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Flight Behavior: A Novel Paperback – Deckle Edge, June 4, 2013

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 9,612 ratings

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New York Times Bestseller

"An intricate story that entwines considerations of faith and faithlessness, inquiry, denial, fear and survival in gorgeously conceived metaphor. Kingsolver has constructed a deeply affecting microcosm of a phenomenon that is manifesting in many different tragic ways, in communities and ecosystems all around the globe.” — Seattle Times

A truly stunning and unforgettable work from the extraordinary New York Times bestselling author of The Lacuna (winner of the Orange Prize), The Poisonwood Bible (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize), and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Flight Behavior is a brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths. Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world. Flight Behavior represents contemporary American fiction at its finest.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Drawing on both her Appalachian roots and her background in biology, Kingsolver delivers a passionate novel on the effects of global warming.” — Booklist (starred review)

“With her powerful new novel, Kingsolver delivers literary fiction that conveys an urgent social message… a clarion call about climate change, too lucid and vivid for even skeptics to ignore.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Enthralling…Dellarobia is appealingly complex as a smart, curious, warmhearted woman desperate to-no resisting the metaphor here-trade her cocoon for wings.” — O, the Oprah Magazine

“A dazzling page-turner” — Elle

“Kingsolver has written one of the more thoughtful novels about the scientific, financial and psychological intricacies of climate change. And her ability to put these silent, breathtakingly beautiful butterflies at the center of this calamitous and noisy debate is nothing short of brilliant.” — Washington Post

“The novel really soars in the exquisitely drawn scenes where a strapped woman feels claustrophobic in a dollar store or panicked during a job interview or wistful for her bright young son’s future. Dellarobia is a smart, fierce, messy woman, and one can’t help rooting for her to find her wings.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Dellarobia is appealingly complex as a smart, curious, warmhearted woman desperate to-no resisting the metaphor here-trade her cocoon for wings.” — O, the Oprah Magazine

“One of the gifts of a Kingsolver novel is the resplendence of her prose. She takes palpable pleasure in the craft of writing, creating images that stay with the reader long after her story is done…(a) majestic and brave new novel.” — New York Times Book Review

“An intricate story that entwines considerations of faith and faithlessness, inquiry, denial, fear and survival in gorgeously conceived metaphor. Kingsolver has constructed a deeply affecting microcosm of a phenomenon that is manifesting in many different tragic ways, in communities and ecosystems all around the globe. This is a fine and complex novel.” — Seattle Times

“So captivating is this grand, suspenseful plot and the many subplots rising and falling beneath it that it takes some time before we realize what this story is really about —climate change.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Spirituality, a troubled marriage, global warming…Kingsolver’s latest is a bold mélange, but it works.” — People

“Kingsolver is a storyteller first and foremost, as sensitive to human interactions and family dynamics as she is to ecological ones.” — NPR

“A delicate symbiosis between the sacred and the scientific in this richly rewarding novel that will both entertain and incite its readers.” — BookPage

“FLIGHT BEHAVIOR is a book worth reading twice? first for the intricacies of character, second for the dense, beautiful language Kingsolver puts on the page. She’s a keen observer of the messiness and unexpected beauty of the quotidian.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer

“By the end of FLIGHT BEHAVIOR, it’s clear that Kingsolver’s passionate voice and her ability to portray the fragility of the natural world, and why we should care about it, are as strong as ever.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Novelists like Kingsolver have a particular knack for making us empathize with lives that may bear little resemblance to our own…What lifts FLIGHT BEHAVIOR…is not just Kingsolver’s nuanced and funny prose; it’s Dellarobia’s awakening to the possibilities around her.” — Julia Ingalls, Salon

“A terrifically entertaining read about a spirited young woman you’ll miss the minute you reach the last page.” — USA Today

“Marvelous…This is fiction rich in empathy, wit and science. Like the butterflies that astonish Feathertown, Kingsolvian gifts are ‘fierce and wondrous,’ ‘colors moving around like fire.’” — New York Times

“[Kingsolver’s] keen grasp of delicate ecosystems-both social and natural-keeps the story convincing and compelling.” — The New Yorker

From the Back Cover

New York Times Notable Book

Washington Post

Best Book Of The Year

Amazon's Top 100: Editor's Choice

Usa Today Best Book Of The Year

Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidentally became pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing farm, she seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man.

She hikes up a mountain road behind her house toward a secret tryst, but instead encounters a shocking sight: a silent, forested valley filled with what looks like a lake of fire. She can only understand it as a cautionary miracle, but it sparks a raft of other explanations from scientists, religious leaders, and the media. The bewildering emergency draws rural farmers into unexpected acquaintance with urbane journalists, opportunists, sightseers, and a striking biologist with his own stake in the outcome.

As the community lines up to judge the woman and her miracle, Dellarobia confronts her family, her church, her town, and a larger world, in a flight toward truth that could undo all she has ever believed.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0062124277
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (June 4, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780062124272
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062124272
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.98 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 9,612 ratings

About the author

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Barbara Kingsolver
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Barbara Kingsolver was born in 1955 and grew up in rural Kentucky. She earned degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona, and has worked as a freelance writer and author since 1985. At various times she has lived in England, France, and the Canary Islands, and has worked in Europe, Africa, Asia, Mexico, and South America. She spent two decades in Tucson, Arizona, before moving to southwestern Virginia where she currently resides.

Her books, in order of publication, are: The Bean Trees (1988), Homeland (1989), Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike (1989), Animal Dreams (1990), Another America (1992), Pigs in Heaven (1993), High Tide in Tucson (1995), The Poisonwood Bible (1998), Prodigal Summer (2000), Small Wonder (2002), Last Stand: America's Virgin Lands, with photographer Annie Griffiths (2002), Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (2007), The Lacuna (2009), Flight Behavior (2012), Unsheltered (2018), How To Fly (In 10,000 Easy Lessons) (2020), Demon Copperhead (2022), and coauthored with Lily Kingsolver, Coyote's Wild Home (2023). She served as editor for Best American Short Stories 2001.

Kingsolver was named one the most important writers of the 20th Century by Writers Digest, and in 2023 won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Demon Copperhead. In 2000 she received the National Humanities Medal, our country's highest honor for service through the arts. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages and have been adopted into the core curriculum in high schools and colleges throughout the nation. Critical acclaim for her work includes multiple awards from the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association, a James Beard award, two-time Oprah Book Club selection, and the national book award of South Africa, among others. She was awarded Britain's prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) for both Demon Copperhead and The Lacuna, making Kingsolver the first author in the history of the prize to win it twice. In 2011, Kingsolver was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

She has two daughters, Camille (born in 1987) and Lily (1996). She and her husband, Steven Hopp, live on a farm in southern Appalachia where they raise an extensive vegetable garden and Icelandic sheep.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
9,612 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable to read. They praise the writing quality as descriptive and well-crafted. The content is thought-provoking and provides a convincing window into the characters' worldview. Readers connect with the characters through their insightful observations and wonderful dialogue scenes. The book tackles the topic of climate change and provides a great message about its impact on monarch butterflies. Overall, customers describe the emotional content as heartfelt and inspiring.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

1,673 customers mention "Readability"1,518 positive155 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They describe it as a joy to read with beautiful descriptions of nature and human relationships. The different stories woven throughout the book provide surprises.

"...An important novel, and delightfully entertaining, as these issues become more pervasive and severe in bridging awareness and perspectives." Read more

"...It’s a good story. The author writes amazingly well, has great human insight, and is relentlessly, hurt-you funny...." Read more

"...passionate about the issue of climate change, and this is a powerful novel making a crucial intervention on this subject...." Read more

"...the package and placed my fingers on its exquisitely, perfectly-designed cover jacket - little embossed leaves of blue surrounding the title and the..." Read more

873 customers mention "Writing quality"785 positive88 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book. They find the writing descriptive and well-crafted. Readers appreciate the author's skill in describing children and family life in the small town.

"...It’s a good story. The author writes amazingly well, has great human insight, and is relentlessly, hurt-you funny...." Read more

"This is a genuinely beautifully written novel - Kingsolver has mastered the art of the evocative sentence, the witty turn of phrase...." Read more

"...Yet all are seen through Dellarobia's eyes and almost all are well-rounded, dynamic characters, especially our heroine...." Read more

"...other story about a woman who questions her own spirituality was very well done and gives the reader an inside look at the nature of humans who '..." Read more

794 customers mention "Thought provoking"766 positive28 negative

Customers find the book insightful and convincing. They appreciate the serious content, interesting material, and educational value. The inclusion of scientific details and animal husbandry provides a unique perspective. Readers praise the author's skill for research.

"...But be forewarned - this book is entertaining and educational, if you want it to be...." Read more

"...What I like is the way she thinks - her curiosity and imagination. Not so much her style or voice. Too many similes...." Read more

"...that in the beginning are flawed, but sympathetic in their relatedness of the human condition in misguided pursuits and attempts at redemption...." Read more

"...After an accurate and not too baldly done lecture on the crucial difference between correlation and causation, though, we are assigned dunce caps..." Read more

642 customers mention "Character development"530 positive112 negative

Customers find the characters believable and relatable. They appreciate the protagonist's insightful observations and engaging dialogue scenes. The book allows readers to connect with the characters through Kingsolver's rich dialogue.

"...Kingsolver is able to deftly turn Hester into a completely sympathetic human character, flaws and strengths both on display...." Read more

"...They are more than story, characters, and craft - they are influence, some of which the authors likely had no idea of when they were writing and..." Read more

"...The astute observations of the protagonist, Dellaboria and her sharp-witted..." Read more

"...seen through Dellarobia's eyes and almost all are well-rounded, dynamic characters, especially our heroine...." Read more

241 customers mention "Climate change"197 positive44 negative

Customers find the book's climate change message engaging. They appreciate the realistic portrayal of biology and climate change, as well as the author's use of metaphors to depict the current landscape.

"...FLIGHT BEHAVIOR really got to me. It's about global warming, a subject most of us wish would just go away. But it won't...." Read more

"...real substance both as a family/personal drama and as a climate change parable, when one of those elements could, with less skill and attention,..." Read more

"...While this is a book about climate change, what really spoke to me was Kingsolver’s portrayal of the clash of cultures between rural, conservative..." Read more

"...The overarching topic is climate change and the effect in a society trapped in generational poverty...." Read more

160 customers mention "Emotional content"148 positive12 negative

Customers find the emotional content compelling and touching. They say it's sympathetic, intimate, and deeply personal. The book delved into family relationships, craft loss, compassion, and finding happiness. Customers found the book an interesting combination of believable family situations and biology/climate change realism.

"...There's misunderstanding and frustration and guilt but also moments of compassion and lots of humor...." Read more

"...Kingsolver's books are always a joy to read, sensuous, beautiful, sad and joyful, and always ordinary...." Read more

"...of her family on her choices or lack thereof gives an intimate insight into devotion, sacrifice, self-esteem, motherhood, and marriage...." Read more

"...She's funny, intelligent, informative, empathetic and observant...." Read more

766 customers mention "Story quality"524 positive242 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the story quality. Some find it entertaining and inspiring, with a telling scene. Others feel the story becomes repetitive, lacks a plot, and runs long with sluggish pacing.

"...An important novel, and delightfully entertaining, as these issues become more pervasive and severe in bridging awareness and perspectives." Read more

"...A contemporary novel, yet the heroine reminded me of me in the seventies and I wondered if there were still women like that today...." Read more

"...I also felt the ending was very quickly tied up in a nice little bow...." Read more

"...She picks challenging subjects and does a great job of enchanting and educating her readers...." Read more

235 customers mention "Pacing"108 positive127 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some find it fast-paced and easy to read, while others say it starts slowly and lags in places. The book is not a quick read and should be savored.

"...Odd, that feeling, while reading a Barbara Kingsolver book. It lagged in places, seemed too... slow. Perhaps even dull...." Read more

"...amazingly well, has great human insight, and is relentlessly, hurt-you funny...." Read more

"...Although the pacing was a little slow, I was able to really connect with the characters and their situations, especially Dellarobia...." Read more

"...The book is fast paced and depicts the lifestyle and regional realities of the Kentucky educational community as well as the church...." Read more

Book is worn & looks used when I ordered new
3 out of 5 stars
Book is worn & looks used when I ordered new
This review is not based on the book itself. I haven't actually read it yet, it just arrived. I'm sure I will love it because it is written by one of my favorite writers.The review is based on the fact that I ordered a new hardcover book & it arrived looking used. I will keep it because I do want to read it, but wish I had paid a lower price for a used book.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2013
    For months the book sat in my "to read" pile. Then I pulled it out and placed it on the coffee table. It teased me as I savored the anticipation building to the moment I opened the cover and began reading the poetry of Barbara Kingsolver's prose.

    Flight Behavior, Kingsolver's latest novel, did not disappoint me from the first word to the last, although there were some plot techniques that disconcerted me.

    The environmental theme interwoven throughout the plot was executed with a unique choice of characters as the mouthpieces. Using the monarch butterfly as the harbinger of ecological disaster captivated me from the first description of the main character, Dellarobia, when she encounters the unusual sight of thousands of monarchs clustered on tree limbs at the top of a mountain in Appalachia. She believes she's seeing the apparition as a warning against the adultery she's is about to commit, until her epiphany on the mountainside. Here's the vision from Dellarobia's viewpoint:

    "Unearthly beauty had appeared to her, a vision of glory to stop her in the road. For her alone these orange boughs lifted, these long shadows became a brightness rising. It looked like the inside of joy, if a person could see that. A valley of lights, an ethereal wind. It had to mean something."

    Kingsolver received criticisms for her "preachy" tone on climate change. Readers who love her previous works, yet disagree with her politics in this novel, gave her harsh scores and reviews.

    I'm reviewing this book on its merits. But be forewarned - this book is entertaining and educational, if you want it to be. If however you're the type of person who doesn't wish to read anything other than what repeats what you already know and believe and if you believe the claims by scientists of climate change are bogus, don't read this book. You'll learn nothing and walk away muttering about the "tree hugger" author.

    I loved the book for creating a fictional "what if" picture. What if the monarchs, so unsettled by climatic changes in their wintering spot in Mexico, decided to roost in the Appalachian Mountains?

    Kingsolver creates a main character in Dellarobia who is a victim of her decisions in life and her circumstances. But never once did I feel sorry for this young mother burdened with the grief of the unmentioned dead baby that tied her down to the husband who is clearly not her match made anywhere. Dellarobia is going through her own "climate change" as she becomes an assistant to the scientists who have come to the mountain to study the anomaly. She becomes our interpreter of the complicated nature of shifting atmospheric patterns and the potential destruction of an entire species. The plot is woven around Dellarobia's problems and that of the monarchs.

    One of the foils for Dellarobia is her mother-in-law Hester who is very unsympathetic and seemingly mean in the first half of the book. As Hester's story unfolds, Kingsolver is able to deftly turn Hester into a completely sympathetic human character, flaws and strengths both on display.

    I didn't like the transition between chapters. Often, Kingsolver would bring the reader to the brink of a breakthrough in discovery of both the human drama and the plight of the monarch, and then the chapter would end. I would eagerly begin the next chapter only to find the plot had moved ahead a few days. I also felt the ending was very quickly tied up in a nice little bow. Some of it was symmetrical, but much of it seemed as if Kingsolver was told by her editors to shorten the book so she rushed the resolution.

    Even with the few things I found disconcerting, I would still recommend this book if for nothing else than to enjoy the beauty of a skilled writer dancing her dance for our enjoyment. See for yourself:

    "A movement of clouds altered the light, and all across the valley, the butterfly skin of the world transfigured in response, opening all the wings at once to the sun. A lifting brightness swept the landscape, flowing up the mountainside in a wave Dellarobia opened her mouth and released a soft pant, anticipatory gusts of breath that could have become speech or laughter, or wailing. She couldn't give it shape."
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2013
    Why bother. Why bother to write, to read, to write about what you read? Does anything matter or is it (human behavior) just something that happens regardless of our thoughts and intentions? Are we no more in control than insects? Why bother. Barbara King-solver's (haha) latest novel is about those questions; and she's hardly the first. I can draw a line from Ken Kesey's Sometimes A Great Notion (1964) to Michael Crichton's State of Fear (2004) to Jonathan Franzen's Freedom (2010) to Kingsolver's Flight Behavior (2012) and make an argument - either yes or no. On the surface all four novels are about environmental and human issues and their interaction: logging & unions, global catastrophe & corruption, strip-mining & bird watching, butterflies & global warming, & growing up, growing into yourself; but all four books are far more than what they are on the surface. They are more than story, characters, and craft - they are influence, some of which the authors likely had no idea of when they were writing and thinking and imagining. Of the four, IMHO, Kesey's is the best - maybe the best novel ever written; Crichton's was the most effecting and ironically, probably had the opposite effect of what he intended--was the most damaging; Franzen's, again ironically, the most forgettable; and finally, ironically, Kingsolver's at once both the smallest and biggest, the most hum-drum and most interesting.

    I almost quit her this time. I just wasn't that into the story. It was humdrum - about people, a protagonist, a place, not all that engaging for me. But I didn't. This is the fifth novel of Kingsolver's that I've read, so I must like her, right? What I like is the way she thinks - her curiosity and imagination. Not so much her style or voice. Too many similes. If you were to take out the word "like," the page count would substantially be reduced. So what is Kingsolver curious about here that finally caught up with me and grabbed my attention? It was the clash of worldviews that so dominates the politics of people today. It happened on page 138 with this: "How strange, she thought, to see the forest floor laid bare that way. It gave the impression of the earth as basically just a rock, thinly clothed." See that? A metaphor for the story without simile: How one woman, trapped in a world by birth, not choice, was impacted by an unusual event, and then an opportunity to break out; and her struggle with the clash of worldviews thrust upon her. It was the ignorant, simple, incurious, religious interpretation and understanding of the world of a small, rural Appalachian town getting smacked in the face by the informed, curious, scientific, unstable and uncertain outside world that is. Dellarobia, the 28 year-old, married (to a dull man) with young children, protagonist comes face to face with the fact that she is not a simple minded girl, but a smart and curious creature who must leave- if she, her soul, is to survive -take flight, if you will. Flight behavior.

    Flight Behavior is a story that, many times, brought water to my eyes. It was the imprisonment of poverty and the unsophistication of the town and the family that she had married into that got me sympathetic. I felt for her and her children. She did not belong (she was orphaned early) but did not know what was wrong until the event and the outside world presented itself. What, for me, is sad also is that even though Kingsolver does a nifty trick in getting things to a hopeful end - I know that that is just a nifty literary trick. In the real world things are more grim, and that the best hoped for outcome is what people usually do - just muddle through, staying alive but not thriving.

    You want proof of that? Take Kesey's great novel, written in the early 60's with his "heroic" Stamper family, led by Henry and Hank, father and son, carving out a life in the Northwest by logging, with no regard for the larger world. Now we have Kingsolver's novel, written 44 years later, with the "heroic" Turnbow family, Bear and Cub, father and son, carving out a meager existence off the land, with no regard for the larger world - and in each instance the women have no say, their purpose being only to bear children, cook and clean, and support the men. This narrow, "natural," worldview still persists over much of the world and much of this country.

    It seems to me that a progressive, naturally evolving, worldview peaked in the 70's; and that there has been a slow, but gaining, regression back to the `old ways.' Thus, while I was rooting for Dellarobia and glad that Kingsolver ended the story the way she did. The "Story" doesn't end there. The pull of the herd is great, and to try and break away and "improve" yourself is, while admired and cheered, is rare and getting harder.

    More evidence? Before Crichton's novel it appeared that we (humans, the educated) might be able to head off global warming; but that one novel seemed to be just the thing needed for the herd to reverse course and go back. The book was waved in the chambers of congress as proof that the educated elitists (scientists, academics, and the media) were conspiring for personal gain, and lying to the herd about the negative consequences of unregulated and unrestrained use of resources. People just needed an excuse to say, "yes, that's the world." The world's the way they believe it is.

    Franzen's novel? More evidence of the negative consequences of the `old ways' being cast aside for new ways, despite, as I said, being a forgettable story - it was widely hailed and read. There was not a "happy ending." The Burglund's, the heroic family, and society just barely muddled through.

    So, why bother? Are we simply tethered to our fate, which is determined by our history - events that have so much momentum there is no sense in trying to break away. As Henny Stamper tells Viv, Hank's wife, "Why there's eating and sleeping and working and fighting and screwing - that's all there is." And Kesey tells the reader:
    " ... there is solace and a certain stoical peace in blaming everything on the rain, and then blaming something as uncomfortable as the rain on something as indifferent as the Arm of the Lord." (p.382)
    And Kingsolver tells the reader:
    " ... the Lord moves in mysterious ways." (p.43)

    Why bother?

    That's just what some of us do.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2024
    A portrayal of characters that in the beginning are flawed, but sympathetic in their relatedness of the human condition in misguided pursuits and attempts at redemption.
    It’s descriptive in painting a realistic image of the place set in rural Appalachia. The astute observations of the protagonist, Dellaboria and her sharp-witted
    discourse is often sprinkled with brilliant insights despite her lack of formal higher education. There is humor woven throughout a rich tapestry between the colloquialisms and a deeper concern for the characters as they contemplate such things as a ‘person of worth’. The stark contrast between perceptions about the college educated surface when she hosts Dr. Byron and become more intertwined as a team of academic researchers delve deeper into the ecosystem. It’s timelessness is such that without a few anecdotal references to pop-culture such as her pair of Crocs, and graduating music preferences from Michael Jackson to Coldplay, and the shocking reveal that she didn’t own a computer it may otherwise be lost - out of a page of history, which add to the complexity. Similarly, the two discuss climate change denial over a glass of Reisling before she remarks they were like rebel flags on mudflaps - the science illiterate.
    An important novel, and delightfully entertaining, as these issues become more pervasive and severe in bridging awareness and perspectives.
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  • Elyseo da Silva
    5.0 out of 5 stars Aktueller denn je
    Reviewed in Germany on January 5, 2025
    Das war mein erster Roman von Barbara Kingsolver, aber gewiss nicht mein letzter. Es dauerte eine Weile, bis ich in der Handlung drin war, dann konnte ich das Buch kaum noch aus der Hand legen. Wunderbare Figuren, authentisch und multidimensional, eine Handlung, die mit den wachsenden Herausforderungen des Klimawandels aktueller kaum sein könnte - und das ganze vor dem Hintergrund, dass Kingsolver selbst Biologin ist - und eine Geschichte voller Empathie und, trotz allem, Hoffnung.
    Große Empfehlung!
  • An
    5.0 out of 5 stars Mooi boek
    Reviewed in Belgium on December 28, 2024
    Goed boek, vlot ontvangen
  • Vesna P.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
    Reviewed in Italy on February 20, 2024
    Anything written by Barbara Kingsolver is worth reading. A novel on relationship with humans and nature. Beautifully written.
  • L. Smith
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly written!
    Reviewed in Canada on January 28, 2019
    An engrossing, entertaining and educational read . . . with a small Appalachian mountain farm as the background, a young wife's discovery of a huge colony of monarch butterflies changes her life and her relationships with family, church and community members. It also brings the feisty, warmhearted and determined heroine into contact with a monarch research biologist who takes up temporary residence at the farm to study the unique phenomenon as related to climate change. As The New Yorker states: "[Kingsolver's] keen grasp of delicate ecosystems - both social and natural - keeps the story convincing and compelling."
  • Siddharth shankaran
    5.0 out of 5 stars Endearing writer with a most urgent message.
    Reviewed in India on January 3, 2019
    A very unique form of writing that included all shades and covered all bases. Writing is brilliant and dellarobia is a character that you will find hard to miss, and yet the main leads are the monarchs, the butterflies, whose disastrous future seems to march in the direction of disaster for us as well.
    Good read