The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

ISBN: 0061577073 ISBN-13: 978-0061577079

Pages: 576

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reissue edition (June 10, 2008)

Originally Published: 1998

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Recommended

Immersive

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I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I have seen some people describe this book as feminist (well Barbara Kingsolver is a feminist) but I don't feel like it was heavy handed feminism. The style of the book is revolving viewpoints. Switching each chapter to the viewpoint of one of the different daughters.

A quick plot overview, a family goes on a mission trip to the Congo, the husband, Nathan Price a fundamentalist baptist minister, his wife Orleanna, and their four daughters: Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May. With each chapter we get a viewpoint from one of the different daughters (with a handful of chapters giving the viewpoint of the wife Orleanna).

This is one of those stories which shows the plights of people who are used to first world comforts trying to adjust to life in the Congo where they don't even have running water. The story takes place right before the "Congo Crisis" takes place and leads into that civil strife that occurs when that launches.

So with that let me launch into the characters.

Nathan Price

Nathan Price is the father in the family. He is a Baptist preacher and an extremely evangelical one at that. He fiercely preaches the word of God and is on a mission to save every person that he can. He tends to rule the family with an iron fist and expects them to walk with God. His character is one of the few that does not change in this book.

Orleanna Price

Orleanna is the mother of the family. Through much of the book she is the good wife that follows her husbands orders without question. She undergoes changes as the Congo begins to get to her, and towards the end of the novel we see her become very independent from her husband. She is a generally strong woman, but she is kept restrained for most of the early parts of the novel.

Rachel Price

The oldest daughter. She is the "perfect" one. Mostly in looks. She isn't portrayed as a particularly intelligent person, but she definitely is the best looker of the family. She is also the most vain of anyone in the family and spends a lot of time concerned about her appearance. We hear a lot of complaining from her when they move to the Congo for the mission trip and she doesn't have those comforts that she used to have in the US. She changes a fair bit through the story, and especially towards the end she becomes a very different person.

Leah Price

Technically the next oldest daughter, but she is the twin of Adah Price. Leah is one of the more complex characters in this novel. Towards the beginning of the book she is pretty much a daddy's girl and likes to follow him around when he's working. She also does her best to be a perfectly studious disciple of the Bible and does everything she can to make her father happy. She is one of the more intelligent of the bunch but at first worries a lot about being accepted. Towards the middle and the end of the novel we see her take charge of her life quite a bit and not worry about being accepted so much.

Adah Price

Probably my favorite character in the book. Adah is a twin with Leah but Adah was born with hemiplegia. She is easily the most intelligent of the group, but she keeps all of her intelligence to herself. She is witty and insightful. She struggles a lot with feeling like the "damaged goods" of the family.

She reads and writes the most of anyone in the family, and is quickly shown as the least religious of the bunch. She has a much more rational view of the world, and quickly falls away from trying to please her father. I always loved coming to chapters that were from her viewpoint. She is kind of quirky and pithy which I like.

Ruth May

The youngest daughter of the family. The baby. She is treated much as the baby. One great thing about Ruth May early on is her ability to adjust the easiest to the new Congo environment. While everyone else is self-conscious about being the only white people around, Ruth May is easily able to make friends and even pick up the language of the area fairly quickly. This is one of the great things about children, they are completely unprejudiced and are able to pick things up so quickly.

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This book focuses a lot on the daughters in the family. In fact I think there are only a few chapters which go to the viewpoint of Orelanna, the wife, and there are no chapters at all from Nathan Price's viewpoint. The four daughters are so different in personality that it offers a great insight from different sides of the situations that are happening in the Congo.

I very much recommend this book. It provides a great look into the nature of differing cultures and how different cultures often have trouble accepting one another. There is a strong religious background to the book, since the main premise is that the father is a Baptist minister on a mission to convert everyone, but it isn't in your face Christianity. Instead, we get to see the battling forces of the native religions and this new religion trying to take over.

There is a little bit of political focus since this book does take place just before, during, and after the Congo Crisis, but the book itself is not overly political. Really it focuses more on the culture challenges of the regions. So pick it up if you have a chance, it's a great read!

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Translator: Gregory Rabassa
ISBN: 0679444653 ISBN13: 978-0679444657
Pages: 448
Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism
Publisher: Everyman's Library (Hardcover, October 17, 1995)
Originally Published: 1967



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Recommended
Immersive
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Wow, this book is beautiful. I can see why it is so often cited as a great book. This is one of the most immersive books that I have read in a long time. The descriptions, the characters, the settings, and everything else all comes together beautifully. Again, I am reading this in translation, so I can't really comment on the original Spanish version, but the English translation here (I'm reading the Everyman's Library edition) is wonderful.

A word of warning, there are a lot of characters in this book. Not only are there are a lot of characters but the character's names are all very similar to one another. The book follows several generations of a family, (which is what makes for the common character naming), rising and falling over the years. This provides for an interesting story line because you follow one family through several generations.

I would recommend getting a character list, perhaps from Sparknotes or the like, which will make it slightly less painful to keep track of all the characters. I made the mistake of thinking that I could keep track of every character and I ended up asking myself, "Okay which one is this again?" Unfortunately, this book is not available as a Kindle edition, because if it was you could use X-Ray to help keep track easier.

This is a heavily character driven book as most of the action takes place in the same locale of Macondo. Marquez does a beautiful job of creating all these generations of characters, giving each a personality, developing their character, and forming character conflicts all of which brings the story together. I highly recommend this book, but be prepared for the long character list.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Translators: Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor
ISBN: 0679760806 ISBN13: 978-0679760801 
Pages: 372
Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism
Publisher: Vintage (Paperback, March 19, 1996)
Originally Published: 1966
Original Language: Russian 



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Well, this was an interesting book. I would call this a semi page turner. That is, at certain points I was railing through pages, but other times I didn't feel the need to read the next chapter right away.

The basic premise of this book is that Satan comes to Moscow and starts screwing with people. That's my one sentence summary of this book. Is it funny? Absolutely. Is it thoughtful? Certainly. It is difficult to do a character break down in this book because there are a fair number of characters.

Really, this is more of a plot driven book since the characters are developed very quickly and don't go through much of a character progression. The book is a political critique of the literary establishment of Soviet society at the time. It also takes a shot at the heavy handed bureaucracy of the Soviet Union. 

There is a double plot line running through this book. The main plot line is Satan and his retinue screwing with citizens, but there is another plot line that does a retelling of the story of Pontius Pilate and the crucifixion of Jesus. No, it's not a heavy handed religious punch, it really focuses more on Pilate himself and lesser so on Jesus. So, don't be scared away by the religious inference there if that sort of thing bothers you.

I read the Burgin/O'Connor translation of the book which is supposedly one of the better translations of the novel. I can't really say for sure since I unfortunately can't read in Russian. The prose was written very well in the translation (I can only imagine what it was like in its original Russian).

This book fits into the genre of magical realism and I couldn't help but think of Haruki Murakami while I was reading this. I'm not saying at all that Bulgakov is analogous to Murakami, but it certainly had a similar feel. After all, one of the main characters in the story is the devil who messes with people so there is definitely some black magic going on throughout the novel.

The book is definitely a head trip, but I don't want to give too much of the plot away. It is fairly philosophical, but it's not heavy handed in that respect. The philosophical undertones glide along nicely in the background.

I definitely recommend this book, and I hope you enjoy it as well!
 

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

ISBN: 0307887448 ISBN13: 978-0307887443
Pages: 384
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction
Publisher: Broadway (Paperback, June 5, 2012)
Published: June 5, 2012
Awards: ALA Alex Award 2012




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Page-Turner
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This book received a lot of praise from the relatively niche audience to which it appeals. This book was an absolute page-turner for me. It was one of those books that I'd stop reading and I'd get that twinge in the back of my head.. once I get that twinge I'd end up reading another chapter.. then another.. and so on.

Straight up, this is a reference heavy book. Very heavy. Like.. shotgun to the face loaded with '80s and '90s references from video game and science fiction culture. I think if you grew up in the '80s and can appreciate all these references then you'll love the book all that much more.

The story itself is pretty straightforward, well written, and engaging. The main problem I had with the book was the main character. Wade Owen Watts. Wade is a poor kid that lives in the "stacks" (the stacks are basically houses stacked on top of one another usually in a slipshod fashion.. think of a shanty town.. only vertical), but he spends a lot of time in the virtual world OASIS.

The problem I had with Wade is the lack of conflict. (But.. lots of stuff happens to him.. and he runs into problems.. and so on..) Okay, yes Wade has conflicts that arise, perhaps I should say lack of needing to overcome these conflicts. A lot of things would get in Wade's way, but he (or life handed him) an ace up his sleeve and he was always able to get around these conflicts handily. In fewer words, things always worked out for him. Every time. There was no.. oh crap how do I manage this.. It was always, oh this is happening good thing I have this prepared ahead of time.

This bothers me because while the story isn't really meant to be a literary masterpiece, it made me feel less invested in Wade. As time after time he was able to avoid these conflicts with random fate inspired preparation or having something randomly come along, I felt less invested.

Despite this, I think the novel is definitely worth reading. If you are a child of the '80s and remember all these references then get ready for a nostalgia trip. The novel overall is very immersive. 

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

ISBN: 0802130208 ISBN13: 978-0802130204
Pages: 405
Genre: Fiction, Comedy, Tragicomedy
Publisher: Grove Weidenfeld (Paperback, 1987)
Published: 1987, (Originally Published 1980)
Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1981


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Page-Turner
Recommended
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Oh how I loved this book. Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the most loveable characters of any book I have read. This is more of a character driven book than a plot driven one, and it follows the exploits of Mr. Reilly. The best way to understand this book is to look at the characters, namely Ignatius.

Ignatius J. Reilly: The main character of this book, he is a large (read obese) character who has multiple college degrees but lacks any real common sense. He has a lot of book smarts but not a lot of street smarts. Throughout the novel he will drop numerous literary references. He is also extremely egotistical and selfish.

What makes Ignatius likeable is the fact that his character is what I call being "weighted on the ends". "Weighted on the ends" refers to having some sort of advantage or positive trait that is offset by a negative trait which opposes it. Ignatius is extremely smart, in terms of books and education, but he has very little clue how to handle human interaction.

Some of his "weighted ends" are:

Has:

• Book smarts
• Self-confidence
• Ego

Doesn't Have:

• Street smarts
• Social skills
• Modesty

Other Characters:

Myrna Minkoff: Former classmate of Ignatius from college. She is also very intelligent but possesses many of the traits that Ignatius does not. For example, she has much better social skills, is more modest, and has better street skills. We don't see a lot of Myrna until the later half of the novel, and most of her character is revealed from Ignatius as he continually converses with her through letters.

A point on these letters. This is a writing tool that I usually dislike. Reading the "letters within a book" always felt forced and unnecessary. However, the letters that Ignatius writes to Myrna are absolutely hilarious and absurd.

Irene Reilly: The poor mother of Ignatius. Ignatius still lives with her and is utterly dependent on her. At first Irene is presented as having a sort of co-dependency with Ignatuis but she gains some independence later on in the novel. Irene is your typical motherly figure who only wants the best for her child, and she is generally scared of any sorts of changes.

One refreshing point of her character is that while she utterly spoils Ignatius, she also presents a positive force on him throughout the novel. She begins to force Ignatius to be less dependent on her, which does a world of good for both of them.

Angelo Mancuso: The "aww I feel sorry for him" character in the book. He is a police officer who likes his job quite a bit. We first meet Angelo early on in the book when he "improperly" arrests Ignatius for making a scene in public. He is punished and forced to wear disguises to catch "suspicious characters" at the bus station toilets.

Burma Jones: The "world viewpoint" character of the book. He is forced to take a job paid "under the minimal wage" at a local bar "Night of Joy" to avoid being arrested for vagrancy. He is treated very poorly by the owner of the bar, who constantly threatens to report him if he doesn't follow her direct orders. This is one of the political statements that are threaded in the book displaying race issues in the southern United States at the time (early '60s).

Gus Levy: Owner of "Levy Pants". Levy Pants is a business completely inept at keeping up with the styles of the times. They are always creating pants that would have been popular many years ago and are always late to keep up. Gus is your typical rich business owner type. He spends very little time actually managing his company (which was left by his father and which Gus has little interest in actually running).

Gus spends most of his time being annoyed by his wife. His wife is your typical spoiled rich person wife who thinks she knows everything and deserves everything.

Miss Trixie:  A worker at the Levy Pants company. She.. appears to have an extrordinary amount of senility, but is not allowed to retire (ala Mrs. Levy who thinks that Miss Trixie would be better off if she kept working). Miss Trixie takes an immediate liking to Ignatius (although we wonder if she even knows where she is most of the time), and spends most of her day doing everything except working.

Mr. Gonzalez: The office manager at Levy Pants. Another "aww I feel sorry for him" character in the book. Mr. Gonzalez loves his job, and puts everything that he has into accomplishing what needs to be done to keep the offices of Levy Pants running smoothly. Unfortunately, he is the one who hired (or more got bullied into hiring) Ignatius. He quickly realizes this error, but feels powerless to do anything. What Mr. Gonzalez has in commitment to the company he lacks in being able to assert himself.

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There are a number of other minor characters in the book, but I wanted to just touch on some of the characters that I felt were more important. For the most part, Ignatius dominates much of the plot line of this book and many of the other characters are supporting roles to him.

One of the great reoccuring events in this book is the absurd and off the cuff rants that Ignatius goes on when he doesn't like something. In his rants (many of which he records down on notebooks because the world must have published copies of her wondrous ideas), he presents very intelligent points, but points which lack much common sense or realism.

I absolutely recommend this book. It isn't often that books will make me audibly laugh, but this one was able to do that.