The Poisonwood Bible

by Barbara Kingsolver

Book Overview

New York Times Bestseller - Pulitzer Prize Finalist - An Oprah's Book Club Selection"Powerful . . . Kingsolver] has with infinitely steady hands worked the prickly threads of religion, politics, race,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060175400
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.6" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Incredible Story

This is one of those books that consumes you just as much as you consume it. Most stories with multiple narrating characters have at least one that is less interesting than others, but not this one. I read it for the first time over a year ago, and I have not been able to stop thinking about it often, to the point where I felt I needed to buy a copy to own. This book will make you have lots of big feelings and will continue to be compelling long after you close the back cover.

incredible

Amazing work captivated me throughout the entire piece would recommend to anyone looking for a project to read.

The Poisonwood Bible

I read the entire book but it felt like it was written with an agenda in mind. I know others probably disagree and I am fine with that. I expected a great deal more than what I found.

imaginative writing but feels like two separate books

I am absolutely enamored with the style of storytelling in this book. The incredibly clever way in which Kingsolver presents plot points, characters, and events has stayed with me every time I've read this book the past two years. That said, I felt like a natural break was reached somewhere 75% into the book, and the rest was addendum/ a separate novella. That last part the pacing felt awkward at times and I was disappointed by some of the action items, but you can't win 'em all.

Ordered weeks ago and still not delivered. Books i ordered at same time and After i ordered this one

Havent got to read yet because it didnt come wjen i was told it would.

Powerful and compelling!

Barbara Kingsolver is undoubtedly one of the most gifted contemporary novelists. She has the ability to draw her readers into her books in such a fashion that they will believe they are a part of them. The Poisonwood Bible is one of the most powerful books I have read in the last decade. It became an exotic journey for me to travel into an unknown land containing unknown beauty and horror. As in both of the books I have read by her, she draws upon her background in biology so that you will feel as if you are witnessing nature firsthand. The story is not for the faint of heart. It is heart-wrenching at points. Yet it is a story of the strength of the human spirit. As the author of a series of spiritual novels, [...], I especially appreciated this. Any book that can get a person in touch with one's heart and soul is so important in this often divisive and violent world in which we live. This book will definitely do it for you! I highly recommend it. Davis Aujourd'hui, author of "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude"

One of the Few Finest American Novels

This is a superbly lyrical, multifaceted, psychologically and sociologically astute masterwork treating a white Christian missionary family's awkwardly tragic attempt to evangelize part of black Africa. Maybe part of my high appreciation for this novel derives from my wife's and my Christian missionary years as well as my later chairmanship of a large African languages department in the Washington DC area. Kingsolver's academic background in biology allows her to describe African flora and fauna with graceful power. Her descriptions of intercultural-understnding ineptitude, of political and economic upheavals, of rapidly shifting economic actions and reactions, are amazing. Here is just one example of her ability to reach depths of insight with quite simple words: "That's where I was cast ashore, on the riptide of my husband's ambition and the undertow of my children's needs." I think women find this book fascinating because the story is told, each chapter in the voice of one of the females: the mother, then one of her daughters, then another daughter, then another, and so on, each chapter carrying the vocabulary and language style of its author. Because of the variety of ages represented by the five females, five different viewpoints carry the story along. The preacher-husband, though a principal character, never writes or speaks -- he is only described by each of the five females. I find that I recommend this book more often than any other novel I've ever read.

Kingsolver is amazing!

I was already a big Kingsolver fan, and this one goes on my list of all-time favorite books. She constructs complex stories with lots of history lessons thrown in, then writes so beautifully I have to reread out loud many passages, paragraphs and ideas.