The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 2 March 1998
by Barbara Kingsolver
When we read the subtitle of this book, we figured Kingsolver would be the author who could make this potentially bleak tale really readable. The book is an oral history of sorts, with most of the text in the words of the women who lived it. The women who supported strikers of thirteen unions against the Phelps Dodge mining corporation, and the men (mostly) who struck the mine were utterly transformed in the year and a half of the strike, which was (very arguably) successful. Kingsolver lets us know right away where her loyalties lie. Her reportage is clearly the opportunity for the women of Morenci and Clifton, Arizona to get their say. But this is a story that rarely, if ever, gets told. It is a frustrating, depressing, yet somewhat uplifting book. This reader wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless the topic or, especially, the author interest you. Kingsolver tells the story a little non-linearly, so it is sometimes confusing, and the voices tend to get jumbled. Nevertheless, they speak with a unified message, and may reveal some realities about America that will surprise and disturb the reader.
Also by Kingsolver: [The Bean Trees] [High Tide in Tucson] [Pigs in Heaven] [The Poisonwood Bible] [Prodigal Summer] [Unsheltered]