Prodigal Summer

October 30, 2000
HA beguiling departure for Kingsolver, who generally tackles social themes with trenchantly serious messages, this sentimental but honest novel exhibits a talent for fiction lighter in mood and tone than The Poisonwood Bible and her previous works. There is also a new emphasis on the natural world, described in sensuous language and precise detail. But Kingsolver continues to take on timely issues, here focusing on the ecological damage caused by herbicides, ethical questions about raising tobacco, and the endangered condition of subsistence farming. A corner of southern Appalachia serves as the setting for the stories of three intertwined lives, and alternating chapters with recurring names signal which of the three protagonists is taking center stage. Each character suffers because his or her way of looking at the world seems incompatible with that of loved ones. In the chapters called "Predator," forest ranger Deanna Wolfe is a 40-plus wildlife biologist and staunch defender of coyotes, which have recently extended their range into Appalachia. Wyoming rancher Eddie Bondo also invades her territory, on a bounty hunt to kill the same nest of coyotes that Deanna is protecting. Their passionate but seemingly ill-fated affair takes place in summertime and mirrors "the eroticism of fecund woods" and "the season of extravagant procreation." Meanwhile, in the chapters called "Moth Love," newly married entomologist Lusa Maluf Landowski is left a widow on her husband's farm with five envious sisters-in-law, crushing debtsDand a desperate and brilliant idea. Crusty old farmer Garnett Walker ("Old Chestnuts") learns to respect his archenemy, who crusades for organic farming and opposes Garnett's use of pesticides. If Kingsolver is sometimes too blatant in creating diametrically opposed characters and paradoxical inconsistencies, readers will be seduced by her effortless prose, her subtle use of Appalachian patois. They'll also respond to the sympathy with which she reflects the difficult lives of people struggling on the hard edge of poverty while tied intimately to the natural world and engaged an elemental search for dignity and human connection.

Starred review from October 1, 2000
Summer is the season for abundance and abandon, and all of its prodigal forces are at work in this seductive tale of romance, risk, conviction, and love. In her last novel, the acclaimed " Poisonwood "Bible (1998), Kingsolver, who came to fiction by way of biology, explored the complex relationship between humankind and the rest of nature in an African setting. Here she writes from home (the mountains and valleys of Appalachia) and dramatizes, more overtly than ever before, her deep knowledge of and profound respect for life on earth as she presents the adventures of three free-spirited and capable heroines. Deanna Wolfe, a passionate Forest Service wildlife biologist, lives alone in the woods far above her hometown. After discovering a family of coyotes, she becomes determined to protect them, a mission jeopardized by her equally intense desire for a handsome hunter. Lusa Maluf Landowski, a scientist of Polish Jewish and Palestinian descent, married into a clannish farming family skeptical of her obsession with insects. Septuagenarian Nannie Land Rawley, an organic apple grower and jane-of-all-trades, feuds with her crotchety, fundamentalist widower neighbor, Garnett Walker, whose dream is to create a new strain of blight-resistant chestnut trees. Kingsolver unabashedly uses the predicaments of her Appalachian characters to dispense ecological insights, praise the old ways of living, and glory in the beauty of nature. Her fervor to impart her land ethics frequently renders her narrative polemic, but her prose is lush and spellbinding, her humor subtle, and her story compelling, intelligent, sexy, and cathartic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 15, 2000
To an outsider, the environs of Zebulon Mountain in the southern Appalachians might seem pretty but a bit unimpressive. There's not much to see, really, just some picturesque scenery and federal parkland overlooking scattered farms and a small community whose inhabitants mostly speak in a distinctive dialect reflecting their traditional values and proud insularity. Yet during one special season, wonders abound amid the ordinary, especially for four lonely people: an alienated park ranger, a grieving young widow, an elderly botanist, and a seemingly ageless apple grower. Their stories, marked by compelling characterization and a memorable sense of place, create a readable novel that celebrates both the natural world and the power of human love. Kingsolver's many fans will be lining up for this one. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/00.]--Starr E. Smith, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA

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