....is the latest novel by Barbara Kingsolver. Im a big fan of some of her work, but also a bit dissapointed in some of her other work . Because they lack, in my eyes, the subtlety that makes my favorites, Poisonwood Bible & The Lacuna, so brilliant.
Kingsolver is an amazing storyteller. Stories that make you cry, crinch, laugh and feel embarrased.
And she uses all of her books to get a message across. In Poisonwood the role of imperialism on Africa, in The Lacuna the witchhunt on communists in the US by McCarthy. In an intense yet subbtle way. In this book her theme is obviously Climat Change but in a very in your face way that I don't like very much. (
here she talks about her motives to write about political issues)
Maybe this subject is so close to her heart that it is difficult for her to have some distance. There also is an other theme: the difference between the rich/ well educated and, the poor/ village people. And I love how she points out the gap between the two groups. One sharp remark that doesnot seem to matter but sums it all up at the same time. For example:
The maincharacter goes secondhand clothes shopping for her children. Not because it is cool in anyway but just because that is the only shopping she can afford. She describes how she see's a young student in the thriftstore. "The kind that can easily afford to buy her clothes somewhere else." (ouch, that would be me I guess...)
( **I read the book in dutch so the sentence would be in dutch: " Zij zou best ergens anders kunnen winkelen.")
Maybe Im too tough on Kingsolver sometimes: I want every of her books to be as brilliant as my favorites. And that is really unfair, cause all of her books are warm, hopefull and funny. And this one is a pageturner, and the maincharacter is funny, beautiful and very admirable.
So I can't wait for the next Kingsolver.
Ps No secondhands available on Marktplaats or Bol.com yet.
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