This book invites you in | Prodigal Summer: A Novel

I felt like I lost a friend when I finished this book! | Prodigal Summer: A Novel | Barbara Kingsolver

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	• Prodigal Summer: A Novel Barbara Kingsolver Harper Perennial, 2001 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 444 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good Book for Early Spring

I read PRODIGAL SUMMER as springtime finally emerged here in Wisconsin. The trees finally had leaves, the grass was finally green, the flowers finally bloomed. Reading PRODIGAL SUMMER at this time of year made me crave nature's springtime beauty.

I read Kingsolver's THE POISONWOOD BIBLE last year. I had a hard time getting into it, but I was so glad that I slugged it out for 500+ pages. I did not experience the same difficulties with PRODIGAL SUMMER. I felt immediate attachment to the characters, even to the darn coyotes. It didn't matter to me that the plot threads were not neatly resolved by the end of the book. There was no need for such finality.

Great character development, good pace, excellent description of this corner of American life.

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This book invites you in

I enjoyed this book very much and when it was over I wished there was more of it to go. Kingsolver runs three parallel stories of women in what sounds like East Tennesse (at least one of the characters frequently mentions the fact that she had lived in Knoxville) in a time that could be the present or not too distant past. It is not an eventful novel but the stories are compelling and you genuinely like the characters and want to know what happens to them next. Not easy to put down.

I felt like I lost a friend when I finished this book!

This book so moved me that I drove 3 hours to upstate Pennsylvania where I rented a rustic cabin for 3 days by myself to try and capture for myself what Barbara Kingsolver did in "Prodigal Summer". This book has a way of peeking your interest in things you never would have thought could be so interesting. You will enjoy this richly textured novel to the very end.

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Notes from a Male in Coyote Country

My daughter's "Contemporary Womens Fiction" class read this novel. Of the ten or dozen authors sampled, Ms. Kingsolver is at the top. There is no denying her way with words. The women in this novel are captivating, unique people that seize the reader's interest. The men however, come off more as stick-figure cartoon characters. It is anyone's guess whether Ms. Kingsolver views men as creatures of diminished capacity or merely cannot muster the literary gumption to create a believable male. I suspect that she is content to let the girls rule- they have the great life-supporting instincts, the powers of intelligence with fortitude and the disdain of trivial masculine pursuits. In Ms. Kingsolver's world, men putter or slink to their own amusements- especially if it involves shooting or poisoning some life form that will unhinge the biosphere. Alas, until cloning is perfected, they will be necessary to perpetuate the species. (One male however, is appreciated for his ability to stroke his heroine's cervix.)

Ms. Kingsolver has the talent to write a really great novel. She needs only to let the Real Mother Nature influence her outcomes. As a life-long country boy, part-time farmer and constant surveyor of the fair sex, here are my proposals:

Deanna will only raise another eco-freak if she has that out of wedlock baby and brings it up with Nannie. She had best take up with Eddie Bondo. They can attend predator hunts throughout the continent and rear a little Annie Oakley.

Lusa showed great sagacity by timing her goat deliveries to precede the feast days of three major religions. But hasn't her luck had too long a run? The Real Mother Nature would have the kids eaten by the coyotes the day before the human predators planned to butcher them.

And do we really expect Garnett and Nannie to make up with a hug fest after so many years of feuding? It's just as plausible that he blow her away after listening to an inspirational Pat Robertson sermon about the need for militancy in a world of evil-doers.

I'll be waiting for the revised edition.

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Oh you will love this book

Who knew scientists were so interesting? Of course they are women, so I guess that comes with the territory... I'm not the only one to sing Barbara Kingsolver's praises, but I am adding mine to the list because this is truly a lovely book. It sucks you in and you don't even realize it until it's too late. Even the names roll off the tongue as you read it. In fact, it's a great book read aloud, as I was introduced to it by listening to books on tape. After it was over, I actually went back and got the book, just so that I could re-read certain areas that had sounded so lush... and they played out just as sweetly in my head as I read them again.

Fine fine effort. This is a Must Read.

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