The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 15 April 2000
by Barbara Kingsolver
In the late 1950's, a firey Baptist preacher, his wife and four girls, head to the Belgian Congo (which became the Republic of Congo, which became Zaire, which became the Democratic Republic of Congo) to serve a year as missionaries in the tiny village of Kilanga. This remarkable book is told from the points of view of the women in the family: Rachel, the teen missing life with her teen friends back in Georgia; Leah, one twin, a tomboy wise beyond her years who yet loves her father; Adah, the other twin, crippled by the circumstances of her birth, given to palindromes and poetry; and Ruth May, the littlest one, friend of the other children in the village. Orleanna, their mother, looks back on her year in the Congo with remorse, regret, and something of pride. Dad is the one shadowy figure. He is a beligerent, prideful, and arrogant man, utterly blind to the culture to which he is bringing his mission. His sermons are laced with the local language, but fail to recognize the multiple meanings of the words he uses. The villagers are suspicious, but humor his God all the same. This is the story of the girls, though, and this alien world is seen through their eyes. Thus, perhaps, the reader will not get an intimate view of Congolese life, but definitely will get an intimate view in the minds of the girls who begin feeling exiled, but end with Africa in their blood. After a rich and tragic year and a half in the jungle, their fates diverge, they become politicized, and each comes to terms with Africa in her own way. Each, in her own way is intertwined with the intrigues that rule the convoluted and disturbed politics of the region, from the CIA influenced murder of the first prime minister, to the greedy hoarding of the long Mobutu regime. This was, by far, the best of Kingsolver's novels at the time of its publication. It is mature and detailed, richly told, politically angry and sophisticated, tragic and beautiful.
Also by Kingsolver: [The Bean Trees] [High Tide in Tucson] [Holding the Line] [Pigs in Heaven] [Prodigal Summer]