Book Review: “The Poisonwood Bible”

Photo By Emily Beaucham

I have always been a major fan of reading, unless it was assigned. However, my senior year of high school I was given the novel,  “The Poisonwood Bible” to read. Of course, I did not actually read the novel until after I fudged my way through the assignment for it.

My teacher noticed.

She gave me the chance to re-do the assignment after I had fully read the novel and understood its content. I will always be thankful for that chance. When I began reading the novel, I knew I had found my favorite book.

“The Poisonwood Bible” is a historical fiction novel written by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver’s novel tells the story of Nathan Price, his wife and four daughters going to the depths of the Belgian Congo on a missionary trip in the late 1950s and lasting 30 years.

During this time, the Congo was fighting for their independence from Belgium, their prime minister had just been murdered and the entire African nation was facing the disruption and stripping of their rightful independence.

Kingsolver’s novel is a gritty and raw tale of a family going into the Congo privileged and uneducated about what those living in the Congo actually needed. The Price family was unwavering in their efforts, unaware of how their American lifestyle would fail.

The family thought their only mission there was to spread their religion and “civilized” ways of living, only to discover that the natives did not need or want what they were offering.

The natives did not ask for the visitors. They did not ask for their religion to be brought there. They did not ask for this disruption of their lives.

Kingsolver’s novel opened up a new narrative to me as a young reader. I was never really educated in missionary work. I grew up in a non-religious household and all my knowledge came from Facebook posts of friends going on missionary trips. I had no clue they could hold negative consequences. Like I said, I was young and definitely ignorant in this subject.

“The Poisonwood Bible” does not hold back in details of the tragedies the family faces in the depths of the Congo. The tale is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching, filled with anger and constant punches of reality.

I will not lie to you, it has a slow start and I had to re-read the first few pages MANY times to get through it. Once I got through to the second and third chapter, I was in it to finish it. I could not stop. Even though the novel ending had been spoiled for me in class, I had to know all the little details.

I first read “The Poisonwood Bible” four years ago. My worn-out copy still holds a place on my bookshelf with pen marks, highlighted quotes and dog-ears throughout. I read through it almost once a year and my heart both aches and grows each time.

Definitely a must read for everyone.

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