#7: The Poisonwood Bible

Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, intense, interesting, lingering, relates the narrative of a wife and her four daughters...through their voices...after the husband/father Nathan Price insisted they travel as missionaries to the Congo.

Spanning about 30 years, this novel introduced this reader to a land to which I had not encountered (in a literary sense).  I learned much about Africa, the conflicts within.  Please know as you read this novel, that Africa is a dominant character.  It may not have its own chapter headings, but Africa affects one and all.  For better. For worse.

Most interesting?  The change in my perceptions as I experienced the effects that America's help  often has on the citizens of such needy countries.  Through the experiences of these five female, I became disillusioned, disgusted.  I developed a greater appreciation for cultures, realizing that I do not have to understand differences to appreciate them.

I read this novel over a span of about six weeks, putting it down to read six other novels, always coming back to it, wanting to know what the outcomes would be for these ladies and Nathan Price.

I definitely recommend this novel.  Please take the time to read it.  The Poisonwood Bible ranks with such novels as A Thousand Splendid Suns, Kite Runner, and Th1rteen R3asons Why.  They linger with you.  They affect you.  They change you.

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Stars:  5
Pages:  543
Book Challenge:  #1 for Dana Huff's Books I Wish I Had Read in High School But Didn't