I never expected that Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible would help me win trivia night at the bar. But sure enough, one of the last questions involved naming one of the many official languages of South Africa, one that was inherited by the Dutch, etc., etc. I wasn’t sure of the answer, but I contributed “Afrikaans”, since that was mentioned in the part of Poisonwood that I just read. And bingo, we were the only team that got it right. The question only ended up being worth two points, but we didn’t win by much so every point counted. And I believe I was given the name “MVP” after that. Just saying.
The Poisonwood Bible definitely isn’t a beach book, although I read most of it on the rocks in a cove near the St. Lawrence River. The story revolves around a mother and her four daughters, each of them taking turns with the narration. It’s amazing how Kingsolver was able to create five narrating style so different from each other that it was engaging and interesting. Orleanna Price, the mother, tells her part of the story from her home in Georgia, reflecting on the time she spent as a missionary in the Belgian Congo during it’s revolutionary period. The daughters’ narration comes from within the Congo itself, or wherever life happened to take them afterwards.
I really enjoyed the little details that Kingsolver included, her descriptions and ‘native’ characters were painted so well. I’d seen the movie “Lumumba”, so I knew most of the historical background before reading the book, but it was interesting to see the missionary perspective (albeit fictional) of such a chaotic time.
Between the shifting narrations and the natural progression of the book through revolution, coup, and the aftermath, it was definitely a novel that kept me interested. The mirroring of Lumumba’s collapse and the downward spiral of the Price family was a fascinating parallel, and the story had so many layers and themes that all tied together beautifully.
My only complaint is that the ending sections seemed to drag on a bit. Without giving away any crucial plot details, the last two sections of the novel are a little more bland and anti-climactic as opposed to the consistent highs of the first portions (there were seven sections in total). I felt that these parts of the story could have been told in a different way to keep with the rest of the novel’s pacing.
I found myself making constant comparisons to Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, which is a non-fiction narrative about an English woman growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. I’d read that book for a class I took a few years ago, and if I had to choose a favorite, I’d choose Fuller. Kingsolver’s book is excellent and I’d highly recommend it, but the non-fiction aspect of Don’t Let’s just gave it the added dimension that not even the most brilliant prose can match. But instead of turning this into a review for Fuller’s work, I’ll simply end it by saying that Kingsolver’s is also quite wonderful and it’s one that I might not sell back to the bookstore!
2 Comments
August 5, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Hi!
I picked Poisonwood… up at a thrift store a while ago and haven’t found the time (or the motivation) to start it, yet. Thanks your post, I just might begin reading it today!
August 5, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I’m glad to have helped! Definitely check it out, once you read the first few chapters I think you’ll be motivated to finish the rest!