Prodigal Summer audiobook

It's always harder to review books I enjoyed because I never know what to say about them. It's so much easier when I have a lot I want to complain about. I loved this book honestly and it really resonated with me. Much of the environmentalism in the book was in line with a lot of my own beliefs. I really liked the characters and it felt really easy to lose track of time while I was reading.

I knew I had read a Barbara Kingsolver novel, but I couldn't remember which one. Just now, when I read the book summary, I thought, "This is the one!" I enjoyed this book, but I was a little bit sad when it ended because I knew I would miss the main characters.

I enjoyed Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible so much that for some reason I delayed reading this one (does that make sense?). I just liked the idea of another unread novel by her being out there, waiting for me to read -- something I was saving like a piece of rich dark chocolate. Her descriptions of the natural world are lovely. The relationships are complex and sexy and intriguing. My favorite story line is the romance between Deanna and Eddie. It reminds me of the romance in "The River Why", another book I will write about here on goodreads (someday). Coyotes play a prominent role in the book. I grew up falling asleep to the sound of coyotes howling (whenever I stayed with my grandparents). It is an eerie sound, almost human. This is a book that can make you love coyotes and chestnut trees and even our fellow humans (with all of our quirks and failings and missteps along the way). Here's the final paragraph (it's not a plot spoiler):"Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen."As I expected, I am feeling reader's remorse. There are no more Kingsolver titles out there for me to read. Yet. Write quickly Barbara. I miss you already.

This is a noteworthy book that exemplifies accomplished writing, interleaving the natural world with the more immediate human bubble, depicting conflicting proclivities through contrasting characters, even contradictions in individual thinking. Also in showing how alike all life forms are, differing for the most part only morphologically in niche adaptation with varying subjective perspectives.An example of contradictory thinking depicted is one of the characters believing wholeheartedly in 'Creation Science,' yet trying to improve the disease resistance of a tree species through successive artificial selection — the same technique Nature employs through evolution. 'Survival of the fittest' has nothing to do with with brutishness, and everything to do with adaptability."It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." ~ Mark TwainThere is more to the story to be sure, with characters fleshed out realistically, some even exhibiting a bit of comic relief, plot-line dots to be connected, and the absurdities, misunderstandings, and caring in extended family and neighbor relations. The essence of the story to me though, is our weedy species inability for the most part to recognize what sustains our being any more than our animal cousins do — the connectedness of all life.Like humans, "A bird never doubts its place at the center of the universe." [from Prodigal Summer]As an example of the plot, in the first chapter the story begins in introducing the reader to not only a main character, but also to Nature in the randiness of spring as seen through the human umwelt. It's a thread exploited further as the story progresses, spiked with joy, enmity, loss, and irony. What better way to grab the reader's interest than with hormonal enticement, the subjective issues it engenders, and accompanying pleasures and resentments. In my experience, that's the cornerstone of much of literature. I'm not complaining mind you, I'm for whatever might work to hopefully instill a better understanding of the natural world that sustains us — that for the sake of our futures.What may annoy some in this writing are passages of character thoughts that those reading for entertainment only don't want to think about. Even these character thoughts aren't necessarily dispensed as gospel though, as they may be muddled, even contradicted, further on, leaving the reader to ponder the subjective good vs. bad aspects of the natural world that perplex us. Nature is oblivious to our considered rights and wrongs, adapting life forms in moving on, intent on balancing the paradoxical and symbiotic interactions among evolving life forms in preserving a continuum of physical life."The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think." ~ Edwin SchlossbergI thought the story even handed and the ending a nice touch. I also thought the story well crafted in knowing what to leave out.Even to those averse to the natural world being a relevant 'character' in the story though, it can be an engrossing read. Pair this book with reading other quality eco-lit, like that of Wendell Berry, Richard Powers, Edward O. Wilson, Rachel Carson, etc., and there is the potential of a heap of wisdom to be gained. It's our futures that are at stake ;-)

“Most people lived so far from it, they thought you could just choose, carnivore or vegetarian, without knowing that the chemicals on grain and cotton killed for more butterflies and bees and bluebirds and whippoorwills than the mortal cost of a steak or a leather jacket. (...) Even if you never touch meat, you’re costing something its blood”, she said. “Don’t patronize me. I know that. Living takes life.”The most gorgeous nature writing I've ever read.Mais do que uma lição de ecologia sem moralismos, este livro é uma declaração de amor à natureza, em que se respeita e se admira tanto os predadores como os insectos, sem deixar de fora as grandes árvores em vias de extinção. Em capítulos alternados, Barbara Kingsolver apresenta três histórias que acabam por se interligar, onde brilham três mulheres: uma guarda-florestal, uma cientista que se tornou agricultora e uma velha produtora de fruta biológica. É uma pena que as editoras portuguesas se tenham esquecido de Kingsolver depois de A Lacuna e Bíblia Envenenada, porque a sua escrita é refinadíssima.“Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen.”

I’ve read and enjoyed all of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels but “Prodigal Summer” stands out for me. The opening lines promise that you’re going on a journey into the minds of memorable characters: “Her body moved with the frankness that comes from solitary habits. But solitude is only a human presumption.” What follows doesn’t disappoint.Three parallel stories unfold of characters quite unalike on the surface and yet connected in deeper ways that resonate profoundly. It would have been easy – and predictable – to have their stories wind together as the novel progresses. But Kingsolver chooses to let the undercurrents reverberate while the storylines continue in their own direction. In the end their paths brush lightly against one another speaking, I think, of the bonds that connect us all but leave us to make our own connections in our own time.Anyone who finds solace in nature will find this novel irresistible. Kingsolver pays tribute to the natural world while quietly testifying that we can either live in communion with it or contribute to its demise.

Very descriptive and calming. Three stories tied into one, and cleaned up neatly at the end. A good summertime read.I read this book again, so I can write a better review, since this book definitely deserves a second thought.This is a book to be savored, meaning, it is not a light easy read, and it isn't fluff. It isn't loaded with heavy issues (Barbara Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible" is definitely a heavier chunk o' reading compared to this) but I feel to truly appreciate "Prodigal Summer", one must be in the right mindset.This book takes three stories and alternates chapters with three different points of view. If you can pay attention to detail, you won't have trouble picking up on very subtle things the author leaves along the way, like bread crumbs on the trail that weaves through the three tales. However, Kingsolver is not an in-your-face author. She won't nudge you and say "Didja catch that? Didja?" It's up to you to find the "clues", so to speak.Each story/chapter has it's own title. "Predators" is essentially a love story, an older "mountain woman" and a much younger hunter meet by chance on a mountain trail. Their story isn't so much love as it is obsession. In terms of nature, their story is very detailed. I love how Kingsolver can describe a tree, a rainstorm, a snake, a bug, a cabin in the woods and each time it's different and beautiful. She doesn't feel like she flipped through a thesaurus and learned new words as she went along. Her language is very easy and flows nicely with the setting of the story. Since Deanna Wolfe is a woman who has lived on the mountain for two years observing the flora and fauna, this type of dialect would come easily to her. The second story/chapter is "Moth Love". Lusa Widener married a farmer, Cole, the only brother of five sisters. Lusa is Polish/Arabian and finds herself the owner of a tobacco farm at the foot of the mountains. She is not a farmer herself, but a botanist and a "bug lady" and struggles with relating to anyone in her new family. Her ideas about farming get her ridiculed. The third story/chapter is "Old Chestnuts". Garnett Walker is a man in his eighties, a retired vo-ag teacher who is grafting a new chestnut tree to withstand the blight that took out all the American chestnuts in the region. He is an extremely focused, uptight, aged man who just wants to be left alone on his farm and in his own routine, except for one thorn in his flesh, his neighbor Nannie Rawley, whose apple orchard, beehives, and gardening techniques cause him agitation and stress.I enjoyed this book even more the second time I read it. The dialect flows easily, the setting is very real, and the stories all tie up nicely by the end. I love the subtlety of this book, and still the complexity of instinct, life, death, rebirth, and finding our purpose here, among nature, to co-exist in some kind of harmony.