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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This is my favorite Barbara Kingsolver book. I enjoyed others, but this one will remain at the top of my list.
One of the few books I have read twice. Kingsolver seldom disappoints.
This book drew me in immediately and kept me thinking about the characters long after I finished.
One of the best books I have ever read!
one of my very favorite books. I was hooked on Kingsolver after I read this.
I have read this book several times and find that I read something different about the characters. Love how she developed the different characters. It happened in the late 50’s and seemed so right and correct for the different time frame than now. This book is one of my favorite by this Author.
One of my all time favorite books. I could not put its down and was sad when it ended
Well written
Reading this book (years ago) turned me into an instant fan of Kingsolver’s work. The book chronicles the story of a missionary and his family living in Belgian Congo, and the destruction and tragedy that befall them over the years they live there. It’s fiction, of course, but I also see it as a cautionary tale for those trying to peddle the …
Like many of Kingsolver’s books, I end up glad to have read them, but still not crazy about them.
Wonderful author! So interesting!!
One of my favorite books ever. Required me to really rread and use my brain!
Boring.
Loved this book, as a born and bred African this is Africa. The romantic notions of novels and idealists bowled of by reality. Beautiful tragic wild Africa.
A family saga that stays with me 20 years later! Great read!
A very sad book. Domineering/ abusive Pastor, written from the perspective of the wife & daughters. How they were all changed from their missionary experience to the Congo in the 1960’s.
Not at all what I expected.
I count this as one of my top five favorite-of-all-time books. Brilliant writing with distinctive voices for each character. Great satirical “jab” at the evangelical missionary Church, writ large.
the tradgedy of trying to change others
I was drawn in with Kingsolver’s wonderful way with words, descriptions and the story itself. Telling the story of the suffering of four women at the hands of a misguided man was told with deftness and emotion. Great writing.
How did she come up with palindromes? This book is brilliant. And sometimes painful.