Certainly a great book exposing how one culture whether miles apart or continents apart do not understand one another. I have a son who has an austism spectrum disorder, and although this book is not even close to anything to do with autism or any other kind of disability...this book somehow made me able to "see" how one set of people does not understand another and for no particular reason, other than they are different from one another in such a way that one cannot possibly comprehend. I'd say if you arent reading it for the actual story, and you know of someone with a disorder, try to think of that person as a 'native' and you as the 'colonist' as in this story and you may have your answer or be able to pass it along to someone else.

It is easy, in the (politically) post colonial world of modern Africa to descend into limp wristed European angst.
This book teeters on that edge.

It is a book written for colonials and the colonialists.
It has very little to say to those of us whose birthright is Africa, of whatever colour, creed, nationality (or tribe).

It charts that moment in time when direct political subjugation was replaced by economic subjugation through local proxies.
Alas, this is a human tendency that has persisted through all of the history of humanity.

It uses the brief period in the history of Zaire (then Congo) immediately prior to, then after the death of Patrice Lumumba and the dictatorship that followed as the locus for it's message. Thereafter it rambles on to the ends of days of it's narrators.

What I liked about this book outweighs my dislikes, so here are some of them ...

Some things I liked about the book ...
- The different voices giving perspectives on the same events. The truth is a secret garden and we all look into the garden from a different vantage point. Each bush and shrub is a cultural, personal or similar impediment to seeing the complete picture, and Barbara Kingsloveruses her device to good effect.
- The political, social, economic and cultural drivers are well brought out, and their implications on the outcomes of everyday life is thoughtful and so well constructed
- The writing itself is evocative and moving

Some things I did not like about this book ...
- It is too long. The last "books" could quite easily have been replaced by an epilogue, and would (imo) have carried more weight. The later stories of the women would have been better served in follow up books, as a series maybe.
- It is too euro-centric. This has the (unintended?) consequence of transmogrifying it into a polemic against Western culture, values and mores. Sketchily decrying western consumerism and the avariciousness of big business allied to political expediency does not reflect the reality of the world's steady drift into exactly that milieu. In the final History of the World as seen by Mankind, will it matter that we rape and pillage our societies and geographies by proxy or through our own efforts?
- For a work of such high ambition, it does not answer the "so what?" test, nor does it point a way forward: it drifts to its own conclusion, flotsam and jetsam washed up by a high tide of introspection.

This powerful novel by Barbara Kingsolver charts the lives of a missionary family and portrays the interplay of good intentions and motives warped by dogma. One ends up with an aching wonder ... what was changed, by whom and who or what prevailed!

"Jesus is Bangala!" declares Reverend Nathan Price to his ragtag congregation deep in the Congolese jungle. The exclamation is full of irony; in the villagers' native Kikongo, "bangala" means either "precious and dear" or "poisonwood tree," depending on the pronunciation. Rev. Price blithely uses the latter pronunciation, characteristically misunderstanding his would-be flock as he blunderingly tries to superimpose Christianity and American customs onto their culture. The consequences of Price's ignorance (and arrogance) are grave, playing out alongside the exploitative history of Belgian colonialism, the struggle for independence, and the subsequent CIA coup that replaced the Congo's first elected leader.

Kingsolver's engrossing novel is narrated by the five Price females, each coping in her own way with what they have been part of. Orleanna is a missionary wife who, as a woman in the late 1950s, has little choice but to obey her husband, but who later struggles with her complicity in Nathan's--and America's--interventions in the Congo. Rachel, the eldest daughter, is vain and superficial (when the house is besieged by army ants, Rachel rescues not one of her weaker siblings, but her mirror), with an attitude of pure condescension toward the villagers she lives among. Then there are the twins: Leah, a tomboy who tries in vain to win her father's love, and the dark, poetic Adah, who was crippled in the womb. The youngest daughter, Ruth May, is most beloved by Orleanna, who struggles to protect her from the dangers of the jungle. Some make it out of the Congo; others do not, whether by tragedy or by choice. In the latter half of the book, the surviving members come to terms with their time in the Congo in different ways: becoming part of the machinery of exploitation, shunning whiteness and assimilating into Congolese culture, entering the healing profession, or turning inward.

Only Nathan remains essentially untransformed by the Congo, although he does evolve into a more grotesque version of himself. Unlike the (mostly) dynamic Price females, he is a one-dimensional character with no redeeming qualities, quick to anger and incapable of seeing past his rigid views. While he is a poignant symbol of colonialism and post-colonial intervention, trying to baptize the village children in crocodile-infested waters, the flatness of his character makes him seem inhuman.

"The Poisonwood Bible" is beautifully written, and the story of Price family is absorbing, as is the history of Western intervention in the Congo. A brilliant novel.

Simply wonderful reading. I could kick myself for not paying enough attention to my wife's recommendation several years ago, but she was exactly right: this is a story well worth the amount of time in your life you sacrifice to read it. In fact, it is many stories interwoven and they each grow as a vine of their own before interlacing themselves through each other. For me, most good books take quite a few pages before the hook is set but the author had me with the first paragraph.

I found this book very good. A few of the reviews put me off a tad but I decided to read it anyway. It was great! I was the same age in the 60's as one of the daughters and it was unbelievable to think of leaving the comforts of home to be plucked into a remote village in Africa.
I wish I had gone to the back of the book and read the "Writing the DAB" (damed African book) by the author first. It really gives insight into her research and insights. I plan on recommending this book to my book club.

One of my favorite books of all time from one of my favorite authors. If you haven't read it yet, do.

Dear Ms. Kingsolver,
Your book,The Poison Wood Bible, took me into my past. I am an MK(missionary Kid)I was born in Korhogo, Ivory Coast,(then French West) West Africa in 1948. I am a third world kid, neither African nor American in culture.
Your book reveals the dogmatism, religious fervor, the western mindset of the 'great' missionary movement. It uncovers the reasons for being, that exist in many sectors of mission denominations, namely....to "save the lost at any cost,"(My phrase.)
My parents went to Africa in the late 40's. My twin and I were born just 8 weeks after their arrival, poor Mom!
As we grew to school age, we were shipped to boarding school in Africa, to Guinee(then a republic)3000 miles away. We stayed in that place of horrors for 9 plus months out of each year, four years straight. Each four year term was interrupted by a one year stint in the USA, for fund raising at supporting churches.
We grew up in boarding school starting at 6 years of age.
The dialogue of each family member in your book, from mother to each child,is striking. I see and remember things I had forgotten with each chapter. This book resonates with my life in personal ways.

I am writing my own story.I am tying together the issues of abuse and their impact not only in my life and the lives of an army of missionary kids who are now grown, to the Native American boarding school experience. There is linkage between our histories.
You have brought the glory and terror of living in a foreign country for years at a time, to the fore front of my mind.
Thank you!
Nyinge (third daughter)aka Vivian Harvey

Wonderful book... so well written and engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed how the author got into the head of each of the daughters to present their unique views along the way.

To read a summary of The Poisonwood Bible does not give justice to its complex originality. Watch. A fiery Baptist preacher with flaming red hair, an albino late teen daughter who must fake an engagement to a diamond smuggler to avoid arranged marriage with a Congolese chief, a smart younger teen daughter who becomes an expert huntress causing a village riot, a brilliant twin to the huntress who is crippled, mute, and nearly devoured by a lion, a youngster daughter who won't take her malaria pills, an African ant infestation the likes of an old Testament plague, and more. Sound like a whole heap of soapy melodrama? It's not. Cleverly narrated through the interchanged voices of the four women who accompanied Brother Nathan Price to the Congo in the mid-twentieth century, The Poisonwood Bible delivers rich prose, haunting images, and deeply respectful political and spiritual insights. While I agree with other reviewers that the political science talk was not a welcome interlude, the majority of the narrative bespeaks storytelling at its finest.

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.

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, The Poisonwood Bible is just a story about one American family who moved to Africa, but after reading it, it has become apparent that it was incredibly hostile to monotheism in general and Christianity in particular.
Perhaps one of the greatest indicators of where an author stands is how he or she develops the characters. Soon you'll meet the beastly, raving buffoon of a man named Nathan Price, who is sadly the man Kingsolver chooses to represent biblical Christianity in her novel.
Nathan is a preacher who drags his family to Africa on an ill-fated mission trip. You might notice, as you read Poisonwood, that Nathan is in Africa seeking his own glory and trying to change the political system of the Africans. This is quite contrary and insulting, in this writer's eyes, to the actual missionaries who make great personal sacrifice and have genuine concern for the spiritual and physical well-being of the people they go to.


Nathan's understanding of the Bible seems incredibly poor. Numerous examples of his lack of grasp on the Scriptures could be stated, but I'll give one example from early in the book that particularly stuck with me. He sees bare-breasted African women, and goes into a rant about Sodom and Gomorrah. He seems to imply that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was "nakedness," and he seems to accuse the Africans of the same sin on that basis. In reality, the entire city of Sodom was basically a haven for homosexual orgies and probably other disgusting sexual practices as well. They not only participated in this sin, but celebrated it. I won't detail it here, but you can read the account in Genesis 19.
There are probably too many pseudo-Biblical ideas portrayed as Biblical in TPB to go through in detail. Among these ideas are that the "Curse of Ham" led to dark skin and that sex between husband and wife is sinful. Of course, neither of these ideas are true; other nonsense unbiblical ideas are likewise portrayed as biblical in Kingsolver's book, adding to the already-extensive attack on Christianity present in the book.
One theme you might discuss in this class is Eastern vs. Western culture. Constantly, Kingsolver seems to equate spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ with spreading Western culture, democracy, etc. Notice, as you read, how anything that Nathan attempts utterly fails. When he attempts agriculture the "American way," it utterly fails in Africa. When he tries to introduce democracy to the tribe, it brings problems and resentment. When he tries to bring the gospel of Jesus to Africa, it likewise fails. Kingsolver parallels Christianity with politics and Western culture. Pay attention to this, as you read, and ask, Is the connection valid?
Democracy is not a Christian principle. (It was developed by pagan cultures in Greece and Rome.) Neither is dynamite fishing, or American agriculture. In fact, if you've read the Bible, consider: is it really Western? It describes cultures that are quite different from our "Western" culture. Where was it written? Africa, Asia, and Europe. Not America. What ethnicity were most of the people in the Bible? Were they Western European or American? No, Jesus, Moses, the Prophets, and many others in the Bible were Jewish. Those who weren't Jewish were often other Middle Easterners or people that existed before the Jewish state and other well-known nations had come into existence. There are very few people that could be considered Western. Yet Kingsolver continues to lump Christianity with Western culture. "Jesus is a white man, so he will understand the law of [the majority]," says the village chief, echoing Kingsolver's position. Therefore, be alert as you read The Poisonwood Bible. It often suggests that Christianity is Western or that Christianity is just a tool used to modify other cultures; this isn't the case.

As you read The Poisonwood Bible, I'm sure you'll find Nathan Price to be disgusting, hard-headed, and simply unlikable. Consider the effect this has on the story, though; it seems that his character was designed to reflect poorly on the biblical Christianity that he allegedly represents. This becomes particularly apparent in his debate with Brother Fowles over Christian doctrine. Fowles is calm, collected, and friendly in stark contrast to Nathan Price. Understandably, the reader supports him in his debate against the "nasty" Nathan. When Fowles argues that parts of the Bible should be discarded and Nathan argues that the Bible should be fully accepted, whose part is the reader going to take? When you see this, ask yourself, Is Fowles's point more valid than Nathan's, or does it just seem that way because of how Kingsolver has set up the characters? Would I see this debate in a different light if Kingsolver had set up the characters differently? What does Kingsolver want her readers to believe?
Another thing to pay attention to in The Poisonwood Bible is the rest of the Price family. Notice the cynical attitude of Adah towards the Christian faith is the only view that is portrayed as respectable. Leah originally tries to be a Christian (though her understanding of biblical of doctrine is somewhat lacking), and she can come off as a naïve, obnoxious goody-goody during this time in her life. Only when she rejects her faith and her father does she come off as perceptive and knowledgeable. It's notable that all the Price women go apostate by the end of the book, except for Rachel, who remains nominally Christian but lives an adulterous lifestyle and shows little concern with actually following Christ. This picture painted by Kingsolver continues to reveal her anti- biblical Christianity viewpoint. Again, be wary of the impression Kingsolver tries to leave by developing her characters in the way she does. It's not just that Nathan is one individual who's missed it. It's that he represents biblical Christianity - in essence he's a "straw man" used to attack Christian doctrine.

Kingsolver goes beyond attacking Christ and his followers, but consistently develops a pantheistic religious system. `Pantheism' may not be a familiar concept to some, so let me explain: pantheism literally means, "all is god." Essentially, it teaches that the forces of nature, or that the universe itself, is god. Those who believe in a `pantheistic god' do not believe in God the Creator as known in the Bible.
Let me give a few examples of pantheistic thought in The Poisonwood Bible.
Kingsolver stresses that "the rules are different" in Africa. She, time and time again, tries to show that "Western" ideas do not work in Africa. (Remember, she has erroneously stressed that Christianity is merely one of these "Western" ideas.) Dynamite fishing doesn't work because there is no refrigeration. American farming doesn't work, because you have to make "hills" in Africa and the American pollination bees aren't present in Africa. Kingsolver also stresses different social standards in Africa - the modesty of women and the practice of polygamy are two that quickly come to mind. Africa itself is personified as an unchangeable entity throughout the book. The Prices came to change Africa, but Africa will stay the same while the family is changed. This notion that a geographical place (i.e. Africa) is bound by certain rules while other places are bound by other rules seem to reflect the ancient notion of `tribal gods.' Many ancient polytheistic nations believed in their own set of gods that were deity in their own land but had little influence outside of it. Kingsolver's construction of Africa as an unchangeable entity perhaps could almost be brushed aside as merely "agricultural" or "ethnic" had she not specifically applied this philosophy to religion. Brother Fowles draws some humor from his possible interpretations of a passage in Acts 16, but a simple review of the phrase in context or a little study of the Greek word should clear up the "confusion" that Fowles tries to make in the passage. Fowles (page 251, my book), allegedly a Christian minister, mocks the Scripture and says (p. 247) "a whole lot of chapters, sure, you just have to throw away" when you come to Africa. Note how much more open-minded Brother Fowles seems than Nathan and his family in these pages, and remember that Kingsolver probably has more leanings towards "Fowles" doctrine, and therefore represents his beliefs as more enlightened. The idea that Fowles expresses and Kingsolver endorses is essentially that whatever is worshipped can vary based on time and place. This doctrine seems to resemble the ancient tribal god tradition, which is prevalent in polytheism. Polytheistic doctrine, in turn, is evidence of pantheism. (Pantheism and polytheism are often closely intertwined, as polytheistic "gods" can be pantheistic "forces" personified. Consider, for instance, Poseidon, who represents sea force in Greek Mythology.)
The evolutionary undertones present in The Poisonwood Bible also give evidence to its pantheistic doctrine. Evolution is often misconstrued as scientific, so let me pause from the analysis of The Poisonwood Bible to demonstrate the significance of its religious nature.

Evolution
Many people think that evolutionism was developed as a young Charles Darwin spent time observing nature in the Galapagos Islands, especially the changing beaks of finches. This isn't quite accurate. First of all, this observance of changing finch-beaks within a kind of bird is called natural selection. Despite popular belief, natural selection was a phenomenon well-known and accepted twenty-five years before Darwin's book, if not earlier, by creationists such as Edward Blythe, and it is not the same thing as molecules-to-man evolution. Darwin held close communication with a man named Charles Lyell, who was probably largely responsible for giving him his evolutionist ideas. Lyell was a lawyer and amateur geologist who wished to undermine faith in Moses's record (i.e. Genesis through Deuteronomy) and developed the uniformitarian model of geology. This stated that the present is the key to the past; that geological process operate at constant rates, and therefore it takes long periods of time to form rock layers. (The other view is known as catastrophism; it states that rock formation occurs quickly, during cataclysmic events, such as floods and volcano eruptions. Lyell's uniformitarianism gained popularity over catastrophism, and it remained the dominant theory of geology for a long time, but recently it has been called into question on many accounts.)
But even Lyell was not the ultimate source for evolution. Even as Darwin formulated his own ideas, another man named Alfred R. Wallace adhered to almost the same theory. However, he did not receive his instruction from observing finches. Wallace was heavily involved in the occult and "received" his evolutionary doctrine while in an altered state of consciousness.
These two men highlight the main two "divisions" of evolutionism today. Darwin represents naturalistic, atheistic thought commonly believed today - that matter is the ultimate reality. Wallace represents the "spiritist" version of evolutionism, that is dominant in the New Age movement and other cults. But neither of these men were the true originators of evolutionism.
It's likely that each were indirectly influenced by far older evolutionary ideas, such as the Great Chain of Being, a pagan concept that survived in the ostensibly "Christian" Middle Ages. In fact, many evolutionary ideas have mellenia-old history. Writing that is essentially the same as modern materialism can be found in Greek documents 2500 years old. Many ancient religions are pantheistic and polytheistic in nature. In The Long War Against God, Henry Morris documented evolutionary thinking in many pagan religions and ancient cultures. He also described the striking similarities in astrological systems throughout the world. After tracing evolutionary thinking back to ancient Sumeria, he postulates that an original evolutionary, astrology-based religion was set up by Nimrod in his famous rebellion against God (Genesis 11) at Babel, and that religion has spread with humanity to permeate pagan thought systems throughout the world.

This has been a brief summary of evolution, but I hope it highlights the importance of evolutionary doctrine in pantheism. The Poisonwood Bible makes some subtle-but-important endorsements of evolution that should not go unnoticed. For instance, Orleanna refuses to eat monkey meat, because it looks too much like a relative, alluding to the evolutionary idea that man and monkeys are kin. Adah echoes evolutionary history faithfully: "...the Rift Valley cradled a caldron of bare necessities, and out of it walked the first humans upright on two legs. With their hands free, they took up tools and beat from the bush their own food and shelter and their own fine business of right and wrong." Thus, Adah reflects evolutionary doctrines of evolutionary biology, the origin of man, and the history of religion, none of these proven by science but accepted dogmatically by evolutionary doctrine.
Another evidence of pantheism presented in The Poisonwood Bible is the deification of nature. Nature is presented as an entity, the almost-but-not-quite personified sort that is prevalent in pantheism. Occasionally nature is worshipped, and this is portrayed as completely acceptable and even natural. "It's a grand way to begin a church service, singing a Congolese hymn to the rainfall on the seed yams [emphasis added]," says the "Christian" Brother Fowles with enthusiasm. Adah says. "I don't have cats or children, I have viruses," and goes on to explain her "relationship" with her study of this part of nature.
Adah perhaps sums up The Poisonwood Bible's pantheistic doctrine best: "God is everything, then. God is a virus. Believe that, when you get a cold. God is an ant, too, for driver ants are possessed, collectively..."
Now, in "The Eyes in the Trees," we see the "reincarnation" of Ruth May into a snake, a concept present in pantheistic/polystheistic religions such as Hinduisum. Perhaps the furthest step into dark doctrine is taken in this final "book." Mother Orleanna, throughout the book, had spoken to her dead daughter, Ruth May. It's in the last chapter that "Ruth May" speaks back. Such a practice, so far as I know, is not in pantheism, but goes beyond pantheism: commining with "the dead" is only found in spiritist religions (demonism).

1. Kingsolver consistently portrays her characters and dialogue in a way that ridicules biblical Christianity.
2. Kingsolver expresses her own pantheistic doctrine as evidenced by
-concepts akin to "tribal god" systems
-evolutionary teaching
-deification of nature
-"God is everything" statements
-reincarnation
-taking pantheism to its conclusion, spiritism

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, like me, you find the narrative sometimes difficult, especially child Adah's, I recommend an audio version.

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.

I love the Poisonwood Bible. It's easily on my list of favorite books. It's a heartwrenching story of the disintegration and survival of a family. Kingsolver rotates the pov through the four daughters and you learn to love them all, even the shallow Rachel. And that takes a great deal of skill to turn a character like Rachel into an interesting and lovable person. Even the chapters told from Ruth May, the baby of the family, manage to hold my attention. Great novel, one that everyone should read.

Every Oprah book I've purchased has been a great disappointment and this is no exception. My friend begged me to read this and the story seemed compelling.

At first I enjoyed the alternating viewpoints amongst the five women. After awhile it became irritating. There is suffering throughout the whole book and no redeeming aspects at all. I did muddle through the whole book thinking it would get better but it only got more boring. I felt no connection to the characters at all.

I agree with others and found Kingsolvers depiction of the "evil white people" offensive. Just my two cents.

This is a really good book that is a basic bible for how not to do missions. I resisted reading this for years, but now I'm glad I did. I really got to know th characters deeply and disagree with other reviewers who feel that the characters were shallow. I enjoyed the short chapters which presented each set of circumstances from each of the five voices. A bit frustrating at the end when the author chose to simply report on different chunks of time from each of the 4 remaining women's lives. I felt the sting of death deeply during the reading of this book.

I highly recommend this book and find myself intrigued with a wonderful part of the world whose native peoples have been subjected to horrifying circumstances and world politics.

Great book - I think Kingsolver's best. Really points out the arrogance of mankind and the impact we can have on others. A lot of insight into humankind, without being maudlin or trite. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me want to leave the world somehow a better place by being more understanding, tolerant and learning to listen.

This is one of the top ten books I've read in my life of 65 years. It is a plesantly exciting read and quite intellectually stimulating.

A great story and has something for everyone. Some of the stories in this book made me laugh out loud. This book is on my top ten list of all time favorites.

I thought this was an OK book. I did like reading about the Congo and its history. However, I found the characters to be just *too* one-dimensional. I think the author could have done so much more w/the eldest sister, Rachel -- it's like she stayed 17 forever - as if she'd have the same views as a 40 year-old that she did as a teenager. Also, although Leah, the heroine, had good and appropriate cause to be disapproving and judgmental, I found her to be completely nauseating nonetheless. Adah seemed to be the only character that grew, and therefore was my fav.

This book had some promise. It could have been good but I did not feel part of the story. The author was just telling the reader what happened. I like to know what the characters are experiencing inside as well as out. I lost interest in the first quarter of the book. I gave more than one star because the premise was good and the characters at least potentially were interesting.

I just finished The Poisonwood Bible, and LOVED it. Each character has a distinct voice (My favorite was Adah) and the progression from the very events that shaped them in Africa to their life outside the village to the full-circle ending made this a great summer read! I'm excited to read other Kingsolver novels!

Only listen to Audio. Couldn't even finish one CD with this story. It didn't grab me at all in the early stages so sorry I have better things to do with my time.

I really couldn't stop. My mother bought this book for me yesterday, as it's required reading for my AP English class. I read the first two hundred pages yesterday and the remaining three hundred and fifty today.

If you're reading this, you probably already know the basic plot. A family from Georgia--Nathan Price, his wife Orleanna, and their daughters Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May set out for the Congo on a missionary trip. In the process, each of the family members is consumed, in their own way, by the continent of Africa.

But there's more to it than that. The book is narrated by the women of the family, and each of them has their own cross to bear. Orleanna feels she is trapped in a loveless, abusive marriage. Rachel simply misses the comforts of home. Adah is probably the most interesting and unique character. She did not get enough oxygen in the womb, and as a consequence walks with a limp and sees things backwards. You might get sick of plowing through her sections of the book, which are full of palindromes and other nonsense, but it's worth it to stick with her. Then there's Adah's twin sister, Leah. She blames herself for Adah's plight. She also adores her abusive father, and struggles to shape her own identity. Ruth May is the baby of the family, and her primary trait, according to her sisters, is "stick-to-it-ivness." Even the patriarch of the family, Nathan, has something beneath the surface.

This book is at its best in the first half, when it is describing the lives of the whole family in Africa. After they split up, it slows down--which is odd, because the first 250 pages describe a year, while the next 250 describe thirty. But the last half of the book is primarily a history lesson/anti-imperialist tract. While these are good and just themes, the point was getting across just fine in the context of a compelling story beforehand. That's the only thing that stopped me from giving the book five stars. At times, the author seemed to leave the voice of the characters behind in order to make her political points.

You'll probably cry in this book, but you'll laugh, too. Rachel tends to mix up words--like when she describes the American concept of marriage as "monotony," rather than "monogamy." So it's not all some deep, dark history lesson.

While it's definitely serious literature, I'd be more inclined to recommend The Poisonwood Bible to a woman. As I said, it's told from the point of view of women, and many of its main themes, from motherhood to romance to sisterhood, seem to be more easily appreciated by women. That said, if you're looking for a serious work and a new perspective about imperialism in Africa, I can't think of a better book for man or woman.

This is a story of children and adults growing and making decisions, sometimes for the better but sometimes not. It's frustrating and depressing to read about their actions, which means, of course, that it's well-written. I may read it again to catch more of the symbolism. I suggest a reading group for this one!

I found this to be well-written and thought provoking. Having been to Africa, I connected with Barbara Kingsolver's storyline.

Editor of Michele Cozzens' award winning women's fiction A Line Between Friends

After reading such great reviews, I decided to give the Poisonwood Bible a chance. I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't entirely thrilled reading this book. The author is great with descriptive words, although at times she did get a bit wordy; the story overall lacked excitement. I did not find the book compelling.

This is one of the best novels I have read. Well-written, original and insightful. It is a book about relationships, broken families, and the cultural chasm that separates idealistic Westerners from the reality of the lives they seek to change. I read this book years ago, but there are lines and images that I have never forgotten. A masterpiece. Pity, she is not producing more.

One way to review this book is as a political/social statement. It is unambiguous in this sense. It is humanist, pro-environment, anti-White-European-Christian-male and argues for a more socialist state. In short, the author echoes the widely diverse platform taken up by many anti-globalization advocates. I'm not sure I know exactly where I stand on the individual issues the author addresses and I probably come down as often on the liberal side as I do the conservative. But the important point is that these problems are complex and are not a simple matter of good guys fighting bad guys. Everyone in power has to be a "bad guy" to some degree - otherwise they wouldn't get there. Complex issues call for insight. The problem with the book is that the author offers no new insights into these important matters - just standard rhetoric and opinions. After reading the book, I felt that I would have gained a better understanding of the Congo's politics and history by reading a good non-fiction book on the subject.

One may also review the book as literary fiction. This is the way I started to read it. I was hopeful that I would gain insight into how it would have been to live in the Congo, day to day, as a foreigner, during the 1960s independence movement. I also liked the idea of experiencing Africa through characters of many different ages. The first half of the book met my expectations. The writing was excellent and captivating. The characters had potential for change, they were funny and the plot was exciting. The father was believable and I looked forward to seeing how the conflict with him would play out. Then, abruptly, the book started to drag. Rachel's malapropisms became too frequent and started to annoy me. I got tired of reading Adah's sentences backwards to see what they said. The characters went flat. At one point, Leah's character completely evaporated and I was listening directly to the author put her spin on the events surrounding the 1960s CIA intervention in the Congo and eventually, to her views on world politics, consumerism, capitalism, localized farming, etc. The plot and characters now seemed like an afterthought. Toward the end of the book, I became disoriented. One of Leah's children, living in the Congo, had his belly bulging out from malnutrition in one paragraph, and in the next, Leah talked about periodically flying her children back to the US for their booster shots.

By the end, I was being told everything and shown nothing. It seemed I was reading a novel grafted onto a political tract. In spite of the author's clearly stated, and perhaps well-founded, distaste for Americans' limited view of the world, I felt like I was being preached to by a conventionally educated white American woman

When I finish a good novel, I get the feeling that I know something new that I can't put into words myself. That feeling was missing here. For me, this book ended up failing as literary fiction (after a very promising start) and also did not give me any new insights into African culture and politics.

For a brief time, I was there. I saw the green mamba snake in the tree. I was with the eyes in the tree. Did it ever really happen? Can we look away from the truth? The girls all told the truth, but each was a different truth, filtered through different eyes, melding into different spirits. Mother child sister daughter. Who is to say whose truth was right? Even the slanted truth of Adah rang as true as any. And the truth of the children sang through it all. How long can another keep that in her pocket? Children's tongues spoke the truth. I never wanted it to end.

This is the most depressing novel I think I have ever read. I am racking my head to think of one single happy moment in the novel and I am drawing a blank. Plus, the characters in the book seem so cold and flat on paper. The family at the center of the book is completely lacking in tenderness and intimacy and it makes for truly gloomy reading. You have to spend 300+ pages with these awful people. Skip it.

One of the best books I've read all year. This is well written, interesting, intelligent.

This prize-winning book is exceptional in every way. It is a great read with some serious issues set in a mesmerizing plot.

I just finished it. Remarkable writing from multiple perspectives. I was truly engrossed.

This novel kept me up at night, and woke me early. It brought laughter and, more than once, tears. It is part of me now in a way that only a few books each year manage to achieve. Stunning. Also, great fun. The word play, palindromes, and nuanced use of phrases in Kikongo, an African language from the Congo region where the tale is set, are, alone, worth the read. The story is told in rounds by five women, a mother and her daughters, who were hauled to the -- then -- Begian Congo by the father, an abusive iconoclast, and rabid Baptist preacher bent on saving the savages. The natives are far more deeply spiritual than the preacher can comprehend, and his simplistic promises of salvation fall on ears too sophisticated to buy into his hokum and wild malapropisms. The novel unfolds in the historical period when Belgium granted independence and Dwight Eisenhower ordered the assassination of the newly elected leader and financing of a civil war. Missionaries and most other whites were evacuated as violence against non-African's escalated. The preacher decided to stay, with dire ramifications for the whole family. Withall, a powerful testament, a brilliant historical piece, a profoundly moving personal tale of belief, loss, discovery and love. Killer-diller.

I just finished reading The Poisonwood Bible and it has instantly become one of my favorite books. The style of writing is vivid and poetic. Barbara Kingsolver is a master wordsmith, writing sermons, prayers, poems, and palindromes. In one sermon, Nathan Price declares that Jesus is Bangala. He means that he is most precious but because of a mispronunciation it sounds to the villagers as if he is saying Jesus is poisonwood. She blends in words and phrases taken from Kikongo, the language of the Congo as well as French. The storytelling is amazing and unique. Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the main characters. The foibles and quirks of each character come to life in the telling. It is an absolute must-read.

Wonderful family characters, all with their own needs and beliefs, led by a strict bible thumping father into the dark African jungle, to save the "native souls". They are totally unprepared, have few survival skills,know nothing of the native culture, belief system or language. In their isolation the family begins to unravel. For anyone who has a sister; it is still amazing to find how one can grow up with the same parents, live the same circumstances and have such totally different views; the family dynamics and sibling rivalry are facinating!
Barbara Kingsolver leads us on a journey of self discovery. We have gone to deepest Dark Africa to save souls and begin to realize that we cannot save ourselves. We have become a burden to the "ignorant savages" that we are trying to save and in the end, they save us!
It is a marvelous book, and teaches us all to listen. Listen to your siblings, your mother, your father, the world around you and keep an open mind, where does salvation lie? How presumptuous we are in forcing our beliefs on others!
Finally we learn that the "enlightenment" of the tribal masses is not what is needed. The tribal cultures of the world cannot assimilate into modern society, every attempt leads to their slaughter; they will die of war, disease or starvation: those who survive, their culture destroyed, will forever live on the fringes of society. Gone from this earth are the Aborigine, Sioux, Cherokee, Inuit and Congolese cultures. We did not learn from them, they lived for hundreds of years on their lands and were successful civilations. We must acknowledge that we are selfish and self serving and disguise our exploitation as "enlightenment"! Those who truly understand this novel will find their faith. We are all God's creation, we all desire peace, our families and our daily bread.
Every politician should read this book before they decide to save the world...but they probably wouldn't "get it". As I read the commentaries, I am amazed that most didn't.
We really never wanted to save these tribes, we really wanted to possess them, their lands and natural resources. In turn we also destroy the souls of those we love thourgh possession and forcing them to bend to our will; if you loved me.... you would...

Gone are the great tribes of this world, gone are the great herds of the plains, gone are the great forests and winding rivers, and soon, our families? If we do not learn that acceptance not assimilation is what is required. We all must learn the art of "live and let live". We must give up the need to remake everything in "our image" and leave God's creation alone.
Thank you Barbara Kingsolver for your courage and insight!

The Poisonwood Bible is a story about a Baptist minister who takes his family to the Belgian Congo in 1959.

As with many of the books that Oprah has chosen to be part of her infamous book club, The Poisonwood Bible is a fictional story that has a darker aura. I thought it was a well-told story that proved both thought provoking and profound.

Poisonwood Bible starts off very slow. I put it down for awhile then started in again. When I got past the first two chapters the book took off. This time I couldn't put it down! It was a very good book and I highly recommend it.

I do a lot of reading and always try to have an enjoyable book at hand. I've read many excellent books through the years but this was one of my favorites. Even when stories don't "grab" me and hold my interest, it's hard not to enjoy good writing. Kingsolver does both. She's an excellent writer, and she tells a stunning story. Having been a preacher's daughter myself, I ordinarily would not be drawn to reading about missionary life in the Congo. But "The Poisonwood Bible" is life-changing as the reader lives vicariously through the eyes and hearts of a mother and her four daughters who struggle to survive in a foreign culture. The overly-zealous, abusive father is the personification of what Christians DO NOT want others to think about Christ and his church. I've recommended it to many friends already and am glad I have this book for my personal library to refer to in the future. Excellent read!

I recently read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and I thought it was fantastic! It is about Nathan Price, a Baptist missionary who decides to go to Africa and convert people of the Congo. He, his wife Orleanna, and his four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, leave for the Congo in 1959 with only their most important belongings. Life in the Congo is not easy, and Nathan Price is making it worse for the five Price women. He has develpoed a fanatical need to convert the Congolese people, something they are not interested in. After several horrifying events, the Price women decide that they have to get out of Africa - and away from their father.
The book is told in the views of the five female Prices. Orleanna, the mother, narrates the first chapter of each section, and the four daughters narrate the chapters in between. I like the fact that you get different views of a different situation, because it shows the major contrast between the characters.
I also liked how each experiences the Prices went through were unexpected. Living in Arizona, one does not usually see elephants or green mamba snakes. I learned very much about Africa, just from reading about all the different wildlife and also the style of living.
I think that the moral of the story is: When desperate, human beings will go to the extreme. This moral helps to explain the story in some parts, mainly towards the end of the book.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have!
~Sarah Hofstadter

I learned about this book through my English teacher, and it seemed interesting; the idea of an American family going to live in the Congo looked like something I could enjoy. It turned out to have a very different perspective than I imagined.

The story starts out with the Price family leaving their home in the American South to go to the Congo. The father, Nathan, is a preacher and is going there as a missionary. The story is never told from his point of view. However, the mother occasionally tells the story, revealing events in the past. The majority of the story, the events that occur in the Congo, are told by the four children. The oldest, Rachel, is about 15 years old and absolutely despises the Congo, sincerely wishing to be back in the United States. The youngest, Ruth May, is maybe 7 years old, and gets along best with the natives, even teaching some children to play "Mother May I," despite the fact that none of those children share a common language with her. In between are twins, Leah and Adah, both eleven. Adah is unable to use one side of her body, and does not talk except in emergencies. Leah follows her father around and explores the area more than any others. As a result, she eventually learns the local language (though late in the book).

The part that I did not expect was the religious aspect of the story. The Price family is religious, and this plays a part in the book. The father spends his time preaching and trying to convince the locals to be baptized, and meets some resistance, partially due to bad translation, and partially due to the fact that Africa is fundamentally different from America. Also, it turns out that many of the things that the family wants to do -- like keeping an owl as a pet -- are for some reason bad luck or not allowed by the tribe's social customs (the owl was considered evil by the villagers, for example). The subtle conflict between two religions makes the book memorable.

The end result is an exciting story that pleasantly surprised me and had an interesting (if long) ending that left everything pretty much wrapped up.

The Poisonwood Bible is my absolute most favorite book! I've read it countless times, and given copies to many of my friends.

Written beautifully from 5 different points of view, the story comes to life with twists and turns that leave me laughing, crying, or totally shocked!

I've traveled to Africa 4 times, and her vivid descriptions of the Congo's jungle made me pause in rememberance.

Ms. Kingsolver, we want MORE! :)

The Book was great and the the READER on the CD was Very GOOD. I got a whole new insight as well as a good read!

This is a fantastic book. More than anything else, Barbara Kingsolver's characterization is amazing. At first, I wasn't sure how effective her multiple first-person point-of-view account would be, but her characterization was so unique, detailed, and consistent that the characters felt like real people.

Kingsolver does a great job developing the plot, and really illustrating the culture clash between the Americans and the Congolese. She also does a great job developing the internal conflicts of the Price family. As time passes in the novel, the characters grow, change, and adapt, maintaining credibility.

I had only two real problems with this book:

1 - I felt like the novel truly ended when the Price women left Africa. The last hundred or so pages were tedious and unnecessary, and added nothing to the overall plot or message of the story. In fact, it seemed to undermine the story by sending the characters and the plotlines off in a ton of different directions.

2 - It grew too political at times. It didn't seem at the beginning this was Kingsolver's intention, but by those last few hundred pages, the writing was about 97% blatant political propaganda and 3% novel.

Other than that, a page-turning, enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book, as well as Kingsolver's other novels.

This is one of the handful of contempory fiction books that makes it to my top 10 list. I avoided this book for a while because the premise -- a missionary family from Georgia in the Belgian Congo -- just didn't appeal to me. I don't know what compelled me to pick the book up and give it a try, but I am so happy that I did. Once I picked this novel up I could barely put it down. This family's story is fascinating, tragic, and beautiful. If you are at all on the fence about this book I highly recommend you give it a chance!

An excellent book that grips you from the start.As I am not religious I had a few reservations about reading it when I saw it was about missionaries, but the story is essentially about their family life in the Congo and the dangers they faced. It is written from the point of first the mother then each of her four daughters and is very skilfully done. I love this author and this is one of her best. It is entirely different from anything else she has written.

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)
I've read this at least half a dozen times in the last several years & ALWAYS find nuances and plot points that are new. Kingsolver provides seamless transitions between the voices of the characters while managing to hold each one accountable for her own actions and the way their impact magnifies as it ripples outward through the family and into the community. I especially enjoyed Adah's biting wit & sarcasm from the perspective of her "diagnosis" and is a character I'd really like to meet in real life.

What can I say, Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite writers. She's witty, inventive, and lyrical, to say the least. Just blew my mind with this one. It's amazing how every sentence is so poetic and so fascinating from start to finish. Great story. Beautifully written. A masterpiece.