Friday, March 1, 2013

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

flight behavior
Kingsolver opens her book with a delightful and imaginative first chapter. I was really drawn in. What did Dellarobia actually see? We finally find out that her "vision" was a completely natural, or at least one that shouldn't be natural. Butterflies have landed on her family's land when they're actually supposed to be hanging out in Mexico.


butterflies-valley

Kingsolver really combines the consequences of climate change with how it effects those who still make their living on the land. She gives us characters to love, who change, reflect, and think ahead. She mixes a story of faith and science and how the twain can meet. And for that reason alone, this is a book worth reading.

But alas, I only give it a 3ish star because it wasn't a page turner. It took me awhile to read the book and it dragged in the middle. So I didn't love it but I like it and it was worth reading because it's an important topic and needs to be addressed.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Hester wasn't the only one living in fantasy land with righteousness on her side; people just did that, this family and maybe all others. They built their tidy houses of self-importance and special blessing and went inside and slammed the door, unaware the mountain behind them was aflame." p.22-23

"But being a stay-at-home mom was the loneliest kind of lonely, in which she was always and never by herself." p.59

"When she walked among these girls (ewes) they parted slowly like heavy water and looked up at her with an outlandish composure, their amber eyes eerily divided by horizontal pupils." p. 332

"...citizens of their own cheerful universe despite their full awareness of its unraveling." p. 341


4 comments:

  1. Well you know I am totally on board with that stay at home mom quote! I;ve read a few Kingsolver books and really liked them. Prodigal Summer moved slow too but I ended up loving it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're not the first person I've heard who has felt this way. Kingsolver always does give you something to think about and her writing is really amazing but she can get a bit preachy and long-winded.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds like my kind of book. The only novel I've read by Kingsolver is The Bean Trees which I loved. Her non-fiction is so good. Have you read any of it?

    Rowena Hailey (CashFund)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading my posts and for letting me know what you think!

Due to heavy spamming, I am now moderating all comments. Thanks for your understanding.