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.
more
I read this book many years ago; but was moved by it. It left me with a feeling of sorrow for the family and their trials.
Takes you into the lives of others. You end up relating to some of the characters and worrying about their outcome.
I love all Kingsolver’s writing and this story is especially good. Read and reread!
One of my all-time favorite books.
One of this authors best. Learned about a different part of the world. Loved it.
My favorite book…. Loved the characters and how they interacted embedded in history.
Beware. You will have much to think about.
Barbara Kingsolver is a genius storyteller.
Ugh! Too long and preachy.
Great book!
Very longread very different read
What a gifted author to be able to write from each characters’ points of view so completely!
fantastic intriguing lyrical My favorite among her works
Although very well written and a gripping tale, it is incredibly depressing and upsetting.
If you care at all about the church, you should read this book. It exposes the horrors of our missionary efforts around the world. Surely the church can do much better and does in the modern day world, but with this as our legacy we have a tough battle. We need to be pro-active for other cultures not try to mold them to be ‘like us’. I am a …
When I read this book, Kingsolver’s introduction of multiple narrators was my first experience with this narrative technique. I found it spell-binding and unique. of course, now, many have employed this method of story telling, but I credit her with introducing it.
It was ok
I found this book very sad and dark. Not what I was looking for at the time of reading. I did finish it though.
What is it like to grow up in Africa the child of missionaries? This book gives you a sense. The description of the jungle alive as it’s own organism at the beginning and end leaves a wonderful visual picture of the environment. And then there is so much more…
I read it a long time ago and don’t remember it.