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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Different, but well written
One of the best books I’ve ever read. Great family dynamics in an exotic setting.
I love this author & this is a well written account of life in another time & place that we are not familiar with and how a family copes with the problems they face
read anything and everything by Barbara Kingsolver!
One of my top 5 reads of all time!
A read I will always remember.
One of my all time favorites. ms Kingsolver has such a way with words. You truly become absorbed in this book.
This book was one of the most interesting books I had ever read. The story of the family in this book is intriguing and intricate. Very hard to put down. The ending is sad but makes perfect sense. Loved the book!!
The characters were difficult for me to like, but I think that’s why I enjoyed this book so much. It was such a change of pace from the other books I’ve read, where you have the main, likeable characters, and then you have the bad guy. In The Poisonwood Bible, all of the main characters are the “bad guys,” in one way or another. The family goes …
The voices of the girls-to-women in this novel are so distinct that as each chapter opens you know exactly who is talking to you. Very personal and disturbing, as the patriarchal father sets the rules and the limits for his daughters as they come of age and start to realize what kind of a world they live in.
Winderful story
Great read!
One of Kingsolver’s best; however overly long.
Grim, too long, and depressing.
This was one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. I had to force myself to finish it.
I’m normally not a huge fan of this author, but Poisonwood Bible is an outstanding book. It was a great read and I also learned a lot. I highly recommend.
My favorite book of all times. I’ve read it 3 times and could read it again. I grew up a Missionary Child so it speaks to me.
Fantastic. Wonderful. Beautiful.
Excellent writing. Told from the viewpoint of the daughters, each with a unique voice. One of my favorite books.
Kingsolver’s books never seem to satisfy me. There’s something detached about them.