This is why I read. Books like this.

You can read this book as a straightforward dramatic story about clashing cultures or as a sort of Biblical parable on sin and redemption ... or you can read it closer to the heart, the way I did, as a book of uncommon insight on life through the innocent eyes and minds of four sweet girls doing their best to survive the brutal indifference of both the Congo and their righteous, evangelical Baptist minister father.

And, excuse me, but damn that man to hell.

So many great characters, so many lessons.

--- A man so caught up in his passion ... his 'mission' in life, in the Congo ... that he has forgotten to practice what he preaches ... has forgotten to look out after his wife and kids ... has forgotten how to love ... has forgotten what's important. A man married more to his religion than his wife, a man more a son to his Father The Holy Ghost than a father to his daughters.

--- A girl who hides within herself, speaking occasionally in a backwards language only she understands, because everyone else in her life has given up on trying to reach her ... because everyone else has accepted her for what she is and not for what she can be.

--- A girl who wants only to be a teenager with teenage friends and teenage parties and teenage clothes ... a girl who doesn't want to trade in her once-in-a-lifetime teen years for anything, and especially not for the drabness and dullness and emptiness and deadly seriousness of the Congo ... and, after all, who would, really, and what's wrong with wanting to be a teenage princess anyway?

--- A girl who craves the love of her father so much that she's willing to rationalize away his stern, unreasonable pronouncements and punishments ... willing to embrace his Scripture-as-the-answer-to-everything life as her own ... until she experiences a great epiphany ---- that if her father made the biggest mistake of all by not protecting his family then how many other mistakes has he made? That's a long fall from Grace.

--- A girl too young to be exposed unfairly to life in the harsh Congo ... and yet spunky and independent enough to spit-stick her malaria pills to the wall behind her bed because they taste so gawd awful ... a girl who breaks her arm falling from trees no one else will climb ... a girl who broke the culture barrier when her older sisters and parents could not, with a simple game of "Mother May I." So young and innocent with so much to live for. So innocent, so sad.

--- A wife struggling to find the courage to take even small stands against her overbearing husband ... a woman juggling her maternal instinct to protect her children with the frustration of not knowing how to get it done ... a woman with the weight and worries of protecting her family in a dangerous world on her shoulders alone. A woman who ultimately has to explain to one of her daughters that she chose to save her little sister over her from an invasion of fire ants because "when push comes to shove, a mother takes care of her children from the bottom up." Sophie's Choice. A lonely place to be for anyone.

There are lessons in that man and that woman and their daughters for all of us.

The thing that made me hesitant to read this book is the thing that amazes me most ... the voices of the children.

I kept thinking that was an incredible risk for a writer, because if readers didn't like or aren't at least intrigued by every one of those girls then the book would bog down to a crawl.

I knew I had been wrong to think that when I realized that the girls had become so real and that I cared for them so much that I gladly would have been OK if that damn Baptist minister father of theirs had flown his entire family out of the Congo to safety after Independence Day. 200 pages. End of Story. Thank God, Almighty.

But it's not just that Kingsolver gave each of those girls their own wonderfully distinct voice. It's that she chose to tell this story largely through their eyes and minds instead of through the eyes and minds of adults. And more than anything else, that is what makes this book so special ... that is the thing that makes it resonate ... that is the thing that gives it so much heart and heartbreak.

And, of course, there's the innocent, smile-inducing mangling of the English language by the girls ... when Rachel decides, for example, that she's had enough and wants to step back from it all, wants to disappear, wants to "remain anomolous."

Or when Leah responds to Anotole's announcement that Kilanga has seceded from the Congo by saying she's just "happy that someone has succeeded" in that God-forsaken place that has slipped itself deeper down inside her soul than even she realizes.

Kinda like the way this book worms its way inside your heart. It's a good book.

Enjoy.

The Poisonwood Bible (U.S. ray)

Moeshell ... Texas
dabercro ... Utah
kitiarablue ... New Jersey

Completed Jan. 17. Thanks for playing, everyone. The book is yours to keep or pass on, kitiarablue. Enjoy.

Barbara Kingsolver interview ***

*** I didn't see anything in this interview that would ruin the book. Feel free to jump in. Pretty fascinating.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent this book to Moeshell this morning. Book rate. Seven to 10 days to get there. Enjoy.

This book made it to my mail box yesterday. Can't wait to start reading!! Must first finish the book for the current bookring I am in, but I'll start this one within the next couple of days.

I enjoyed this book very much, not only as a story but as political and cultural lessons too. Kingsolver does a good job at keeping the story believable through the eyes of the children. I think my favorite character has to be Adah. I loved reading her palindromes and her unique observations of the world. I would have given this book 10 stars except I feel that the last couple of chapters were used more as a soapbox, making it feel more like a lecture and less of a work of fiction. I agree with what Kingsolver is trying to express and she presents some views that I have never considered before. This book has change the way that I look at this world as a whole.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I know I said that I was going to send out last week, but with the holiday and all I didn't get around to it. It's on its way now. Thanks bobbarama for sharing your book!!

Received in the mail today. I probably won't get to it until after the holidays.

An interesting and thought provoking book. Bobbarama really sums it all up in her JE. The father made me angry. He jeopardizes his family's lives for, what I consider, his own self serving craziness. I wanted the mother to get a backbone and stand up for herself and her children. The story is told by the four daughters.

Thanks, bobbarama, for sharing this book.

I'm still waiting for the next participant's address. Hope to get this in the mail this week.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to the next participant, kitiarablue, in NJ.

This actually arrived earlier this week, but I haven't had a chance to get on here. I'm already well into it, and am enjoying it so far!

Yes, this is exactly why I read. I have to agree with bobbarama. What a powerful book! I couldn't tell you how many times I found my eyes filled with tears while I read Leah's or Adah's thoughts and observations, understood Rachel's feelings and desires, and admired Ruth May's tenacity. The characters in this book do become real, including the African characters. I can only imagine what life in the Congo was like before, during and after the events in the book. I felt like I could see and smell all that they experienced. I don't see how anyone could read this book and not have their way of thinking changed. I will pass this book on, I believe there is a message in this book that we all need to hear. Thank you, bobbarama for sharing this book.

Thanks for playing, everyone. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the book.

Have a great year of reading.