![]() ![]() Enjoyable for the style and the promise, but not for the substance, I think. Interesting, too, to see that is a book in which men are characterised almost solely by their absence. ![]() What drew me into this book, though, were the hints of how vivid her writing would become by the time of The Poisonwood Bible: there are some really sharp and oddly beautiful observations, and when she's not trying too hard to drive home a point, her dialogue is nicely observed. And while it's set very definitely in the American South, the novel didn't seem reminiscent of it-I never really got a picture of Tuscon or Oklahoma in my head-because there was description but no feel. The plotline involving the refugees from Guatemala in particular was a little too anvilicious. ![]() The main character, Taylor, is unevenly developed-she's too mutable, changing to fit what Kingsolver wants to say or how she wants to say it at various points in the book-and many of the other characters are types, not people, however finely observed. Kingsolver’s heroine is little short of magnificent. I quite liked this, though it's obvious that this was Kingsolver's first novel. THE NEW YORKER An extraordinarily good first novel, tough and tender and gritty and moving, with a wonderful particularity and tart Southwestern bit. ![]()
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