What to read, indeed.: It Falls Apart

As I sit here writing about books, looking out at the towering Catalina Mountains in Tucson, Arizona, I realize that it would be an injustice to ignore the likes of Barbara Kingsolver, a former Tucson resident and University of Arizona graduate--not to mention the pride of the Old Pueblo. Though many of her short stories center on life in the arid Southwest, her most popular novel is set in a more distant locale where Kingsolver lived as a child, the Belgian Congo. A decade has passed since The Poisonwood Bible shot to the top of the New York Times Bestseller lists and was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, yet this story still draws new readers eager for a taste of that dark, earthen atmosphere so unique to post-colonialist literature. Joseph Conrad, Chinua Achebe, and Alan Paton may come to mind.

Told from the perspectives of the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a determined yet desperate evangelical Baptist missionary, Kingsolver methodically unravels the seeming stability of the Price family as they engage with a new landscape and culture. Throughout the entire novel, although cast in the unique light of each character, Kingsolver weaves the question of how individuals come to comprehend god and divinity in their daily lives. While Nathan falls deeper and deeper into his obsession with baptizing Congolese at any cost, his wife and daughters rapidly lose respect for him. Mirroring their personal struggles is the ongoing political strife which came to a head in the 1960s after the assassination of Congo's first prime minister. It is clear from the opening of the novel that ruin will come to the Price family. What is not clear, however, is whether they will manage to reconstruct and find peace. Perhaps the fate of the tumultuous Belgian Congo might provide some clarity for those seeking clues.

Interview with Barbara Kingsolver on The Poisonwood Bible

Barbara Kingsolver's website