The Poisonwood Bible

Barbara Kingsolver

In 1959 evangelic Baptist preacher Nathan Price decides he has to take his family to the Congo to preach about Jesus Christ and Christianity. His wife and four daughters do not want to leave Georgia, but have to go with him. They settle in a small village called Kilanga. The missionary society that supports them had only reluctantly accepted him for a year - Nathan Price is a rigid, resolved man. Then the Congo declared Independence from Belgium. The society leaves. The Price family are on their own. And Nathan Price refuses to leave until his replacement arrives.

Rachel, the oldest daughter, is almost 17. She hates it in the Congo and dreams of returning to Georgia and civilization. Leah and Adah are twins, almost 15. Leah is drawn to the people of Kilanga. Adah has had hemiplegia from birth so is slower and thinks differently than the others. Ruth May is the baby and is five years old. She is quick to learn and is able to connect with the children in Kilanga quickly.

Nathan Price cannot understand the people or the place he has chosen. During the first few months he knows he is right about everything. Eventually he comes to learn that he didn't know the Congo and learns a little about farming and crocodiles. But then he becomes more of a zealot, more rigid and moralistic than ever. As things get worse politically in the country, they get worse in the Price home as well.

The Poisonwood Bible isn't a feel good book about reaching out to people. While this book is about people - the Price family, it is really about the political changes in Africa brought on by outsiders who see wealth in plantations, slavery, and diamonds. It is the view of a white family caught in the middle (think Things Fall Apart from the failed missionaries' point of view).

Barbara Kingsolver uses a narrative first person style in The Poisonwood Bible. Five people narrate the story - Orleanna Price, Nathan's wife, with a retrospective look. The majority of the book is written in a diary style by Rachel, Adah, Leah, and Ruth May. The combination of viewpoints shows the reader the discordant tones to highlight what was happening to the Price family and to the Congo (now Zaire). Rachel is selfish, Leah is independent and wants to join the Africans, Adah is secretive and inquisitive, and Ruth May is still young, with an innocent view of what happens around her.

There is no way to capture the essence of The Poisonwood Bible in one short review, or even in a long one. My book club chose this book for January and I can already hear the discussions we will be having. There are so many layers in this books - so many decisions, so many truths, so many outcomes. Not one of the grown women they become are from the girls who came to the Congo, but rather from the girls who had to grow up there more quickly than anyone could have predicted.

You might start reading this novel for pleasure. But Barbara Kingsolver has you walking away with much more. I suggest you read this with someone else- it is best enjoyed when you can talk out what you read in The Poisonwood Bible.

Notice:  Non-graphic violence