The Poisonwood Bible

by Barbara Kingsolver | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0060930535 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingLeishaCamdenwing of Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on 2/3/2009
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingLeishaCamdenwing from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Tuesday, February 3, 2009
From the back cover:

'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. The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy. Taking its place alongside the classic works of postcolonial literature, the ambitious novel establishes Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.

EDITOR'S CHOICE
New York Times Book Review

'There are few ambitious, successful and beautiful novels. ucky for us, we have one now.'
-Jane Smiley, Washington Post Book World

'Haunting ... A novel of character, a narrative shaped by keen-eyed women.'
-New York Times Book Review

'Barbara Kingsolver has dreamed a magnificent fiction and a ferocious bill og indictment ... What we have here - with this new, mature, angry, heartbroken, expansive out-of-Africa Kingsolver - is at last our very own essing and our very own Gordimer.'
-The Nation

'Fully realized, richly embroidered, triumphant.'
-Newsweek'

This is a trade paperback edition from by Perennial, ie HarperCollinsPublishers. Published in 1999; the book was originally published in 1998. This is an Oprah's Book Club selection.

This book is #86 on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

I will read this book very soon and then hopefully send it out into the world somewhere. Before even registering it I had placed it into lovesamystery's Two Worlds Virtual Bookbox. I'm already curious about where it will be travelling to. :-)

I bought this book at the thrift store Askeladden in Sandvika outside of Oslo on Thursday, November 1st, 2007.

Journal Entry 2 by wingLeishaCamdenwing from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Wednesday, April 29, 2009
What a story!! A many-faceted epic. Recommended.

Journal Entry 3 by wingLeishaCamdenwing at by mail, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Friday, May 1, 2009

Released 14 yrs ago (4/29/2009 UTC) at by mail, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is now finally on its way to its next reader. Happy travels to the book and happy reading to the next BookCrosser. :-)

Journal Entry 4 by bookguide from Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Saturday, May 2, 2009
I went to the postbox this afternoon, not expecting anything much, and found a large white envelope with Norwegian stamps.
"Who do I know in Norway?", I said.
"How do you know it's from Norway?" says my 12-year-old son. I point at the stamps. "It doesn't *say* Norway," he says (knowing full well that it wouldn't say it in English - he's not that dumb!). And then I noticed something strange: one of the stamps says Norge, but the other two say Noreg! Have you sent me priceless collectors' stamps with a spelling mistake, or is there another explanation?!

Anyway, I came to the conclusion that the only person I "knew" in Norway was LeishaCamden, and once I'd opened the envelope, I discovered that I was right, so I am fairly impressed with my memory. Thank you for sending this book. I'm afraid this is going to be a slow-moving book, as I too won't let it go without reading it, and I've got a major backlog of ringbooks at the moment. I just thought I had a chance of catching up, and now this book has arrived, I see that it has 543 pages. Gulp! So if you don't hear of it for a while, don't worry, I'll get there in the end! If you check on my profile, I keep it updated so you can see how long it will probably take before I can read it.

Journal Entry 5 by bookguide from Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Monday, November 9, 2009
Started to read this on 8th November for Iiwi's November challenge on the Dutch forum: read a thick book, i.e. more than 500 pages, or 4cm thick.

Journal Entry 6 by bookguide from Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Wednesday, December 30, 2009
I finished this book long ago, but it has been so busy with Sinterklaas (i.e. Saint Nicholas) and Christmas preparations that I delayed writing my review until now. I had put off reading it for many months because it is such a thick book, but Iiwi's challenge came to the rescue, and it was an easy and interesting read, so didn't take long to read at all, after all the procrastination!

This book is deservedly on the 1001 list. The female characters each get their chance to tell their story, and their voices are quite distinct, just as their reactions to life in the Congo are completely different. The family is launched totally unprepared into missionary life in a remote village, without any outside support, simply due to the selfishness and stubbornness of their father, the evangelical preacher. Gradually the more adaptable of the four daughters adjust to the hardships, but both the father and eldest daughter cling to their American values, refusing to make any concessions. Both in their way are despicable. Leah survives by "going native", her handicapped twin sister by using her intellect. I loved her poetic word games: "I was still Dumb Adah. Slowpoke poison-oak running-joke Adah". "Serious delirious imperious weary us deleterious ways."
The book makes very clear the daily struggle for existence of the people living in the village. Only by adapting to the traditional way of life is it possible to survive long-term, but this family is not willing to do so, and as a result of the father's refusal to "lower" his standards, they are doomed to fail. "I've heard foreign visitors complain that the Congolese are greedy, naive, and inefficent. They have no idea. The Congolese are skilled at survival and perceptive beyond belief, or else dead at an early age. Those are the choices..... It's a grief to see the best of Zairean genius and diplomacy spent on bare survival, while fortunes in diamonds and cobalt are slipped daily out from under our feet. 'This is not a poor nation,' I remind my sons till they hear it in their sleep. 'It is only a nation of poor. '
There lies the tragedy of many African nations, and along with the tale of the Price family, we learn much about the country, but only from the most depressing of viewpoints. Sadly, there is little hope, and I have to admit I need to find out more about the situation now.

Thank you LeishaCamden for the chance to read this. I'm not sure what I'll be doing with it next, but I hope it will be moving on soon.


Journal Entry 7 by bookguide at Wijchen, Gelderland Netherlands on Friday, June 18, 2010
Reserved.

Journal Entry 8 by bookguide at BC Meeting 2015 in Castricum, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, July 5, 2015

Released 8 yrs ago (7/5/2015 UTC) at BC Meeting 2015 in Castricum, Noord-Holland Netherlands

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Meegenomen naar de grootste BookCrossing meeting van het jaar, bij Strandpaviljoen Zoomers in Castricum.

This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before the end of 2014. My reading goal is 36 books.
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge. 2015 goal: 24.

Journal Entry 9 by MMMaartje at Castricum, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Monday, July 6, 2015
Found this one at the meeting in Castricum yesterday, and as I too read the 1001 list it had to come home with me of course! I will try to read it soon, and afterwards make someone else happy with it!

Released 5 yrs ago (5/2/2018 UTC) at Ik weet het niet meer in - Ergens in de provincie, Utrecht Netherlands

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I can't find this book anywhere, so I must have released it! Don't know when or where though! If it shows up again I will journal again :)

Journal Entry 11 by Ingeisreading at IJsselstein, Utrecht Netherlands on Friday, June 14, 2019
I got this book from my cousin MMMaartje. I look forward to reading.

Journal Entry 12 by Ingeisreading at IJsselstein, Utrecht Netherlands on Friday, April 10, 2020
Really enjoyed this book! A masterful epic that is deservedly on the 1001 lists. I will be keeping it in my permanent collection for a while.

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.