Book Review: The Poisonwood Bible

I have finished my 5th book of 2013:

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Here is the synopsis from amazon.com: 
The Poisonwood Bible is a 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 calamitously 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.

My partner, Julie, from a Book Swap hosted in April by Ashley from Being Ashley sent me this book.  I didn't have time to read it until now.  When I started reading, it took me awhile to really get into it. It was not one that captured me right away, and I was able to put it down for days at a time.  BUT I kept telling myself that I needed to keep reading because a few people had commented on my Book Swap Reveal post, and said it was a good book.  PLUS, I trusted Julie's judgment. 
It is a good thing I persevered because the more I read, the more I liked. I enjoyed that the story was told from the perspectives of the mother and her daughters. I eventually felt like I was sharing in their struggles against their stubborn man of the house.  Without revealing too much, Nathan Price's dream was to baptize the people and children in Africa.  The problem is that he just couldn't understand that he wasn't reaching them.  He wasn't meeting them where they were.  He would not listen to the council of others, and rather than turning them to Jesus, he was confusing them or turning them away.

The thing I liked the most was following the girls through their journey and being able to read about their lives after they were grown.  I was surprised by the choices some of them made!

I would definitely recommend The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver if you're looking for a book to add to your summer reading list!

You can view my updated Summer Reading List here.