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I believe this struggle for survival is the main theme of the book and how people are changed by their surroundings. She gives authentic characterizations of the land, its people, the conflicts and struggles for survival in day-to-day life in the Congo. Later on Kingsolver shows how events in AFrica, including some of the worst possible disasters, make a change in Orleanna.
For example, Orleanna has been sheltered most of her life in Mississippi until she marries Nathan. However, with Nathan and RAchel, the oldest daughter, there is little that changes in their basic characters. The story is told from 5 different points of view, as we hear from the mother, Orleanna and 4 daughters. I really enjoyed this novel with all the adventure and drama that only AFrica could provide. I see some reviewers here were not impressed with this book, which I really do not understand. The Price family led by their Hell and brimstone Evangelical minister, Nathan Price, are dragged into a life which they are totally unprepared for, bringing along their Betty Crocker cake mixes, packets of seeds for Big Boy tomatoes and gardening tools.
This definitely adds a greater dimension of depth to an otherwise beautifully told story. From the beginning, Kingsolver casts a spell on the reader and you are swept up into her world of Africa. Soon after she finds she has entered a loveless union with a broken man who is not able to show any compassion or even kindness to his wife. At times it is even humorous with the native men in AFrica wearing red trousers with holes in the bottom or when the women danced at the tribal celebration being naked to the waist, much to Nathan Price's chagrin. This book is a portrait of a missionary family who leave their middle-American home in Bethlehem, Georgia for the dark and fobidding rainforest of deepest Africa. With dramatic imagery, you enter the jungles of Africa and can hear the sounds, feel the heavy humid air on your skin and see the magnificent greenery of the jungle.
After having 4 children, she can only blindly follow his lead, ending up in Africa.
Her imagery of Afica's unpredictable terrain is simply beautiful. I highly recommend this amazing novel. Kingsolver's themes and characters are so complex that the book literally takes you to a completely different level of critical reading. In addition, the story progresses in a way that just hooks and astounds you until you reach the last page.
However, it is a message that is not part of the collective American conscience but perhaps ought to be and the nose leading was welcomed by me. Did you know that this has contributed strongly to a legacy of madmen dictators during Africa's initial post colonial period. There is an element of `Real American' pop culture on the march in the USA today, led by the proudly incurious Sarah Palin. Did you know that while that was going on that the US government was busy overthrowing democratically elected governments and murdering leaders in Africa because of interests in mineral mining. The patriarch of the American missionary family, Nathan Price, is an extreme caricature of close mindedness and intolerance. I have met people like him but he is so over the top that readers could be put off the entire story. If I cannot afford to send each of them abroad to gain perspective on life outside the United States then perhaps I can ask them to read this book. America was still basking in the righteous victory of WWII and enjoying the grandfatherly governance of Uncle Ike Eisenhower.
All of this was going on while America was enjoying the fabled era of poodle skirts and cherry cokes and Africa is still paying the price today. That caricature does mean to me that Kingsolver is leading us by the nose with this fable. This book has some flaws but I cannot overstate how deeply I was affected by reading it. American's today tend to idealize the 1950's and this book takes place just when that decade was wrapping up. There is one singular flaw in the way Kingsolver wrote this book.
She really understands this." as I read. A great read. As an ex-Peace Corps volunteer who spent two years in rural Africa, this novel has passages within it that are so true, so authentic, I kept thinking, "She knows. Kingsolver allows the plot and characters to evolve beyond the African jungles in an attempt to establish a connection to readers who have never experienced life in Africa.
I am definitely going to be keeping an eye out for her other books. Intricate, detailed and immaculately woven together, it is a delightfully layered novel. Yet, I loved this book. The plot, too, was solid and entertaining and though it really could have ended sooner, I was glad that the book kept going throughout their lives as long as it did. Oh, I enjoyed this book MUCH more than I thought I would. Africa as a setting does not particularly grab my attention and a missionary family would not typically be the types of characters to intrigue me. I loved how each woman's voice was strong and uniquely her own - I especially enjoyed the "errors" made in Rachel and Ruthie May's chapters, not to mention the palindromes in Adah's sections.
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