Customer Reviews

The Complete Fiction (Boxed Set): The Bean Trees, Homeland, Animal Dreams, Pigs in Heaven

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a huge Kingsolver fan and I absolutely loved the Bean Trees and Animal Dreams. However, I felt that this novel was a bit too preachy, especially because of the character of the young Cherokee lawyer. Being a minority myself, I believe she grossly exaggerated the predicament of minorities growing up in America. This entire novel had the feeling of denoument--it seemed to exist merely to tell fans what happened to the beloved main characters of The Bean Trees, nothing more.

I first read Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees" in high school and thought it was wonderful. I've just finished reading "Animal Dreams" and Kingsolver continues to impress me with her portrayal of strong women such as Codi Noline.

Book Review

Pigs in Heaven, by Barbara Kingsolver is a book that will keep its readers attention throughout the story. Each character in the book possesses very unique and unusual characteristics. This allows for an interesting story that keeps you reading. Kingsolver used her writing talents to create characters that have a great influence over its readers. When reading this book I felt that I could relate with the thoughts and actions of certain characters. Thus, this book improves the way its readers think of themselves and of the people around them. I also enjoyed reading Pigs in Heaven because it allows the reader to gain an understanding and appreciation of the Cherokee Nation in Heaven, Oklahoma. Kingsolver explicitly describes the history and culture of the Cherokee tribe in great detail. The reader is introduced to certain members of the tribe and traditional events such as hog fries and stomp dances. Thus, he/she has a sense of feeling "included' within the Cherokee tribe and their customs. Pigs in Heaven deals with the theme of interconnectedness and how one event can create a chain of different events. Each one of these events can significantly effect the lives of many individuals. However I feel that this theme is over exaggerated to the point where the story line actually seems unrealistic. Aside from this, the book is very interesting and I would strongly recommend that it be read. For as you read further into the book you'll notice that Kingsolver attempts to convey important messages while resolving the books conflicts. An example of this is that in order to live a life of happiness you must put the negative aspects of your past behind you. Overall, Pigs in Heaven consists of important lessons to be learned, and it contains valuable components that are forever placed in the minds of its readers.

Barbara Kingsolver has become one of my all time favorite authors after I accidently happened upon High Tide in Tucson. Since that time, I have purchased and read everything she has published. This collection of books resides on the ledge of my bathtub to be enjoyed when I need to escape. Someday, I hope to have a book signed by Ms. Kingsolver. She has forever changed how I view the world.

Barbara Kingsolver is a magnificent writer, no doubt about it. This book contains stories that are real life-like and are able to let the reader relate to the situations. My favorites would be The Bean Trees, with Taylor Greer, her little adopted girl Turtle, and Taylor's mom Alice. A really good book with a good, in my opinion, of course. I hope anyone who read this book liked it as much as I did.

After reading the novels of Barbara Kingsolver, it's easy to see why places like Heaven, Oklahoma and Grace, Arizona are often referred to as the heartland of America. With a talent for effortless prose and quirky, yet real, characters, Kingsolver can bring a smile to your face or tears to your eyes. Her debut novel, The Bean Trees, begins with Taylor Greer's westward quest from Kentucky to Arizona, along which she manages to adopt an American Indian girl named Turtle. Early on, Taylor is forced to rely upon her vast supply of resources to ensure the happiness and survival of both herself and Turtle, who has suffered abuse. It is easy to both relate and to cheer Taylor on in her endeavors, as a character who is willing to take on an enormous commitment and to provide a happy home for herself and Turtle.

Homeland and Other Stories was published soon after The Bean Trees and includes twelve selections. While the characters differ from one story to another, they are alike in their common struggles and joys. Kingsolver continues to blend wit and compassion in recounting stories which often celebrate family ties and life choices.

Kinsolver's second novel, Animal Dreams, demonstrates her growth as an author. In this novel, she uses two first person narrators, deftly switching between Codi Noline and her father. In Codi, Kingsolver presents a character who is tormented by her past and suspicious of her future. Returning to her hometown of Grace, Arizona to look after her ailing father, Codi feels little affinity to the people and land she grew up with. Only gradually is she able to envision a happy future for herself as she allows herself to love and trust those around her. This novel blends the themes of love and community with a troubled father-daughter relationship. In the end Codi realizes that she needs the community as much as it needs her, noting that the feeling of being useless is "the main thing that separates happy people from the other people."

Kingsolver continues her theme of love and community with Pigs in Heaven, her best novel to date. In this novel, we return again to the life of Taylor and Turtle Greer. Living a rather isolated, yet not unhappy life, with Taylor's boyfriend Jax, Taylor and Turtle take to the road after an incident and subsequent appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show indicate that Turtle's adoption may not be legal. Forced into poverty conditions, Taylor ultimately decides to face her fears and returns to Turtle's birthplace of Heaven, Oklahoma. Once there, both Taylor and her mother, Alice, encounter a community in which children take pride in the local swimming hole and everyone gets together for dinner. Knowing that there is a good chance that she may lose Turtle, Taylor is overwhelmed when, instead of losing love, she gains love through this small community. This book is a wonderful tribute to the importance and strength of community, as well as offering a loving example of a Native American community. In all of Kingsolver's novels and stories, her characters triumph by finding a home.

A recipient of a gift of this collection of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction will think she died & went to Heaven. Not heaven -- up there -- but Heaven, Oklahoma, one of the several memorable towns & villages that inhabit Ms. Kingsolver's imagination. When I first began reading her, a decade ago, I thought she was a little too "easy" -- her characters and plots just a little too "nice". But in ten years after plowing through a hundred trees' worth of other writers' fiction, I always come back to Kingsolver with a sigh of relief and my thumb in my mouth. And each time I do, I notice new nuances and fresh phrases that I had not noticed before. "Bean Trees" is the logical first book to read in this collection, the story of Taylor, from Kentucky, who is handed a Cherokee baby in the middle of the night by a stranger. Turtle, who was sexually abused, is mute and emotionless, except for clinging to her new mother day and night. There is a subplot of Guatemalan refugees, the sanctuary movement, and the making-ends-meet of single mothers in poverty. And yet this book is very charming, despite the grim topics, and fun to read. A story or two from "Homeland" would work nicely now. These are short stories of contemporary people with contemporary problems and conflicts. For example, in "Stone Dreams", Diana says: "Sometimes I get this way, letting my mind run in frantic fast-forward like a videotape gone wild. In a year, I say to myself, I will be forty. In a decade, fifty. Peter may be the last man ever attracted to me purely on the basis of sex." Some of these stories are poignant, some are not but they're quite wonderful to read. The third book of this four-book set is "Animal Dreams", my personal favorite. Codi Noline returns to her hometown (Grace, Arizona), where she has always been an outcast, only to find that she is an integral thread in the fabric of the town. She loses her sister and finds her father, and inso! doing, finds herself. "Pigs In Heaven" is a continuation of the lives of Taylor & Turtle, but unlike "Bean Trees", which is written first-person, "Pigs" is written in the third person, which is an interesting change of a point of view. "Pigs" deals with the topic of Native adoption by a non-Native, and there is a -- OK, OK, a "cute" sub-plot involving Taylor's mother finding True Love. Well, romance among the middle aged is just fine with me. Perhaps these books should not be read one-after-the-other, but better digested one at a time, with a long walk in the desert in between. Barbara Kingsolver is neither a perfect writer, nor is she mean, and that's why I love her writing so.

If you can only take one book with you on vacation, make it Barbara Kingsolver's new fiction collection. Once you read one of Ms. Kingsolver's books, you will be hooked. Congratulate yourself for buying the collection and saving yourself a trip to the bookstore when you would rather be sunning yourself on the beach or swaying in a hammock. Skillful, evocative writing and characters you care about make Ms. Kingsolver's work truly memorable. You'll love this collection!

The people who live in Barbara Kingsolver's world are as real and as natural as their own Arizona deserts and Kentucky mountain vistas. They work and worry, love and lose, search and occasionally stand fast against the blows life delivers, bringing extraordinary grace, humor, and courage to ordinary American lives.

Kingsolver's women are as alive as the Oprah Winfrey show, on which two of them appear, and as funny, determined, and loveable as any characters in contemporary fiction. Taylor and Turtle, Codi and Hallie, and a large cast of warmly eccentric relatives, friends, and partners in adventure are the people we all wish lived next door.

As Kingsolver spins her tales, she addresses the issues of cross-racial adoption, Central American atrocities, and environmental pollution. But her novels are most of all stories about unforgettable people: a real-life Barbie doll; the citizens of Heaven, Oklahoma; cockfighting Cherokees; the proprietress of Jesus Is Lord Used Tires; and, in Taylor and Codi and Turtle, uncommonly strong and ultimately triumphant females.

Every Barbara Kingsolver book creates an addiction for the next; if only she could write as fast as we can read.

Each of the books is a great read. They provide insight about the way a child's mind works, what drives us to leave one place and call another home, and the need to find both community and solitude. However, the fact that the exact same comment applies to all of the books in the set is an indication of how similar they are to each other. It's true that if you like one of the books you'll probably like them all, but I found I didn't get much more out of reading all four than I did any one.