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 … 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. Against this backdrop, Orleanna Price reconstructs the story of her evangelist husband’s part in the Western assault on Africa, a tale indelibly darkened by her own losses and unanswerable questions about her own culpability. Also narrating the story, by turns, are her four daughters—the self-centered, teenaged Rachel; shrewd adolescent twins Leah and Adah; and Ruth May, a prescient five-year-old. These sharply observant girls, who arrive in the Congo with racial preconceptions forged in 1950s Georgia, will be marked in surprisingly different ways by their father’s intractable mission, and by Africa itself. Ultimately each must strike her own separate path to salvation. Their passionately intertwined stories become a compelling exploration of moral risk and personal responsibility.
Dancing between the dark comedy of human failings and the breathtaking possibilities of human hope, The Poisonwood Bible possesses all that has distinguished Barbara Kingsolver’s previous work, and extends this beloved writer’s vision to an entirely new level. 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.
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Good book but made me angry while reading it as i hated how the father ruined his family’s lives. I wanted to kill him. But then I realized how good the book was to elicit these feelings.
One of my favorites
This is one of my all time favorite books.
Wow! This was one of the best reads ever! Fascinating story, couldn’t put it down.
A classic must-read
My all time favourite book.
One of the best books that i have read.
This is one book I read a long time ago and it is still with me. This book introduced me to a wonderful author. I look forward to reading her!
What a read. This one really gets to you emotionally. I highly recommend this rather long read!
This book is riveting and tragic. The author beings to life the dust and grime of a childhood surrendered to involuntary emigration to the Congo. One can almost feel the red dust in one’s hair, and despair along with the hopeless characters. However, the last fourth of this book drags a great deal. After the saddest of events pass, the remaining …
Worst book I have read at least the third that I finished.I just couldn’t read it anymore it was so drying out and boring. I don’t understand all the good reviews.
Riveting
One of my favorite books ever
Incredible word pictures, intense character development, compex plot, very readable
I read this book many years ago and still remember bits and pieces of it, which doesn’t often happen. This book was written when Ms. Kingsolver was at her best in striking contrast to some of her recent works. Her characters and the events came to live under her pen.
Loved this story.
This was unlike any other book I have ever read and for that it deserves some praise. I read this book years ago and have never forgotten the girl putting her arms up and out as the people created a stampede so as not to get trampled and instead ride on the motion of the others. I hope I never have to find out if it works but it has created such …
One of my top ten novels of all time. I have read this three times and have been amazed with every reading at the scope, depth and perceptive insights this author offers through her characters and settings. The words are a love poem to literacy. The story is a unique look at the obsess voices of her characters. And the setting is as real as it …
Just could not get into this book. I started it many times and could never get caught up in the characters enough to hand in till the end. I have loved other books by this author but this one didn’t jell for me.
This was my least favorite book by this author. I tried really, really hard to like it, but I just couldn’t get into it. I like her early work better.