The Bean Trees Anniversary Edition: A Novel (Hardcover)

I also think that this book has one of the best opening paragraphs in contemporary fiction. I won't give it away, but do yourself a favor and look for it at any bookstore. This novel is funny, sad, and touching. It was my introduction to Kingsolver, and I am glad I got a head start on her before many others did. This is a book that you'll ant to hold onto, to give to friends, to discuss...

Taylor Greer is one of the most engaging heroines in literature, and her unconventional story is infused with a real contemporary feel. What does that mean? I just mean that Kingsolver disucsses issues and people that many authors don't in popular american fiction (native american issues, central american politics, refugees, mixed marriages and Protestantism and catholicism all merge in one novel), and as a result, Kingsolver holds up a mirror of our world where we can see ourselves and society much clearer than before. I know that I sure did. Ten years later, I still can remember this book so vividly, it's never left me.

She finally arrives in Tucson and meets a woman who wants to give Taylor a 3 year old child. Taylor promises to take care of the little girl. Whether the woman is the child's mother, we never do find out. But Taylor does find out right away that something is not right with the child. Turtle, the name Taylor gives the child, does not talk. Taylor also finds bruises over the child's body while giving her a bath. Maybe Taylor has saved this child from a horrible life, but now she is responsible for the welfare of this little Indian american girl.

But now what to do? No money and no job, and she's got a kid she never planned on having.

Taylor and Turtle end up in a small town in Arizona and after meeting several nice people who help them out, they end up living with a gal named Lou Ann, who has her own story to tell. The book is intertwined with the stories of both women so we get to know them both very well.

Along the way they meet and get involved with a hispanic couple, Estevan and Esperanza. They are from central America, and their story is a mystery, except we know Esperanza knows very little English, and Estevan was an English teacher in his home land. The four of them, along with little Turtle, become good friends, and soon Turtle is responding to the love she is getting from her new family. But there is still the mystery of what really happened to little Turtle....

THE BEAN TREES is the 2nd Barbara Kingsolver novel I have read, THE POISONWOOD BIBLE being the other one. This second novel reads quite differently than POISONWOOD BIBLE did, and I guess one reason is that THE BEAN TREES was written over a decade before. Ms. Kingsolver's skills as a story teller greatly improved between these two novels, but that does not mean THE BEAN TREES is a poorly written book. On the contrary, I found it very well written and enjoyable to read.

The feel of both books is very different. While POISONWOOD had the feel of an epic, THE BEAN TREES was a much more simpler novel (being a much shorter novel helped!) I can't say whether one book was better than the other. I liked both equally. What I'm finding I really like about Ms Kingsolver's books is that she is very good at character developement. She knows how to paint a character well enough that I was able to picture right away what these characters were all about. They were not shallow one dimensional people, but people I could care about.

Obviously, I am giving THE BEAN TREES a glowing recommendation. It was probably one of the better books I read in 2001.

A bit further down Taylor's Road of Life, she meets Lou Ann Ruiz. Lou Ann is a worrier with a baby, and her husband has left her. Together, Lou Ann and Taylor get through a lot of things, whether it's figuring out Turtle's real name, or helping two Guatemalan refugees live safely on a Cherokee reserve. Through babies, vegetables and cars, Taylor's story is a wonderfully real story. It feels very much unlike fiction to read this book, because it could really happen. I recommend this book to anyone ages 12 and older.