Prodigal Summer

De: Barbara Kingsolver

Narrado por: Barbara Kingsolver

National Bestseller

“A blend of breathtaking artistry, encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world. . . and ardent commitment to the supremacy of nature.” — San Francisco Chronicle

In this beautiful novel, Barbara Kingsolver, acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and the Pulitzer-Prize winning Demon Copperhead, and recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguish Contribution to American Letters, weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of southern Appalachia.

Over the course of one humid summer, as the urge to procreate overtakes the lush countryside, this novel's intriguing protagonists—a reclusive wildlife biologist, a young farmer's wife marooned far from home, and a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors—face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with whom they necessarily share a place. Their discoveries are embedded inside countless intimate lessons of biology, the realities of small farming, and the final, urgent truth that humans are only one piece of life on earth.

Prodigal Summer is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself.

©2000 Barbara Kingsolver; (P)2000 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Perfection!

If you have any experience living in nature, then in this book will feel like coming home. Barbara’s passion for environmental harmony is synchronous with her tremendous ability to entertain. You will laugh and you’ll cry and hopefully you will understand your place and this amazing world just a little bit better.

Don't usually like authors to narrate, but,

Where does Prodigal Summer rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is definitely and still in my top five!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Prodigal Summer?

I love the way she weaves the different story lines and characters together. And, the natural world is explained and shown to have it's own persistent and undeniable purpose, presence and influence. I read this years ago and my listening to this book did not dissapoint.

What about Barbara Kingsolver’s performance did you like?

She has a soft pleasant lilting voice which serves her material well. I have found a number of books where the author makes the mistake of narrating. If I don't like the narrator I won't buy or listen to the box. You will not be dissapointed with Kingsolver's performance!

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

Iit's all a big sexual circus!

Any additional comments?

The science in this book is amazing. The age-span of the characters and issues presented our astonishing.

I’ve thought about this book for years

When I first got this book quite frankly I forgot about it and didn’t finish it for two years, however, it was a book I continually thought about. I always thought of moths and coyotes after and just how she transports you to wherever she is. Years later I read the entire book and was surprised at how much I not only loved it, but how much I learned. I loved this book, I loved where it took me, and how she brings everything together for the larger picture of life.

Not a good listen

The author writes well, reads poorly with childlike voice. Had to give up. As far as I could go, the story is interesting

Succulent, fecund, life!

Although I've read this book through several times, listening to it was a novel (sorry) experience. Each word entered my mind more clearly, each word chosen with care, and built the sensory drama of life all around me.

I enjoyed the author's reading of her own work very much. I remembered having read her essay "taming the two-humped beast,' if I remember right, about writing this book. She generated for me a lavish sense of summer and of the inter-connectedness of all life; deeply refreshing from my arid plot in the now cold, grey Karoo winter.