Animal Dreams

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Barbara Kingsolver's writing is so full of life, it pulses. Even places or people that have been dried out by droughts, poisoned by chemicals, or beaten down by life's disappointments end up springing back to life, sometimes despite themselves. That urge is there.

That life force seems to me to be such a distinguishing feature of Kingsolver's writing. There is plenty of suffering, death, and stagnation in this story, but pain is always presented as an obstacle to climb over and leave behind.

I love Codi and her self-doubt and her discovery of her passions. She always seems surprised when she finds something she likes. Then there's the delicious Loyd.

I read this years ago and this time through I think the world looked a bit different. I'm closer to Codi's age now; maybe it's the perspective.

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The Bean Trees

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pure comfort reading. Kingsolver's early novel is a heartwarmer, entertaining, vivid and beautifully, starkly imagined.

I had remembered the young Turtle's slow emergence from her shell and Taylor's grease-stained tough-girl persona. But I had forgotten the dark undertones, broken refugees from Guatemala and the politics of asylum.

After years away this was a delicious evening--I picked it up and read it straight through from cover to cover, with a few cups of herbal tea and cookies in between.

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