Let me start by saying, I finished this book. It took 12 years, buying different verisons of it, and a student telling me that since I made him read Kingsolver, I owed it to him to read this book. In his words, at the end of the book I knew these girls. Well, as a deep follower of Kingsolver, I knew it was time to read. And I did that in a week and will never be the same person again. I've read other reviews about how it gets too political, the flaws of Rachel's characterization, but I've come away with a simple message that rings through all of Kingsolver's works, "Look at what horrible things we humans do to one another." It needs to stop. Really, the core theme to all of her novels is the root and the depth of motherhood. We create life, but yet we throw it away if we don't understand it. We live our cozy American lives, buy our children too many toys, and when tragedy hits us, feel the world is against us. Yet, with each book, Kingsolver encourages us to get out of our "plastic" Rachel-like cocoon and see the world, and make it a better place. I always tell my students and my daughter that it takes only one person to make a change and while this novel may have some structural flaws it is an accomplishment and should shape us as Americans to stand up and make a change. Even a small one is good. It also teaches us the importance of being informed and getting our collective American heads out of the sand. So, I thank my student for making me read this, and I thank Kingsolver for writing it. This epic story will stay with me for a long time. And so today, I step forward to make a change because even a small one is a start.Get more detail about The Poisonwood Bible.
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