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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One of the best book that I have read.
Good insights into Africa, family dynamics of a missionary. As usual Kingsolver took a difficult issue and knocked it out of the park. Awfully long, though.
Masterpiece!
Kingsolver writes like a poet. This is one of the best books I have ever read. The clash of cultures depicted is a lesson for today. I highly recommend this book.
Favorite book
I love Barbara Kingsolver and have read nearly everything she has written…fiction, nonfiction, essays. I really did not like this book
Barbara Kingsolver uses language beautifully. There are sentences in this book that are so exquisitely crafted I would read them over and over again for the sheer enjoyment of the words.
Well-researched, superb writing. Barbara Kingsolver’s BEST BY FAR. No wonder she is good friends with Richard Powers. They have much in common with their intense writing styles.
I think if you’re a writer and want to learn something about POV–read this incredibly wonderful novel set in Africa. Barbara Kingsolver lets five women in turn tell their story and how they percieve their lives and their Evangelical pastor father! Kingsolver gives you eveything from great setting to interwoven personages and their human …
One of my favorite books of all time! Read it many years ago,but have never forgotten it. Was totally immersed. Outstanding writing. Characters with whom you could emphasize and identify. Have followed Kinsolver ever since and eagerly await new books. Have enjoyed all, but consider this the best!
In my own life, I have experience with religious fanatics and those who choose to work with the poor and down-trodden and end up worsening the circumstances of all. While fiction it has great echoes with Educated. I love this author who has a wide range of books from non-fiction Holding the Line to books like this that feel reality based. I lived …
This is one of my all time favorite books. I will read it again. I could not stop thinking about it and did not want it to end.
Very interesting, great characters, realistic definitions of place.
Kingsolver is my favorite author. Poisonwood Bible was one of her earlier books that I have read. I read her latest, Unsheltered, last month. I finished her first novel, The Bean Trees, three days ago She always has such interesting characters and they all have appropriate dialects and vocabulary. Kingsolver almost always shows them in a …
I read this book
Many years ago….. extraordinary reading!
Unforgettable
One of the best books that I have read
So, so, so good. Within the top of my favorite novel list for years.
Easily one of my favorite books of all time, Kingsolver divides her storytelling between the daughters of the family, each with their own distinct voice. This novel is the story of cultures colliding and the consequences of our actions.
tour de force writing. Palindromes galore. Informative of the La mumba era in Africa. interesting characters.