the poisonwood bible.

i have heard many many many good things about this book, so i felt pretty confident that i would love it. unfortunately, i really didn't. i should have been tipped off by:

1. the fact that it's on oprah's book list. i have had only bad experiences with her picks.
2. the bibliogrophy in the back, which cited things fall apart and heart of darkness. two books that i wasn't crazy about.

here's a short synopsis:
1959: the price family moves from georgia to a small village in the congo. their father, a baptist preacher, is determined to stay until he has baptized everyone in their village. even at the cost of his family's safety. the book is narrated by orleanna, the wife/mother, and her four daughters, rachel, leah, adah & ruth may. the four girls increasingly mature, as each adapts differently to african village life and the political turmoil that overtakes the congo in the 1960s. it is only after a series of misfortunes, culminating in the death of one of the daughters, that the women leave the father to his folly. the survivors take very different paths into their futures, which are described up to the 1990s. {partly from wikipedia}

the story itself was very interesting and i actually really liked the middle 300 pages. but it was 550 pages long and it just about killed me to finish it. i think it was extremely unique and the characters were developed very well. i like how the reader gets to hear the experience from the perspectives of all of the women. i think i would have really enjoyed this book if i had been studying in it a class. but, as i was just looking to be entertained, i probably missed a lot of what makes it a modern classic.

i can't say that i hated it because i had strong feelings for the characters. loved ruth may. hated orleanna at the beginning. HATED nathan {the father} throughout. despised rachel. was fascinated by adah. wanted leah to grow up. it's always nice to read a book that evokes feelings for the characters, good or bad.

so that's my take. have you read it? what did you think?

p.s. gina, i know we are not bosom reading buddies, and i think you would really like this!