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Primo selection for long plane flights; Kingsolver gets off to a slow start; you have to get into it about 50 pages, and then you are hooked. Each character seems normal and eventually is revealed for the bizarre creature he or she actually is. Gradually sensing and "watching" this family crack up in the middle of Africa is hilarious and deep.The character of Nathan is rich--he just can't "get" why the indigenous people do NOT want, or need his religion. Once he realizes this truth, his mind slowly sizzles to a snap , and his family merrily rolls along.

This is without a doubt one of the best fictional works I've read in some time. It is done from a unique and multiple narrative perspective. I grabs your heart from the first few chapters till the very last, will hold your attention and thoughts for quite some time.

This is one of Barbara Kingsolver's most captivating novels. A well-meaning but dense missionary believes he can impact the natives of the Congo. The book is about the impact of the Congo on his family. I wanted to shake him several times. A great read.

This book was hard to get into, but well worth the effort. In fact, I found it impossible to put down once I got rolling with it. Although the ending is a bit cliched, the quirkiness of the characters and the situation make it a memorable read.

Chapters written through the perspective of several different women, kept me on my toes, also included the political history of the Congo. Loved it!

This book was my first experience with Barbara Kingsolver and I wasn't disappointed. Wonderfully written.

This book is way up on the top of my list of good books.

I attempted to read this book a couple of times and could not get past the first two chapters! It sounded like someone who was trying to hard in an attempt to depict southern dialect. It bothered me so much that I cringed several times. I found it boring and really hard to follow. Other people told me if I could get past the first few chapters it picks up but I couldn't put myself through it to find out!

Great Story!

It puts your own life in perspective. And makes you realize how difficult some others have it, but at the time, it makes you realize how simple other cultures have it.

Highly recomended!

In my opinion, this is the best of Barbara Kingsolver. I was totally absorbed. Couldn't put it down. Loved it. What more can I say.

Riveting - a great read - really opens your mind to another life.

This is the large paperback. Not mass market size.

Editors' Choice
New York Times Book Review
Haunting
An ambitious, successful and beautiful novel.

Very good book. I lost alot of sleep while reading this because I could not put it down.

. . . the story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it--from garden seeds to Scripture--is calamitiously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

This novel tells the engrossing story of quirky, feverish Baptist preacher Nathan Price who hauls his family off on a mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. The story's narration is shared by his wife Orleanna and their four daughters, ages 5 - 15, who seem much too tender and naive to survive the trials of harsh conditions, poor housing, language barriers, cultural clashes, and natural antagonists. What results is an absorbing story set against the backdrop of political and religious upheaval.

Very good. Oprah loves it you should too.

An interesting story about American children growing up in the Congo in the 1950s/1960s.

Barbara Kingsolver is addictive, just incase you have never read her books before! She didn't need Oprah to put her on the map for me. This book is about the family of an evangelical Baptist minister who travel to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They believe they have brought what they "need" ,only to discover, as they literally "come apart at the seams", that to survive they will need to recontruct and transform life their lives. This journey takes place over the next thirty years in Africa during the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium. It is a suspenseful, political chronicle during an epic time period in Africa. So well written!

An Oprah Book Club Selection

Haunting....untold horrors told through the eyes of young children, about the lives of White missionaries living in the Belgian Congo during the mid-20th century revolution. Exceptional.