During their ill-fated sojourn, they contend with aggravations and dangers large and small: sunburn, boredom, mosquitoes, malaria, poisonous snakes and
poisonwood trees, parasites, worms, driver ants, crocodiles, and lions--to say nothing of the extremes of drought and torrential rain and the shocks of famine, illness, and death.
Another compelling story with a strong political message is Barbara Kingsolver's new novel, The
Poisonwood Bible (HarperCollins, 1998).
Coverage includes three of Kingsolver's novels--The Bean Trees, The
Poisonwood Bible, and Prodigal Summer--as well as her nonfiction and poetry.
Readers who enjoyed her
Poisonwood Bible will be pleased to find this on library shelves, though those who expect another probing novel will be disappointed.
"The
Poisonwood Bible," by Barbara Kingsolver, a well written story with great characters set in a fascinating place and time.
With sales figures for her popular novels--The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, The
Poisonwood Bible--liberating her from the relative obscurity of the alternative media ghetto, she's a lefty who, like rock star Bono reporting on poverty in Africa, can get hostile or indifferent people to listen.
Nathan Price, an American evangelist, to a group of confused Congolese villagers in Barbara Kingsolver's novel The
Poisonwood Bible.
Barbara Kingsolver, novelist and author of The
Poisonwood Bible.
In her new novel, The
Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver departs from the familiar southwestern setting of her previous three novels, The Bean Trees (1988), Animal Dreams (1990), and Pigs in Heaven (1993), to explore the tragic unraveling and resurrection of a missionary family in postcolonial Africa.
THE
POISONWOOD BIBLE By Barbara Kingsolver HarperFlamingo, 543 pages, $26
Usually, the historical books prompt good discussion material, such as The
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
Prodigal Summer may not be up to the level of her earlier
Poisonwood Bible but it's a great read nevertheless.