Leah's twin sister but who suffered somewhat in the womb and walks with a limp, took a very detached academic view of their new circumstances. Ruth May, a very young girl, took to the situation with gusto and enthusiasm.

It is rather evident that the family is in no way prepared for their new environment. From packing absurd things to now knowing how to properly plant crops, to now even knowing the language they (or at least the father) are the very epitome of the ugly Americans. They did not understand the social structure of the village they moved to or the native beliefs. They effectively stumbled about socially until they slowly learned how things worked in the village and Congo. Well, except for the father, who acts like a bull in a China shop, not caring about anything except for his mission to convert the village to Jesus.

The family very much parallels the Western experience during the Congo Crisis which unfolds during the course of the story. The Western powers didn't view the Congo as an entity or its people as worthy of determining their own course. Congo was viewed as an underdeveloped country that was incapable of making decisions for itself (of course the fact that Belgian did all they could to keep the population uneducated and exploited never entered consideration) so when the new popularly elected government of Congo turns to the Soviets for assistance the West freaks out (though, it should be noted, this occurred after various Western powers supported a secessionist movement in Congo) and funded the over throw of the freely elected government to be replaced by one of history's worst and most corrupt regimes.

Like the family the Western powers really did not have or care to have an understanding of Congolese society, caring more about achieving their own ends regardless of what the Congolese wanted. They were both bulls in a china shop, the only difference was scope and power between the two.

But the real strength of this book is how strong the characterization is. The writing is extremely effective in conveying the internal state of mind and views of the characters. As the story unfolds (and it unfolds over several decades) we can clearly see how the characters change, why they change, and how that impacts the relationships they have. They all change drastically and in fascinating ways. The path their lives take are deeply tied to their experience in Congo. In fact I think I enjoyed the parts of the book after the family left Congo because of what Kingsolver did with the characters and how they evolved.

All in all this was a nuanced, beautifully written, and deeply moving story about both coming of age and how people process traumas from their youth. An excellent read for those interested in historical fictions or Africa.

Kingsolver's book about a missionary family in the Congo could have been two separate books--one fiction, the other nonfiction. Sadly, The Poisonwood Bible was a combination of both which resulted in a story a bit long-in-the-tooth.

RACHEL

I am the oldest sister and a typical teenage girl, oh-jeez-oh-man. All I want is to go back to Georgia and kiss boys outside the soda bar, but instead here I am stuck in the Congo with unconditioned hair and ants and caterpillars and scary-but-with-a-heart-of-gold black people. Jeez Louise, the life of a missionary's daughter. Also I make a whole lot of hilarious Malabarisms, that's just one of the tenants of my faith. There's two of them now! Man oh man.


LEAH

The other day, Anatole rushed into our hut all excited about news from the wider world. ‘Great events are underway, Miss Price!’ he said. ‘Oh really?’ I asked, wondering if he would do for a love interest. ‘What's happening?’

Anatole took a deep breath. ‘Well, in the fallout from the Léopoldville riots, the report of a Belgian parliamentary working group on the future of the Congo was published in which a strong demand for "internal autonomy" was noted. August de Schryver, the Minister of the Colonies, launched a high-profile Round Table Conference in Brussels in January 1960, with the leaders of all the major Congolese parties in attendance. Lumumba, who had been arrested following riots in Stanleyville, was released in the run-up to the conference and headed the MNC-L delegation. The Belgian government had hoped for a period of at least 30 years before independence, but Congolese pressure at the conference led to 30 June 1960 being set as the date. Issues including federalism, ethnicity and the future role of Belgium in Congolese affairs were left unresolved after the delegates failed to reach agreement,’ he said.

‘Well I guess that's us brought up to date, then,’ I sighed. Anatole folded up his printout from Wikipedia and left the hut.


ADAH

Sunrise unties blue skies clockwise. Pinot noir, caviar, mid-sized car, Roseanne Barr. I have a slightly deformed body and I Do Not Speak, which means I have more time for deep, ponderous internal monologues and wordplay. Ponder. Red nop. That's my thing – I say words backwards. Ti t'nsi, gniyonna? For you see, each of us Price girls needs a distinctive stylistic tic, otherwise we'd all sound exactly the same. Bath, sack, cock, cash, tab! There's a palindrome for you. No nasal task, Congo – loud duolog nocks Atlas anon. Good luck finding a profound thematic message in one of these. But if I run out of them, I guess I could always just go through the nearest Kikongo dictionary for material. *flips to page 342* Nkusu means ‘parrot’ but nkusi means ‘fart’. Hmmm. I wonder how many paragraphs I can get out of that?


RUTH MAY

I am just a widdle girl. I don't understand half of the things I see around me, which is just as well, given all the conflict diamonds and CIA agents I keep stumbling on. I play with all the children in the village, even though I have no toys, which is sad. If one of the village children dies, it's just as sad and tragic as if one of us cute little white girls dies. Well, not really, obviously, otherwise the whole book would have been about a Congolese family in the first place, but maybe if I keep saying it you'll at least think about it for a couple of minutes. Daddy doesn't seem to like the Congolese at all. Our daddy is such a big meanie. He loves god a whole bunch but he's just awful to Mother and my sisters. He's just the nastiest ogre you can imagine. ’Course, I guess he probably wouldn't see things that way. That's why we don't let him narrate any chapters of his own.

„В тази история има невежи, но не и невинни.“

Като протяжна песен за Африка, начената преди стотици години и свършила в края на 90-те със смъртта на конгоанския диктатор Мобуту, „Евангелие на отровното дърво“ е рядко епично-лирично отклонение в моя еднообразен читателски живот.

Докато в Щатите едва започва хедонистичната епоха на шейсетте, един баптистки проповедник, квадратен фанатик и насилник, заминава със съпругата си и четирите им дъщери за белгийско Конго, което скоро няма да бъде белгийско, но няма да бъде и на конгоанците. Постколониалният свят се събужда, само за да се превърне отново в арена на противопоставяне между двата полюса на Студената война.

Насред комарите, калта, паразитите, отровните змии и насекоми, свещеникът веднага пристъпва към целта, за която е дошъл, с цялата ентусиазирана добронамереност на работливия маниак – да покръсти децата на местните, които така и така не доживяват до дълбока старост, но поне ще додрапат до християнския рай. Пристъпва грубо, недодялано, отвисоко, от позицията на привилегирован представител на цивилизацията, който ще покаже на „диваците“ как се живее. Уви, ще мине известно време и доста беди ще сполетят семейството, докато везните природа-човек се уравновесят в главите на белите и те започнат истински да осъзнават къде са дошли и по какви закони работи света, в който са попаднали. Проумяването едва започва, а връхлита нова драма – първият демократично избран президент на страната Патрис Лумумба е свален с преврат, режисиран от ЦРУ, а на негово място е инсталиран един военен с ненаситно гърло за злато и власт. Това далечно събитие (в Конго и съседното село е далече) преобръща по трагичен начин живота на всички от семейството, отломките от което се запиляват с години.

Самодоволството е първото чувство, което се изпарява при досега с неблагоприятни условия в непознати страни. Дали мястото му ще заемат (расистки) предразсъдъци, културен шок или пробуждане, зависи от духовната рамка и тежестта на опита, с който всеки герой стъпва на конгоанска земя. Най-малките и необременените със знание са и най-податливи да харесат новото, но и най-уязвими…

Това е книга колкото за Африка, толкова и за непознатото, което приема различни форми за всеки от нас. Как да се отнесем към него, как да заживеем по правилата, които чуждият свят е изработил, без да включва точно нас в сметките. А има ли всъщност „нас“ и „тях“? Тази полусемейна история е рядко съчетание от смирение, мъдрост, тъга и тежка драма. Видяна през очите на всяка една от жените в семейството поотделно, звучи красиво и полифонично, като всеки глас дърпа майсторски действието напред, но и слага пауза, където трябва, за да размишлява над станалото, да постигне разбиране. Интересното е, че всяка една от героините достига до свое собствено разбиране за Африка, което, макар и много различно от това на другите, е еднакво валидно в личен и универсален смисъл. Както се казва, всички са прави, но читателят ще избере коя е по-права спрямо собствените си нагласи и опит.

P.S. Преводът е прекрасен, не се запънах в нито един израз или дума, нищо не дрънкаше на фалшиво или стъкмено.

„Винаги сме мислели, че знаем повече за тях, отколкото те за нас, а истината се оказа друга.“
„Не мога да опиша колко е тежък животът в една страна, чиито управници са единица мярка за корумпираност.“
„Бедната Африка. Никой друг континент не е видял такова неописуемо странно съчетание от чуждо грабителство и чуждо доброжелателство.“

I once was recommended an excellent book by a father at a kids party.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A few years on the kids had another party and the parents got to chat again. The dad who had talked books to me previous was keen for more chat and so was I. This time he recommended this one.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is one of the best thematic books I have ever read. Narrated in the first person by the women of the family the themes challenged my reading senses. Colonialism and its effects, post traumatic distress disorder that leads to guilt and religious mania, humanistic awakenings, feminism, ecology and consumerism. There is no doubt better minds than mine will note further themes such is the depth of ideas. It can be very difficult to write anything new about a book that has over 670,000 reviews and is rated so highly so all I can do is recommend it to those that are looking for a book to challenge them.

Long may kids parties happen and long may the attending dads recommend me such thoughtful readings.

There are so many reasons why this extraordinary novel is a classic: the inventive panoply of five authentic voices; the five women’s wrenching stories; the recreation of the Congo as colonialism came to an end. And, yes, Barbara Kingsolver’s wisdom and kindness and grace. Heartbreaking and beautiful.

What is amazing about The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is the author’s voice.

Kingsolver casts a spell with the language she uses to describe three decades in the collective lives of the Price family, beginning with their time as missionaries in the Belgian Congo.

The structure is also a strength. The story is narrated by the mother and daughters of the Price family, each illustrating her perspective of the family chronicle as they experience what would become and what really began as an ill-fated mission. The ending family is a mirror image of the beginning, Leah Price and her four sons serving as the anti-missionary to Nathan Price’s strict and misguided zealotry.

Kingsolver’s imagery is reminiscent of Faulkner’s families, and it may be a silent nod to the Nobel Prize winner to have Orleana Price come from Mississippi. The reader cannot help but be reminded of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and especially As I Lay Dying, redolent by the altering perspectives of the characters narrative. Kingsolver also masterfully explores many Faulkneresque themes such as family, legacy, racism, guilt, and connections to land.

The author also depicts and expounds upon themes of motherhood, parent child relationships, feminism, colonial arrogance and forgiveness. Running in a current throughout the novel is religion and how Christianity blends and conflicts with animist theology. The Poisonwood Bible also records the history of colonial Congo as it transitions briefly to independence and then to a subjugation of another kind, while also spending some time with the economics of the Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

What I cannot like about the book, and what becomes a fundamental, and distractingly unnecessary flaw is the lack of objective balance. Kingsolver is clearly critical of the Christian mission and Western capitalism, and her argument is persuasive. There is no doubt that Western influences, from colonial Belgium to CIA interference to capitalistic excesses have caused devastating problems in the region. What is maddening about the narrative is Kingsolver’s use of straw man arguments, when she does not need to! She has made her point and well, so refusing to even acknowledge a counter argument weakens her otherwise powerful reasoning.

The characters Nathan and Rachel Price are unnecessarily one-dimensional. She provides an intriguing back-story to explain some of Nathan’s neurosis but uses him simply as a foil to Leah’s development and as an inverse example of her pragmatic spirituality. Rachel’s character is really a caricature, almost a comic relief, and this glaring juxtaposition to Ada’s allegorical maturity further diminishes Kingsolver’s otherwise impressive artistic achievement.

Still, these flaws are far from fatal and Barbara Kingsolver has created a memorable work.

** 2018 addendum - it is a testament to great literature that a reader recalls the work years later and this is a book about which I frequently think. Excellent.