Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92380 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Synopsis
The family of a fierce evangelical Baptist missionary--Nathan Price, his wife, and his four daughters--begins to unravel after they embark on a 1959 mission to the Belgian Congo, where they find their lives transformed over the course of three decades.

Customer Reviews

Excquisite details and story
What a magnificent piece of insight into very different minds. The over-sealous father, the not-present mother, and the very strong-minded, but different sisters. I have seldom had a better time reading, many times just revelling in the genious of Kingsolver's attention to details. The small spelling errors that occur when the girls use big words which they don't really understand and so on. The attention to detail is brilliant, but what makes this book great is the sad, but believable story and the magnificent depiction of the different thoughts of the family members. So different are they that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they were from different planets.

Anyway, in the end it is Kingsolver's great writing skills that makes this a most entertaining and learning experience. Most warmly recommended!

Too long and too derivative.
This form was perfected by Faulkner in the Sound and The Fury. Kingsolver's approach is twice as long without the wonderful story telling ability that Faulkner had.The African portions of the book have been done before by Nadine Gordimer. Gordimer and Faulkner were both Nobel Prize winners: Kingsolver won't be.

Exquisitely written, many layered story telling
Having just returned from Africa, I was hungry for more about the mysterious and facinating continent. Kingsolver is my all-time favorite writer, so I was delighted to read the book and savored its length and detail. Now, I need something else to read but fear that nothing will satisfy me as this book has. I feel a great deal like I did when I finished The Handmaid's Tale. Thought provoking, troubling and delicious book, makes me want to talk about it to everyone. I love the evolution of the characters and the history that I learned from reading. I am still wondering what to read now. I hope to use this book in my high school literature classes.