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

Learning about Monarch butterflies

I enjoy her voice about nature, families, dreams, and science. She shares news about climate change with a less disturbing flair

What if that Butterfly is Mothra?

The Butterfly Effect, aka The Chaos Theory; the flapping of a delicate butterfly wing changes the course of a hurricane--Kingsolver amps it up throwing Man into the equation creating a fictional scenario of climate change and global chaos (based on actual recent events) that asks again whether or not we grasp our world and our 'sensitive dependence'.

Kingsolver, her writing as lovely as ever, seems to have settled on her mission to be a bellwether for social justice and perserving our ecology (her books could be stacked and become a worthy pulpit for her to deliver her message). This story is heavy with metaphors as the butterflies go through their life cycle and antagonist Dellarobia experiences her own metamorphosis. Kingsolver's moralizing fits in conveniently as Dellarobia questions not only "the end of the world", but her "911 Christian" status, the class system in her small town, and her own stifling marriage.

I'll always read anything by Kingsolver and I admire her choice to use her art for a cause, but I would selfishly love another Poisonwood Bible--something lighter on the moralizing--along the lines of Requiem for a Species meets Cat's Cradle or The Year of the Flood--then back to tackling politics, biodiversity, social injustice. Flight Behavior wasn't my favorite, it would have been just as interesting with about half the butterfly facts, (and I think I could now midwife a lamb), but it has a message that can't be shouted loud enough, and it was time well spent.

Excellent listening experience

It was a real treat listening to Barbara Kingsolver read her own book. She has a beautiful voice, and I felt the reading was genuine -- not an outside interpretation. The Appalachian setting and attitudes of the people are believable in my experience, having lived there for a few years. I loved the heroine, Dellarobia -- Kingsolver's best so far. Imagery and symbolism, as they relate to nature and global warming, are powerful and moving.

As the story goes on, voices get lost (Dr. Byron suddenly disappears) and the plot becomes mired in rhetoric. This may sound serious, but there is so much momentum at this point that I never considered putting the book down.

If you've ever admired a butterfly -- or a sheep -- you will love this book as I did.

Barbara Kingsolver does it again

I love Barbara Kingsolver and especially love to listen to her books on audio.
Although other listeners don't like her to read her own books, I happen to LOVE her voice and the nuance she brings to her own stories. It's the reason I prefer to listen instead of read a B.K. book.
She is a genius at weaving a story around current environmental issues.
Flight Behavior focuses on the consequences of global warming and touches on other subjects like education in poor communities and more. She does all this very subtly without judgment and fanaticism.
I recommend this and all her other books as well.

Intelligent and relevant fiction

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

I do recommend this to friends! The issues are facing all of us, and Kingsolver wraps them in great writing and humor.

What did you like best about this story?

The story creates empathy for different perspectives on the pressing issues of climate change, and offers points of view that can easily be overlooked--i.e. if one lives close to the land in the South (or anywhere), what are the pressures that affect one's life as it relates to the environment, to education, to economics? I also found myself laughing aloud at her turn of a phrase and her ability to represent the variety of voices that make up a town, and a planet.

What about Barbara Kingsolver’s performance did you like?

I enjoyed her characters, and felt she could bring nuance to their thinking and expression. She knows her subjects. She knows more about these characters and where they came from, and where they're headed than a 'professional' actor would.

Any additional comments?

I appreciate that Kingsolver is willing to invest her time and research into one of the most controversial issues of our times. That there remains uncertainty about the impact of climate change is unfathomable to me. The way she put the media in its place by the passionate scientist lampooning the superficiality of the interviewer was satisfying to me. The call to 'wake-up' was loud and clear. The story was engaging enough that her reason for writing it was not lost in the message--and I learned more about butterflies and the environment. Not to mention sheep, and the hope that we still may have to heed the wake up call and believe in the miracle of life.

Great Story, Abysmal Narration

Why she chose to narrate her own book, I cannot begin to understand...
As a reader I found it distracting and annoying to be read to as though I were under the age of five or mentally challenged. The story itself is lovely and very interesting as it addresses the extinction of, not only the monarch butterfly, but our very ecosystem as we know it. The characters are well developed - I already picture Jessica Chastain cast in in the role of Dellarobia for the big screen - and Dr. Byron, her intellectual crush, who is described as a gorgeous African American scientist. However, the muddied accent audibly bestowed upon him by the author makes him sound like a depressed Jamaican crossed with Arnold Schwarzenegger; I cringed each time "he" spoke.
Unfortunately, Ms. Kingsolver joins the ranks of Anne Lamott and Colm Tolbin in a group of authors who should never read aloud. In my brief history with audible performances the only author who successfully narrates his own story is the beguiling Michael Ondaatje whose melodious reading of THE CAT'S TABLE is one of the best performances I've had the pleasure of listening to.
Do yourself a favor and buy a hard copy or an e-book version of FLIGHT BEHAVIOR for best results.

Monarch monotony.

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

I enjoyed learning about the Monarch Butterfly and it's migration pattern. I didn't really think the story surrounding it was very interesting.

If you’ve listened to books by Barbara Kingsolver before, how does this one compare?

I loved her book "The Poisonwood Bible" but that's the only other one I've read. This was not nearly as good.

Do you think Flight Behavior needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No.

Any additional comments?

Really nothing special about this book. I would not recommend it to friends.

OMG

I just discovered this beautiful writer and I can hardly wait to listen to more of her work. I was astounded to see that she narrated her own book, it made it that much more special. Love love love this book

Another triumph!

What made the experience of listening to Flight Behavior the most enjoyable?

My admiration for Barbara Kingsolver is boundless! Her body of work is so diverse, and each book so painstakingly researched and crafted, I wonder how she can get it all done in a 24 hour day, since I assume she's also the perfect wife and mother, not to mention farmer and producer of most of the family's meat and vegetables!

This book, about a beautiful phenomenon-cum-natural disaster, is well written, riveting and full of science. Full of my new "expertise" on Monarch butterflies, I was astonished to find a Monarch in my N. Florida backyard while I was listening to the book! It was injured and unable to fly. It contentedly crawled onto my finger and up my arm. As I carried it to the Beautyberry bush, I held it to the light and realized how absolutely perfectly Ms. Kingsolver had described the creature down to the texture of the wings. It was a remarkable experience.

The book's title is perfect, because it captures not only the behavior of the Monarchs, but also of the main character, and her flight "from pillar to post", and eventually to a different life, and other characters as well - maybe all of them! Let's just say multiple metamorphoses took place! I love the way Ms. Kingsolver's compassion and kindness come through, even when her characters are in situations where they HAVE to inflict pain on another to get to that next stage.

What about Barbara Kingsolver’s performance did you like?

I could see how some might be a little put off by the author's reading of the book - her voice is not typical for a recorded book reader. But her intelligence and intention shine through and to me, it felt very personal having someone I admire so much read me my bedtime story!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me cry more than once, and laugh often, as is typical for Barbara Kingsolver's books.

So much wisdom

Through fiction the author explores the idiosyncrasies of human thought and behavior in a changing world. Both nuanced and powerful.