The author presents vivid, rich characters that you won't want to let go of. She weaves the threads of their lives and the natural, Appalachian world of their environment into a tapestry; each tiny thread is dependant on the other to make the whole. This novel is a celebration of life in all forms. I find it earthy and sensual and rich...here is a taste; "solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot...every choice is a world made new for the chosen".
I have read it twice. My book club loved it.

This book is now part of a Book Ray that should start the week of July 12, 2004:
Edit added Feb 05: finally realized that this is not a book to try to read quickly, so take your time. Kingsolver's prose can’t be skimmed; it is meant to be savored.

Picture taken from a hill at the end of my street in Tucson.

1. raquelsita in California completed
2. geniedances in Texas completed
3. zizzr in Texas completed
4. duklyn in Alberta Canada completed
5. ms-attitude-ca in Ont. Canada completed
6. jessibud in Ont. Canada completed
7. arturogrande in the U.K. completed
8. redhouse in the U.K. completed
9. perfect-circle in the U.K. completed
10. helenbg in Portugal HERE May 05,

and then maybe back to me....Helenbg, PM me, we can decide if the book should be released in Portugal, passed on to someone you know, or sent back here.

I just received this in the mail yesterday. Thanks hotflash for including me on your bookring. I will start on it right away...it's over 400 pages so it may take me a while, but not too long, I promise!

What a great book! In the beginning I was a bit daunted by the 440 pages, but the book just sucked me right in from the beginning. It helped that I had just taken a biology class that discussed many of the topics in the book such as genetics, evolution, etc. Each story was fascinating and somehow woven into each other.

Thanks hotflash for sending this book out! I will definitely pick up another Kingsolver book to read.

This will be sent out as soon as I have an address to send to.

The book arrived today. I will start reading it ASAP!

I really enjoyed this book. The main characters were very interested in the importance of a healthy eco system. Each one went about protecting the environment in a different way but all were relative in preserving the natural life forms. Just as their tasks made a common thread, their relationships were also dependant on one another. Its time to pass the book on to the next reader.

Arrived today...Plan to get to it tomorrow....Looks like a good long read.
;-)

I found the 444 pages a bit overwhelming, especially since I found it slow going to start. Took me a bit to really decide that I was going to finish it. I am very glad I did. Its a good book, although I thought it ended prematurely. I guess that is the sign of a good book.
I have the address of the next person on the list, and will package it for mailing, as soon as work schedule allows me to make it to the post office!
;-)

RELEASE NOTES:

I made it to the post office today! Hope it travels well and quickly to duklyn! Enjoy!!
;-)

Edited: I messed up the time here, it went into the post office hands at 4:30pm CST

Recieved in the mail today.Glad it did, the book I`m reading is just pages from being done > Thanks Hotflash for including me in the Bookring.It`s my first.

After reading The Poisenwood Bible I wasn`t to sure I would care for this book.Glad I took a chance.It`s a comfortable book,the kind I like to read in bed.And how apporiate,listening to the coyotes howling in the far distance.I enjoyed the lessons in nature,human and natural.The lives we followed were real enough to be a part of any country family.The ending threw me off, I guess because I just wasn`t ready to walk away from their lives.It left me wanting more

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to ms-attitude-ca..Hotflash`s Bookray

just received this book from duklyn.........my first book ring/ray that I am involved in. Couldn't have come at a better time as I have just finished reading Forever by Jude Deveraux. Will make another journal entry when done with this one and then it's off to jessibud

just finished reading this book...........all I can say at the moment is WOW!!!!!! What a GREAT book. Thank you hotflash for including me in this bookring......will be sending it off to jessibud as soon as i get to the post office(should be by Friday)...will make a release note when it's sent

just got back from the post office..........this book is on it's way to jessibud

Received this bookring book in the mail yesterday. I have 2 other bookring books in my lap at the moment but both those are quick reads. I hope to be able to start this one by next week. I have heard great things about it and the little postcard included inside the book has encouraging *testimonials* written on it, as well!

Thanks, hotflash, for getting this one started! I look forward to reading it

Arrived safe and sound this morning. Thanks very much.

Sorry to be journalling out of order, but better late than never, I suppose. I began this book almost as soon as I received it but then hit one of those dreaded personal slumps where I could not read or concentrate on much for quite awhile. I'd read a bit, then stop and could not get back to it. I have to insert a big thanks here to Hotflash, the originator of this bookring, for her patience with my delinquency in moving this book along. It's not that I wasn't enjoying it -- I was -- and it's not that I didn't want to finish it, because I did. But happily, I did finish it and will now journal my thoughts, though somewhat belatedly.


As soon as I began to read Prodigal Summer, I was immediately drawn into a feast of sensory images as the natural world of the forests of Appalachia unfolded to me through the eyes and story of Deanna, a wildlife biologist, living alone atop a mountain. I have to admit, although the flyleaf clearly states that this book weaves together 3 stories, I guess I hadn't paid much attention to that because it took me some time to recognize and understand the threads of this tapestry; to see the three separate stories as inter-connected. Kingsolver is nothing if not subtle and she clearly has respect for the intelligence of her readers to figure out some things for ourselves. In a way that is refreshing and unlike so much of what is out there to read these days, she doesn't feel the need to explain every single last little detail or nuance until there is nothing left to guess or think about. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate this! This is a book about nature, love, loss, grief and sex. But don't let that deceive you. It's not what you think....


And then, there is the language in the book: it is rich and lyrical; the images Kingsolver paints are often dark and shadowy, then suddenly, illuminated with light. There were passages that spoke to me, that I had to go back to and read over and over, to savour the feel of them, the sound of them. I will share a few of my favourite passages, some of the words that touched me, expressed thoughts and feelings of my own that I didn't know I had; I'll let the words and images speak for themselves:

-- A black and white warbler had started it long before dawn, breaking into her sleep with his high-pitched "Sweet, sweet!". Deanna could picture him out there, circling the trunk of a poplar, tilting his tiny little zebra-striped head toward the first hints of light, tearing yesterday off the calendar and opening the summer of love with his outsized voice. ...She needed to listen to this: prodigal summer, the season of extravagant procreation. It could wear out everything in its path with its passionate excesses, but nothing alive with wings or a heart or a seed curled into itself in the ground could resist welcoming it back when it came.

-- A whole landscape could change, just like that.... Out in the light she could almost see the calm air beginning to gather itself for the afternoon, the oxygen burgeoning between damp leaves. These trees were the lungs of her mountain-- not her mountain, nobody's damn mountain, this mountain that belonged to scarlet tanagers, puffballs, luna moths, and coyotes. This shadowy, spirited world she lived in was preparing to exhale. It would be afternoon, and then it would be evening and then night. It would pour down rain...

-- She moved herself along the bank until the moon's reflection hung dead center in the pond, a white, trembling promise as old as night. She felt the enormous sadness inside her waking up. Sometimes it slept, and then she could pretend at life, but then it would rise and crowd out anything else she might try to be, hounding her with the hundred simple ways she could have saved him.

-- Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen.

Just making a quick journal entry to show the book's in my possession.

The prose is lush and gorgeous. I'm about two-thirds of the way through, and I do not want it to end.

Oh, this is just stunning. I thought The Poisonwood Bible was good, but this is a feast for the senses.
I could see, hear, smell, taste and touch the beautiful Appalachian landscape and I felt a real connection to Deanna, Lusa and Garnett.
Kingsolver's use of imagery is beautiful, and it never feels forced. The prose is vibrant and almost achingly beautiful.
The environmental themes of the book are also subtly handed - I did not feel bashed over the head with the idea of man's place on the planet and his responsibility to it.
Kingsolver does not preach - she shows us and then leaves us to make up our own minds.
And although there is great feeling for nature, the humans never play second fiddle to it. Each of the three main characters is drawn in minute details, and all feel like REAL people.
Thanks so much, hotflash, for sharing this wonderful book with me.
I will now pass it on to redhouse, who is currently in the process of moving house and so will be unable to take delivery of it until the first week in March.
You're in for a treat, redhouse.

On its way to redhouse.

Arrived this morning. I took it back to bed with a cup of tea (our postman gets here very early) and read the first 15 pages.Already I can hardly bear to put it down. Our housemove has been delayed, this book was re-directed,and we are now moving this weekend so I may not get back to it for a bit. I apologise in advance for those following me if there is a bit of a delay.

I absolutely loved this. It helped me through a very stressful housemove. The characters were so real. I particularly loved Garnett and Nannie (Old Chestnuts)
Thank you so much hotflash for sharing this lovely book, it was a real treat. I'll be mailing to perfect-circle as soon as I have an address.

Mailed today to perfect-circle, sorry it's taken me so long to get to the post office.

arrived last night, thanks

Without a doubt one of the best books I've read this year. I hoped, when picking this up, that it would match The Poisonwood Bible, and it does. The writing is beautiful and I loved the characters, loved seeing how they all connected. In particular, Lusa's story of that one summer was heart-breaking and yet positive at the same time.

I will be posting this to Helenabg tomorrow. Thanks hotflash for including me in this ray.

RELEASE NOTES:

off to Helenabg today

Thanks to Hotflash for making this bookray and to perfect-circle to have send it to me! I received it yesterday, the butterfly day! Guess what? A lot of coincidences happened yesterday about butterflies! Yesterday, I put my new butterfly designed website online, after that I receive an email greeting from a friend wishing me a great butterfly day (I didn't know of the existence of such day!).
After that, I checked my mailing and I noticed this book. I opened it and... there were butterflies in the inside cover!
Well... my mother arrived after that and she was wearing a butterfly necklace!

How about that?? lool

About the book: I'm looking to start reading it, but I think that it's gonna take sooooome time!! It's a challenging reading for me cause I'm not english or american! :)
I just want to say one more thing! The book has a overwhelming fragrance!! Can somebody tell me what scent is it? Thanks! lol

This book is staying in Portugal with Helenabg.
Enjoy.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in this ring and took the time to journal their thoughts. I loved being able to share this book with so many readers.