The Poisonwood Bible

By: Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by: Dean Robertson

Length: 15 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

“A powerful new epic... [Kingsolver] has with infinitely steady hands worked the prickly threads of religion, politics, race, sin and redemption into a thing of terrible beauty.” - Los Angeles Times Book Review

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy. Taking its place alongside the classic works of postcolonial literature, this ambitious novel establishes Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.

©1998 by Barbara Kingsolver. (P)1998 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Haunting...A novel of character, a narrative shaped by keen-eyed women." (New York Times Book Review)

"Beautifully written....Kingsolver's tale of domestic tragedy is more than just a well-told yarn.. Played out against the bloody backdrop of political struggles in Congo that continue to this day, it is also particularly timely." (People)

"The book's sheer enjoyability is given depth by Kingsolver's insight and compassion for Congo, including its people, and their language and sayings." (Boston Globe)

Amazing

Great story of how life changes. Brilliantly written and narrated. A new classic. must read.

So real

This story was so well written! I love how true to the character the author stayed from the beginning to the end. I recommend this book to anyone who is thinking of living in a different culture, especially missionaries!! I pray there are not missionaries like the price family in today’s missionary world! I pray they all understand the importance of knowing the culture and then how to teach Jesus in a culturally appropriate way! Jesus is universal!

Great read!

It had me from beginning to end!!! I enjoyed all of the characters and enjoyed learning a bit about Africa's history! It was also well read!

Great listen

I chose this book because it was on Oprah’s favorites collection, lets just say she and thousands others were right, I played this audible book everyday. I loved the narrators accent.

Excellent

Barbara Kingsolver writes a beautiful story of family, the tragedy of history in the Congo and provides an amazing portrayal of misguided delivery of a gospel not based on true understanding of God. This is not a religious book, but an examination of souls, humanity, the ignorance of people trying to rule a land that is best left to its own people. I loved it.

Brilliant performance!

I have attempted to read this book a few times before, but never got very far.

The narration and the audio version brought the authors words and vision to life for me, and I’m so glad that it did. This story will remain with me for a long time to come.

Great Book, but Audiobook Had Poor Editing

One of the strengths of this book is that the progression of the plot alternates between the narration of five characters (who don’t so much disagree about what happened, but do each have their own polarized concerns) . . .

Unfortunately, this strength of the novel is a weakness of the audiobook, as the same reader does all the characters, and though her delivery is lively, it takes a while to tell the characters apart. This is compounded by the editing, which announces the next character IMMEDIATELY after moving from the previous one as almost a kind of punctuation (with more of a pause AFTER the character’s name than before). It would have helped if they had divided the audiobook chapters by character rather than “book” (of which there are only 7 across 15 hours).

The actual book, though, is great. The portrayal of all the characters in unsparing but fair, and despite using only character narration, the book is keen to reveal each of the main characters’ short-sightedness. As Leah eventually puts it in what would be a great tagline for a movie adaption, “Everything you’re sure is right can be wrong in another place.”

I love this book.

It’s the second time I’ve read it as a book and the second time I’ve listened to it. I grew up in the 1960s as a Baptist, in a church as strangling as Reverend Price’s, and my spirituality grew far away when I left home. This book, and all its characters, makes perfect sense to me.

Captivating story

I enjoyed the story and listening to the lives of each character, especially from their point of view.

loved Poisonwood

great tale, wonderful characters, powerful politics, best read, this is a treasure and I plan to listen again