Item Description
Oprah Book Club® Selection, June 2000: As any reader of The Mosquito Coast knows, men who drag their families to far-off climes in pursuit of an Idea seldom come to any good, while those familiar with At Play in the Fields of the Lord or Kalimantaan understand that the minute a missionary sets foot on the fictional stage, all hell is about to break loose. So when Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: "We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle," says Leah, one of Nathan's daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable, and they've arrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse? In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortune across a span of more than 30 years. The Poisonwood Bible is arguably Barbara Kingsolver's most ambitious work, and it reveals both her great strengths and her weaknesses. As Nathan Price's wife and daughters tell their stories in alternating chapters, Kingsolver does a good job of differentiating the voices. But at times they can grate--teenage Rachel's tendency towards precious malapropisms is particularly annoying (students practice their "French congregations"; Nathan's refusal to take his family home is a "tapestry of justice"). More problematic is Kingsolver's tendency to wear her politics on her sleeve; this is particularly evident in the second half of the novel, in which she uses her characters as mouthpieces to explicate the complicated and tragic history of the Belgian Congo. Despite these weaknesses, Kingsolver's fully realized, three-dimensional characters make The Poisonwood Bible compelling, especially in the first half, when Nathan Price is still at the center of the action. And in her treatment of Africa and the Africans she is at her best, exhibiting the acute perception, moral engagement, and lyrical prose that have made her previous novels so successful. --Alix Wilber
Product Details
- Author: Barbara Kingsolver
- Publication Date: 2005-05-31
- Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
- Product Group: Book
- Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
- Binding: Paperback, 576 pages
- Package Dimensions:
- Dimensions: 790L x 530W x 120H
- Weight: 100
- List Price: $14.99
- ISBN: 0060786507
- ASIN: 0060786507
Customer Reviews
Average Amazon User Rating: 
clueless preacher
2009-07-23
Reviewer: Bette B. Prater
1959 the Belgium Congo
Nathan Price (missionary) is a self righteous smug
Christian preacher so-n-so. You will HATE him.
Nathan, Orleanna (wife)
and their 4 daughters are sent to a land that is beyond
their wildest dreams and nightmares. You will love
all these women/girls. The family never connects with the
people they have gone to help. SO
SAD. It is a powerful story.
There are 1,400 reviews. I can not say much more.
You must read this book.
(hard to believe you can buy it for a penny)
I hope you will not take me wrong but I do not believe in
American missionary's going to other country's.
*WE HAVE PEOPLE HERE AT HOME THAT NEED HELP.
STAY HOME.*
In this book we show that we are the UGLY AMERICANS AND
BELGIUM IS EVEN UGLIER. They were really cruel.
A very good, almost great novel. 4.5 Stars.
2009-07-06
Reviewer: Dallas Fawson
I'll start by saying that if Amazon's star system were out of ten, I'd give this book nine. It's a truly engrossing, beautiful novel with only a few things keeping it from being the masterpiece. Rather than focusing on the plot, as several others have done, I'll focus on what I liked and didn't like about it.
I decided to pick it up after Stephen King said it was one of the best recent novel's he's read, and then was disappointed when I read the back cover, because the subject matter didn't really interest me much. But when I started to read it, I was instantly captivate, and that held throughout the novel, which I read in about a week.
The Pros: The characters in the novel were some of the best, most realistic characters I've encountered in recent literature. They were subtly and fully developed, and all had distinct personalities and outlooks. My favorite of the four girls was probably Adah, mostly because her narrative sections always had a very different feel than the rest. Her outlook on things was unique and incredibly interesting.
It was good that to my admittedly limited knowledge, she was historically accurate, as well as accurate in describing the landscape of Africa. I know some, but not too much, about the history of Lumumba and other political struggles, and she seemed to be very accurate with it.
Kingsolver's writing, simply put, is astoundingly beautiful. The words honestly flow off the page, and blend seamlessly together. It's a rather long novel, but her writing makes it flow really fast.
The Cons: I think it was Salon that reviewed this book saying that it had the potential to be great, but that it felt shrill, and she was too quick to condemn, rather than understand, evil. I actually agree with quite a lot of that. There were times I felt, particularly with Nathan, that she should show a different side of him, rather than just a cruel religious nut hell-bent on converting all of the Congo, for reasons that are too quickly and not satisfyingly enough justified. This is a very minor, knit-picky thing, but I feel it should be brought up.
One other problem is that while the last 150 pages or so are good, they simply aren't as great as the rest of the novel. It might just be me, but I felt that way. It was still just as interesting and well written, I think I might of just been because towards the end Adah wasn't as unique as she was in the rest of the novel.
Kingsolver's themes, while good ones, are sometimes exhausted, and are sometimes made a little too obvious, I feel. I think they should have been more subtle at times. Ones again, knit-picky, I know, but I still feel they should be pointed out.
Fortunately, the good things in this beautiful novel strongly outweigh the bad things, and it's still one of the best books I've read this year. Kingsolver gives good messages, but usually isn't overbearing. Overall though, it's a good, entertaining story, and I recommend to anyone who loves fiction in general.
One of My Top Ten Books of All Time
2009-06-12
Reviewer: Dr. Jane Branam
I just recommended this book to a friend looking for something really good to read. I would put this book in my top ten of all time. I took a chance on it because it was recommended by Oprah even though I felt I had no interest in the subject matter of a missionary family in Africa. I am so glad I did. Kingsolver is a great writer and kept me mesmerized throughout the whole book. I am an avid reader so it is a delight when I find a book this excellent. I cannot convince my husband to read it because of the subject matter, so if you are turning your nose up because of that, take a chance on this book and dive right in. You will be so happy you read it; it is an experience worth having. Power Path to Love
Excellent
2009-06-06
Reviewer: Read to sleep
This book rates up there with some of the best I have ever read. I only wish I could find even one a year of this quality.
similar to Divine Betrayal
2009-06-04
Reviewer: Eileen M. Peterson
I love this novel--it is written from several different points of view (each daughter) and is very well done. It inspired my friend, Grace Deters, to publish her memoirs, which are very similar to Poisonwood Bible but they are TRUE. If you want to read a true story of a missionary daughter, read Divine Betrayal!
