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Description
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... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis
Cast of Characters/Important People
- Nathan Price: The controlling patriarch of the Price family, Nathan is a preacher trying to spread his religion to the Congolese in Africa.
- Orleana Price: Mother
- Rachel Price: The elder daughter, incredibly dim and self-centered.
- Leah Price: One of the twins
- Adah Price: The other twin, disabled and mute but incredibly intelligent
- Ruth Price: The youngest daughter
- Anatole: A teacher and revolutionary
Memorable Quotes
-
“Each one of us arrived with some extra responsibility biting into us under our garments: a claw hammer, a Baptist hymnal, each object of value replacing the weight freed up by some frivolous thing we'd found the strength to leave behind. Our journey was to be a great enterprise of balance. My father, of course, was bringing the Word of God - which fortunately weighs nothing at all.”
Leah Price -
“It struck me what a wide world of difference there was between our sort of games - "Mother May I?," "Hide and Seek" -- and his: "Find Food," "Recognize Poisonwood," "Build a House." And here was a boy no older than eight or nine. He had a younger sister who carried the family's baby everywhere she went and hacked weeds with her mother in the manioc field. I could see that the whole idea and business of Childhood was nothing guaranteed. It seemed to me, in fact, like something more or less invented by white people and stuck onto the front end of grown-up life like a frill on a dress.”
Leah Price
First Sentence
Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened.
Table of Contents
Book One - Genesis
Book Two - The Revelation
Book Three - The Judges
Book Four - Bel and the Serpent
Book Five - Exodus
Book Six - Song of the Three Children
Book Seven - The Eyes in the Trees
Authors & Contributors
This information has been updated by a Shelfari member but the change has not yet been approved by a Shelfari Librarian.
- Barbara Kingsolver (Author)
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