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The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Paperback – Deckle Edge, June 10, 2008

by Barbara Kingsolver (Author)

2,598 customer reviews

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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.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Kingsolver’s books of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction are widely translated and have won numerous literary awards. She is the founder of the PEN/Bellwether Prize, and in 2000 was awarded the National Humanities Medal, the country’s highest honor for service through the arts. Prior to her writing career she studied and worked as a biologist. She lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia.

Product details

Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reissue edition (June 10, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061577073
ISBN-13: 978-0061577079
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.4 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 2,598 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #227 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Saga
- #459 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Life
- #832 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

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April 28, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

So many people are judging this book based on their personal feelings about a certain subject, mostly Christianity or America. But I'm giving my review based on the story and writing. Both were excellent. It was a great story and it made you question everything you've ever thought or believed. Did BK have an agenda, of course. It was obvious. But it didn't sway my opinion of the writing or the story. There are two reasons I'm not giving this a 5 star. 1 - she contradicts her agenda more than once. At times Africa is nothing but innocent, then she goes on to tell stories of how they kill and maim, and are just as human as everyone else on the planet. 2 - I feel, and quite frankly this is a first for me, that she took the story too far. Reading on a kindle, I don't know how many pages a book is. And I love that. Some books will seem daunting based solely on their size, It can discourage a lot of people from reading it. (Example, Cutting for Stone - for me 5 stars and still my favorite book to date) But I digress. I still felt she could have wrapped up this story after they left the village but before we got fully engulfed into their adult lives - that portion just didn't capture me as a reader. All said, it was an excellent read and I will recommend it as one of my favorites.

Comment 22 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

A terrible story, told beautifully.

March 2, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Whew! A terrible story, told beautifully. I struggled to start this book (I knew I wouldn't like the Reverend, I knew something horrible was going to happen...many, many horrible things, in fact), but once I began I couldn't stop. The best part for me was how the narrators changed - all the women in the story had a voice, and each was so deliciously different, I kept dipping my hand into the jar again to see what the next flavor of jelly bean would be like.

An added benefit is that I thought the story was over, only to discover I was in fact only 60% done. (My Kindle tricks me when there are "book club" sections in the book - which I thought this one had, but didn't) Luckily, I enjoyed the "second half" of the story even more than the first.

I highlighted too many passages to count, but here are just a few that best captured the characters:

"My father thinks the Congo is just lagging behind and he can help bring it up to snuff. Which is crazy. It's like he's trying to put rubber tires on a horse."

" I had washed up there on the riptide of my husband's confidence and the undertow of my children's needs."

"Hunger of the body is altogether different from the shallow, daily hunger of the belly. Those who have known this kind of hunger cannot entirely love, ever again, those who have not."

Comment 17 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

One of the Books that Has Changed My Life

September 20, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is on my list, "Top Ten Books that have Changed my Life." It gives a memorable insight into the political struggles of developing countries and dispels the "missionary" vision that we may have for the motives of our country. The mother and sisters who narrate the story each have their own distinctive voice and will leave an impression that you will not soon forget. This is one of the few books that I have read and enjoyed more than once.

Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Melanie D. Typaldos

Beautiful imagery

June 13, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a beautifully written book with inspired prose and deep insights. It looks at Africa and Africans with open eyes and a sensitivity to their heritage and culture. It also examines the role of missionaries in Africa, some of whom are good and some terrible. It is not a book for the deeply religious who cannot stand to see their own beliefs challenged or to acknowledge that there are other belief systems out there that are held just as dearly by their followers.

I would like to site some of my favorite passages.

I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentence.

Mama says their skin bears scars different from ours because their skin is a map of all the sorrows in their lives.

I pictured hands like those digging diamonds out of the Congo dirt and go to thinking, Gee, does Marilyn Monroe even know where they come from? Just picturing her in thr stain gown and a COngolese diamond digger int he same universe gave me the weebie jeebies. So I didn't think about it anymore.

God doesn't need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves.

Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet.

There are a lot of other passages and verbal images that I loved but I can't copy the whole book here. However, there is one last thing I want to say and this is a complaint.

Here is the quote:
A parasite of humans that extinguished us altogether, you see, would quickly be laid to rest in human graves, So the race between predator and prey remains exquisitely neck and neck.

As always, it is impossible for people to understand evolution. This passage was supposed to have been said by a researcher at the CDC. It fails to understand that evolution is not forward looking. It is highly likely that this scenario has played out over the millennium for species that no longer exist. In fact, the Tasmanian devil is currently facing extinction from a viral form of cancer that fits this description. This kind of thing is more likely in small populations where genetic diversity is limited. Probably the human race has little to fear on this account.

Comment 7 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

CarolTop Contributor: Coloring

Hard to Put Down

February 19, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book started slow for me, but it soon began to capture my attention. The characters are well developed and very complex. The story is engrossing...the struggles of a white mission family in the Belgian Congo in the 1950's. It is told alternately by the wife and daughters of an pious but abusive husband and father. It follows the characters over several years and describes the impact that time in the Congo had on their lives as some return to the US and others remain in Africa through the rebellion and beyond.

Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

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Most recent customer reviews

John Roger Buchanan

Probably the best book I've read in years

Published 10 days ago

I enjoyed how the author switched between the characters in the story and how each developed.

Published 12 days ago

Laura M. Sorkin

Excellent story.

Published 13 days ago

This is the second time I have read this book and I enjoyed it as much or more than the first.

Published 19 days ago

The collision of religious fanaticism and ethnocentrism with imperialistic arrogance.

Superb. Watch the destructive effects on a family and enjoy their assimilation so beautifully told by Kingsolver.

Published 20 days ago

Elizabeth Pirtle

Published 22 days ago

Good read, but...

I really liked this book. Dean Robertson's narration was superb. I enjoyed the Audible version more than the Kindle version...Go figure.

Published 27 days ago

Amazon Customer

A haunting story set in Congo, 1959

I bought that book in paper version a few years ago. The haunting story is still living with me. Even if the action is set in Africa in 1959...Read more

Published 1 month ago

Kenya Starflight

Gut-wrenching but powerful story about one family's ill-fated mission to the Congo

Africa is a continent with a long, troubled history of violence, apartheid, colonialism, and poverty...Read more

Published 1 month ago

Rebecca M. Magnuson

Published 1 month ago

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