Flight Behavior

By: Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver

Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

Indie best seller

Barnes & Noble best seller

National best seller

Amazon Best Book of the Month

Indie Next Pick

Best book of the year: New York Times Notable, Washington Post Notable, Amazon Editor’s Choice, USA Today’s Top Ten (#1), St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star

Prize-winning author: Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award), Orange Prize for Fiction

Prize-winning author: National Humanities Medal, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Orange Prize for Fiction, Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award)

"Kingsolver is a gifted magician of words." (Time)

The extraordinary New York Times best-selling author of The Lacuna (winner of the Orange Prize), The Poisonwood Bible (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize), and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver returns with a truly stunning and unforgettable work.

Flight Behavior is a brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths. Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions - religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians - trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world.

Flight Behavior is arguably Kingsolver's most thrilling and accessible novel to date, and like so many other of her acclaimed works, represents contemporary American fiction at its finest.

©2012 Barbara Kingsolver (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

One of the best author's narrations I've heard

What did you like best about Flight Behavior? What did you like least?

The lightness and humor in the story. Liked least - the surprise attack of environmentalist "speech-ifying", that made the story seem as if it transitioned from a light and airy sailboat ride to being imprisoned on a stranded oil barge.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The professor's wife, because of the author's skill in describing a character so well that it seemed almost as if she could have walked off the page into real life.

Which scene was your favorite?

Dinner with the professor.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes, but only if the preaching were excised in its entirety. If an author feels that she has a good story with a good message, why does she feel the need to pause and batter the reader with the message?

Any additional comments?

The author's reading of her work is better than most of the professional readers the audiobook companies employ.

Beautifully written and performed

I wish every species had a champion who can make their environmental struggles as accessible as she does those in this book. By telling the story of the Monarchs through the eyes of this character, full of mistakes and hopes, eminently likable and recognizable, Kingsolver puts the global warming crisis unavoidably at center stage.

Great Characters, But A Lot of Science

I really enjoyed the Poisonwood Bible, so I thought I'd give this novel a shot. The characters were fantastic. Everyone had a distinct personality and I thought Barbara Kingsolver did a great job narrating. Her accents made me chuckle a bit. There was a lot of butterfly botany/science contained within the story and I found myself getting a little bored and distracted with it all. I didn't think ALL of that info was necessary for the story. If you're really into butterflies, you'll love it. If not, be patient...it will pass. I'd still recommend the book.

Barbara Kingsolver once again inspires

Ms Kingsolver once again tackles strongly felt issues in a manner that gently inspired us to look at the world through other's eyes. She keenly weaves a story with depth of character, inspection and dissection of topics, yet it never is dry, and better never preaches.
Flight Behavior leaves the reader with pertinent information to firm opinions and hopefully make decisions to leave this world a bit better for having lived.

Like her other books: I feel inspired and my mind opened even further!

Great novel

Would you consider the audio edition of Flight Behavior to be better than the print version?

Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this novel. Really love it when the author is narrating.

If you could take any character from Flight Behavior out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The scientist would be the most interesting dinner companion.

as usual, Author diesnt disappoint

Kingsolver is riviting, breath-taking, could not put this one down, enchanting from start to finish.

Flight Behavior takes Flight!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes because it was a very interesting story about a subject that is happening in today's world - climate change. It could remind you about "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson.
A warning about what the future might bring.
It was also funny and touching as the main character changes her life.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dellarobia - the main character because of the transformation she goes through.

Which character – as performed by Barbara Kingsolver – was your favorite?

Dellarobia

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Climate change happening before our eyes

Delicate, ambiguous, powerful.

As usual, Kingsolver brings characters to life in all their flawed beauty and realism. We feel we know them and even better, understand them. Flight Behavior has a point of view, but not exactly what you might expect and not a simple one. Kingsolver often gives us a complex reality dressed in butterfly wings. The story was original and even the characters struggled to make sense of it. But it is a metaphor for all the changes we face, whether personal or global in nature, how we deal with circumstances when they fall outside what we know. Another beauty and another one that sticks with the reader.

Outstanding!

This was a fascinating and very educational listen. One of my top two books of this year. Brilliant in every way

Well finally!

A wonderful book mixing the reality of Day to day life and what climate change is really doing. We all need to remember we are destroying our environment!