Discount Shopping Online :: Books The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.) : :

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)
by: Barbara Kingsolver

List Price: $14.95

Amazon.com's Price: $10.17

You Save: $4.78 (32%)
Prices subject to change.

Used Price: $3.65
Collectible Price: $14.95
Third Party New Price: $6.45

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060786502
ISBN: 0060786507
Label: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 576
Publication Date: May 31, 2005
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Release Date: May 31, 2005
Sales Rank: 2179
Studio: Harper Perennial Modern Classics

Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Product Description:

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.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Amazon.com:
Oprah Book Club® Selection, June 2000: As any reader of The Mosquito Coast knows, men who drag their families to far-off climes in pursuit of an Idea seldom come to any good, while those familiar with At Play in the Fields of the Lord or Kalimantaan understand that the minute a missionary sets foot on the fictional stage, all hell is about to break loose. So when Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: 'We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle,' says Leah, one of Nathan's daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable, and they've arrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse?

In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortune across a span of more than 30 years.

The Poisonwood Bible is arguably Barbara Kingsolver's most ambitious work, and it reveals both her great strengths and her weaknesses. As Nathan Price's wife and daughters tell their stories in alternating chapters, Kingsolver does a good job of differentiating the voices. But at times they can grate--teenage Rachel's tendency towards precious malapropisms is particularly annoying (students practice their 'French congregations'; Nathan's refusal to take his family home is a 'tapestry of justice'). More problematic is Kingsolver's tendency to wear her politics on her sleeve; this is particularly evident in the second half of the novel, in which she uses her characters as mouthpieces to explicate the complicated and tragic history of the Belgian Congo.

Despite these weaknesses, Kingsolver's fully realized, three-dimensional characters make The Poisonwood Bible compelling, especially in the first half, when Nathan Price is still at the center of the action. And in her treatment of Africa and the Africans she is at her best, exhibiting the acute perception, moral engagement, and lyrical prose that have made her previous novels so successful. --Alix Wilber

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- I'm glad I read it
This is not a book I would have chosen on my own. My book club chose to read it and discuss. I'm glad I read it. I did not like that each chapter was written from a different character's point of view. It did not make for a smooth timeline.

Rating:

- Subtle Strife: The Pantheistic Doctrine of The Poisonwood Bible
Note: This is written as an introduction/review of TPB to senior AP English students.
You've probably learned, after a year of AP English 11 and now a few months of AP English 12: Authors do not simply write to convey the plotline of a story, but rather deeper ideas. What may not be emphasized as much is this: Authors are people, like the rest of us, with their own biases and beliefs. They may or may not construct an accurate portrayal of the world. They often convey their sentiments through the stories they write. Perhaps you've picked up on this in the past books you've read. George Orwell was anti-communist. Kate Chopin was feminist. These authors, along with other authors that you read, reveal their beliefs through the content of their work. Barbara Kingsolver is no different.
What is different about TPB is that it is perhaps the most religiously dogmatic novel I have read. On the surface, ... Read More

Rating:

- Merits multiple readings
The editorial reviews and the other 1409 reader reviews provide as much commentary on this remarkable book as one might want. Needless to say, I enjoyed the story. It operates at several levels just like life. You might dislike some characters but they all seem real to me, sharply etched. You might not like what they say, it can be provocative, thought provoking. You might even imagine the story to be true. I can.

As I reread the story, I find new aspects, not necessarily intended by the author, but ones that result from the interaction of the story and the life I know. If you enjoy deep literature, you will probably enjoy this book. If you are a scientist, as is the author, you will be pleasantly reminded that some scientists write extraordinarily well. The descriptions of the natural world are noticeably precise which alone separates this book from the average contemporary novel.

If, ... Read More

Rating:

- A book I just couldn't get into
I've heard from many people that this is a book you either love, or hate. For me, I just couldn't get into it. My friend, a big reader, told me that this book was one of her "all time favorites". With such a fabulous referral, I had to read it.

The story seems interesting: A Southern pastor and his family travel on a mission to the Congo. I kept reading, thinking that I would become captured if I just read a few pages more. One hundred pages into the book, however, I finally gave up.

My advice is to probably give this book a try. There are many people that loved it. I'm just one of those that didn't.

Discount Shopping Online Books and Publications

Books : The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Search the web for info about The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)

Discount Shopping Online Books and Publications

Books : The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)Books and Publications Average Rating:

Search the web for info about The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)

Books : The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)
Books and Publications Average Rating: