The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
Pub. Date: October 1998
Genre: Fiction
560pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
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.

Why I Picked It:
I've picked up this book many, many times without purchasing it. I elected to do the 1% Well Read challenge this year, and it was one of the 1001 Books I MUST Read Before I Die, so I decided to finally read it, or in this case, listen to it on my ipod. What a great choice for packing boxes!!

My Review:
I LOVE this book! I was completely enthralled with this story. The narration switches back and forth between Nathan's wife, Orleanna, and his four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, who have accompanied him to the Congo. When narrating, each of these women has their own distinct voice. Kingsolver writes these different voices so well that as a reader, I felt connected to each of the Price girls and will remember them long after I have finished reading the book.

You feel as if you are standing right next to each character as the story progresses. You absolutely get caught up in the Congo culture and African politics, the Kilanga villagers and their beliefs and customs, the crazy Nathan Price, the native environment and, of course, the main characters.

The themes carried through this book offer many opportunities for philosophical pondering, a wonderful thing while you are carrying on the rote task of putting items into boxes. Packed with themes of political morality, forgiveness, love, faith, racism, the role of women, individual identity and redemption, and the impossibility of unconditional justice. There is disturbing symbolism and narratives that make you question our human motives.... I read somewhere that Kingsolver has said that she wrote this book in order to show the devastation caused by the United States' sabotage of the Congo's chance at independence. This lesson is definitely dispensed upon the reader, but in no way beaten over your head or preached. It is told through a beautiful story of a family's journey.

"I set out to ask a very long question," Kingsolver says. "What have we done as a nation, a culture, a people to Africa, and where do we go from here?"

I continue to sit here pondering our culture and that of Africa... This is a beautiful novel. Quite possibly a contender for elevated access to my top 10 list of all time favorite books.