The Poisonwood Bible

Book: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (published 1998)
ISBN 13: 9780060786502
Average Goodreads rating: 3.98 (out of 458,251 ratings)
My rating: 4 out of 5 Poisonwood trees
How I found this book: AP English lit booklist

    I finally finished this book! For a girl who usually finishes a book within a week,  taking a month for this one really started to bug me. I'm not sure if I had just been busy lately or this was just a slow read. It was probably a combination of both, but compared to some of the action filled Monument 14 series it really was a slow read. So someone would probably need more patience to appreciate this one.

        My english teacher really loved this book, but on the other hand the leader of my book club (an adult) thought it was 'okay'. My feelings of this book were in between. The story is about a man and his family who travels to the Africa, (more specifically the Congo) to attempt to convert the Congolese people to Christianity. There are a lot of historical references including the controversial death of Patrice Lumumba and who was to blame. I'm not one for history (I think i've said that before) but I wasn't really bothered by it in this book. It is written in multiple perspectives, mostly the four daughters, Rachel, twins Adah and Leah, and Ruth May, and a few small bits from the mother Orleanna. I really liked Kingsolver's use of all of their different views of a situation over time. All the women in the story were so different. If I had to pick a favorite I'd say Adah. I sort of fell in love with her cynicism, plus she was the only one of the characters who actually did something with her life.

      This book may not exactly be life changing, but it definitely changed my view on things. In Africa everyone was always starving. Which is something most Americans already know but to really see what that's like makes you feel like a little bit of an asshole to have so much. The people of Africa had a similar idea. Since to them whenever a neighbor was struggling everyone who had a surplus would share. So they think that America should do the right thing and help the people who are suffering. In America people aren't like that. We can go ten years without even saying hello to a next door neighbor let alone helping them. It's awful how so many people in this world don't realize how lucky they are.

          Some people listen to music and hear a song lyric that describes their life perfectly. Well, that happened to me in this book.
“I attempted briefly to consecrate myself in the public library, believing every crack in my soul could be chinked with a book.” 
I'm seriously considering making that my senior quote for when I finish high school. (Granted that's years away but hey! I shall be prepared) My other contender is also from this book. 
“The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes.” 
  I almost never fall in love with a quote from a book! Poetry, yes. But novels not as much. So twice in one book is pretty awesome. Barbara Kingsolver said some beautiful things in this book I'll admit.

I would have given this book 5 stars if it wasn't such a slow read for me. There were a lot of pockets where I felt like nothing was really nothing happening. But I did really like this one, especially if historical fiction is your thing.
 Thanks for Reading!                                                                                    - R