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This new book by Barbara Kingsolver has a definite place
in my list of the top 5 novels of this year. It consists of three
interlocked tales set in the Appalachians. However, there are consistent
themes running throughout all the stories, as tricky and cunning as the coyotes
who roam invisibly into each of these character's lives. The community of
Zebulon county is very closely knit, with each protagonist distantly related to
the others. It is also, in a sense, a community which is dying. Farming
has thrived for generations in the locale, but now sons are having a much
harder time than ever their fathers had on the same land. Migration
to outlying prosperous towns and cities seems ever more attractive to the
local population. As one species seems to pause and move on, however,
another is quick to move in.
Deanna Wolfe lives in the forest, a biologist by
training. She is quick to spot that a small troupe of coyotes has moved
into the area. This reflects an unusual trend: despite the coyote
being the most hunted animal in the United States, its population has
increased. However, Deanna falls prey to the handsome Eddie Bondo, a real
hunter. Her attraction to him is at odds with her desire to protect the
coyote. Eddie comes from the sheep ranches of Wyoming, and he regards the
coyote as his enemy. Almost despite herself, Deanna feels the
necessity to act on her own animal needs. Lusa Maluf Landowski is also a
biologist. She has been brought to Zebulon by her marriage to one of the
local farmers. Her life is not exactly idyllic, but it's soon to be
shattered. She's left with the choice of having to stay on her land or
go. Although both her parents were brought up on farms, Lusa knows very
little about the practicalities of running her own. However,
Lusa has a Jewish and Arab bloodline,and at one telling moment, she reveals how
both her families had been run off their farms in the past: once because
they were Jewish, and once because they were not. She has to struggle to
make a living, guided greatly by a young nephew who's flushed with adolescent
hormones. Garnett Walker conducts a daily battle to restore the American
Chestnut, commonly thought of as dead due to the blight. He wants to
restore the landscape to the one which his father and grandfather knew and
built. However, God has given him a cross to bear by granting him Nannie
Crawley as a neighbour. Nannie is the local champion of organic farming,
and her bid to avoid any drop of herbicide or insecticide touching her apples
drives Garnett mad. These neighbours are also fiercely divided in their
respective attitudes towards God, but there's always the most implacable of
snapping turtles there which seems destined to clamp these two old folk
together.
In her depiction of forest life, Barbara Kingsolver reminds you of Edward Rutherfurd's glorious novel of this year, 'The Forest', especially in the portrait of a community where everyone seems distantly related to each other. The last section is also reminiscent of Rutherfurd's passages concerning the New Forest's other inhabitants. There's also a great love of apples and bees, something which Joanne Harris dwells on at depth in her novel 'Blackberry Wine'. However, I suspect that Kingsolver would not share Harries' dislike of wasps. For her, the predator is king. A spider is not something to be stepped upon lightly, sharks and wolves should not be hunted to extinction, since this reckless slaughter mucks up the whole ecosystem. Kingsolver throws into the debate contemporary thinking on keystone predators, parasitic hymenoptera, and reveals old truths, like the pituitary gland which used to make women fertile as they slept under the full moon in the ancient depths of time. I found Kingsolver's introduction to be compelling reading. It's also great that you can access Kingsolver's source materials via the internet. I was thrilled to find Mike Finkel's article about the coyote. To my mind, this makes 'Prodigal Summer' ones of those ideal novels where you learn a great deal, but are also gripped by the various narrative twists and turns. Some of the fiction which has involved me recently has featured the natural world, whether it be the bugs of Neal Asher's science fiction, or the contemporary human stories which is Kingsolver's fodder. Kingsolver is a natural storyteller in more ways than one.
Kingsolver follows the general advice of writing
what she knows. She lives in the Appalachians, and is a biologist by
training. She also has a very liberal outlook, which I find especially
affirming. However, this novel could be quite controversial. The
genetic versus organic farming debate hasn't really hit the States as
yet, but this popular novel could quite well spark it off. It's also a
theme which is hugely topical in my native Britain at the moment. What
makes Kingsolver so compelling, however, is her research and knowledge.
Although I'm pretty much converted to eating organic, Kingsolver has much which
is new to say to me too. She's certainly made me look at spiders in a whole
new perspective and respect. Barbara Kingsolver could cure your phobias
too. Certainly, if the world were run her way, I suspect we'd all have
fewer allergies. We'd certainly build more bridges between each
other. At the very least, this is an incredible life-affirming novel
which deserves to become the keystone predator of any current book chart.
AuthorTrek Rating: 10/10
Kevin Patrick Mahoney
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Visit
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Kingsolver page for Barbara Kingsolver biography, Barbara Kingsolver
bibliography, Barbara Kingsolver articles, Barbara Kingsolver interviews, and
free Barbara Kingsolver essays |
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