Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780061577079
ISBN: 0061577073
Label: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 576
Publication Date: 2008-06-01
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Release Date: 2008-06-10
Studio: Harper Perennial Modern Classics

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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: The first half was fabulous! I can't say the same for the 2nd half.
Comment: For me, *The Poisonwood Bible* could have been on top of my personal list as an all-time classic. Alas! It does not.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this novel. In 1959, Nathan Price, a fire-and-brimstone Baptist envangelist/missionary, uprooted his Georgian family and takes them halfway around the world to the Belgian Congo. Including him, his wife (Orleanna) and his 4 daughters (Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May) were totally unprepared for life in the Congo. I mean, they had packed boxes of Betty Crocker cake mixes.

Though not one to give up, the Price women did their best to mingle and play with the natives. More often than not, they've had to "make do" while still holding on to some semblance of an American life on foreign land. Meanwhile, through frustration and bitterness, Nathan cannot understand why he cannot lead the native souls to salvation. The natives have explained why as well as their worldview. In simplicity, Nathan just had to modify to the natives' interests. However, remaining adamant to his style of belief and salvation, Nathan began to develop a personality that's similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This transformation alienates him from the natives and even his family.

All this change when a tragic event occurred. The Price women had enough and returned home in Georgia.

At this point, it would have been great...along with a short story of what happens to everyone in the aftermath. But no, Kingsolver doesn't stop here. She continues the story well into the girls' adulthood, which they're the polar opposite than what they were as kids. And it just doesn't make sense, which made me scream out in frustration. Simply put, the second half killed my interest/liking of the novel.

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