Did not live up to author's best
|
|
Touching and readable but not a patch on Kingsolvers "Poisonwood Bible ". Disappointing ending with lots of unanswered questions.
|
|
Beautifully written story of love and ecology
|
|
Like many people, I first encountered Kingsolver's work through the magnificent The Poisonwood Bible. After finishing it, I turned to her other novels - one of which was Animal Dreams. To a certain extent, it's a disappointing read in comparison with the scale of The Poisonwood Bible: it lacks the different narrators with their compelling and individual voices and the epic vision which she brought to the relationship between Africa and the 'First World'. However, Animal Dreams is written with the same compassion, the same insight into the lives and emotions of women, the same understanding of complex parent-child relationships, and the same passionate, fervant and whole-hearted sorrow and anger at humankind's lack of respect for the environment. The book is the story of Codi, returning to her home town where she was an unhappy teenager whose life was marked by two familial deaths, because her father, the town doctor, is losing his memory and becoming confused. Her sister Hallie is in Africa, helping to rebuild a community. Kingsolver charts Codi's relationship with the town, its inhabitants, her father, Hallie and Loyd, whom she dated a few times in high school, with skill and humour. Codi is an utterly believable character, traumatised by unhappy events in the past and unsure if she is willing to risk hurt again. Kingsolver's best writing occurs when she describes the landscape and the damage perpetrated upon it by greedy corporations, although the novel veers towards the didactic at times. I felt that Codi's relationship with Loyd is a little unconvincing. Loyd is never fully realised, and his Native American descent makes him virtuous, in perfect communion with the landscape, and able to heal Codi's emotional wounds; perhaps Kingsolver should have made him less of a paragon. I would love to see Kingsolver tackle her themes on a larger scale and tackle the 'great American novel', but this is certainly a moving and evocative read, which I definitely recommend to everyone.
|
|
Pages steeped in an addictive drug
|
|
I was totally reluctant to read Kingsolver...a friend of mine kept pestering me and pestering me to read her books and i just never wanted to. But then she sent me a copy of 'Animal Dreams' and i read it out of politeness, not expecting much other than a nice cover design to look at. I was sort of wrong. The book must have been steeped in some kind of addictive drug that made me finish it in two days flat. The characters lived inside my head and i just wanted to be them, know more about them...
|
|
|
Intelligent entertainment, but not much more
|
|
Animal Dreams starts out very promisingly, with a lot of local color and interesting demons sitting on the shoulders of the protagonists. However, the color and interest then develop into the gloss and attraction of a classy interior decoration magazine. It even includes the exotic interiors (Apache, Navajo and Latin American) usually also found in these magazines. The difference between them lies in the genuinely expressed socio-eco-political undertow of the novel. It seems Kingsolver wants to cover as many as possible of various socio-eco-political themes; she should have constrained her appetite. I give the book three crowns because I love classy interior decoration magazines and appreciate the earnest effort at involving social themes.
|
|
|
Reminded me how beautiful writing can be
|
|
Barbara Kingsolver weaves words with the ease and artistry of those who are truly gifted. And Animal Dreams contains some of her most beautiful writing. Her images are so vivid they drew me in and wrapped me in their language. Her characters and relationships are true and as poignant and sad as they are strong and beautiful. I keep this book close by because it inspires me to write and to read beautiful work.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada