Thursday, January 19, 2012

On My Nightstand - The Poisonwood Bible



The Poisonwood Bible By Barbara Kingsolver
Format: Paperback (543 pages)
On the back cover:
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 family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

My thoughts:
I have to admit, I had no desire to read this book, but it was chosen for book club, and I have discovered some gems before through book club picks that were not mine, but this book did not turn out to be a hidden gem.
It took me a really long time to read (which is so out of character for me), but I found I did not like very many of the characters.
It was a time in history that I am sure many people are not proud of (the nations involved in essentially killing not just the African jungles, but the people and their heritage as well).  I was shocked at what this book revealed (of course this was not taught in my history class).

But, just because I did not like this book, does not mean you will not as well.  This book is a New York Times bestseller, so at least a few people liked it.

My rating: 2 out of 5.

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