Prodigal Summer

by Barbara Kingsolver

It is summer in the Appalachian mountains and love, desire and attraction are in the air. Nature, too, it seems, is not immune. From her outpost in an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. She is caught off guard by a young hunter who invades her most private spaces and interrupts her self-assured, solitary life. On a farm several miles down the mountain, Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer's wife, finds herself marooned in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly feuding neighbours tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities of a future neither of them expected. Over the course of one humid summer, these characters find their connections of love to one another and to the surrounding nature with which they share a place.

With its strong balance of narrative and drama, Prodigal Summer is stands alongside The Poisonwood Bible and The Lacuna as one of Barbara Kingsolver's finest works.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Nature, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Novels

464 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 17, 2000

About the author

Barbara Ellen Kingsolver is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a nonfiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel Demon Copperhead. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.
Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award 2011 and the National Humanities Medal. After winning for The Lacuna in 2010 and Demon Copperhead in 2023, Kingsolver became the first author to win the Women's Prize for Fiction twice. Since 1993, each one of her book titles have been on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Kingsolver was raised in rural Kentucky, lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood, and she currently lives in Appalachia. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona, and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. In 2000, the politically progressive Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize to support "literature of social change".

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of different subplots that eventually intertwine, includes a love story too. She writes very lyrically, you'll want to savor this one. Nature / animal lovers will appreciate this one too. Something for everyone, this one is probably in my all time top 10 or 15 list.

2nd reading: This is not a book to read but a book to feel. It's a book you feel the truth and the rightness of, down deep in your gut.

[Julie G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I promise I could make you laugh if I showed you the comments my teachers made in my high school yearbook in my senior year.

From every language arts or creative writing teacher I ever had: The sky's the limit for you, kid!

From every science and math teacher I ever had: Marry rich, kid!

I often wondered what a conversation might have sounded like between the two camps, if they ever collided in the teacher's lounge. Half of them would have been surprised to learn that I was a candidate for a full ride scholarship for writing and the other half would have been surprised to learn that they believed pole dancing would be the highest bar I could ever achieve.

It's not that I don't love Nature; I do. I love it. I trip all over my own two feet staring at it, break into spontaneous poetry writing about it. . . I just don't want to study it. I don't want to know where the luna moth lays her eggs or why. Don't want to glaze over while a botanist explains why the green leaf turns red; I just want to savor the magic that it does, and I want to read Robert Frost aloud when it happens.

So, my first 4 attempts to read Barbara Kingsolver were rough. I kept reading her books and kept feeling disappointed by, well, my reaction of really disliking them. How could I not admire a woman who would dedicate a book to “wildness, where it lives?” How could I not love a writer who has spent her impressive career drawing attention to the damage we are doing to our planet?

I do love Ms. Kingsolver, I do. I love what she represents, love that she fights for our beautiful, natural world. That's why I've given her chance after chance. But, unfortunately, for four consecutive reads, I found her characters about as unrelatable as psychopaths in an asylum in the 1800s.

But. . . even though the protagonists in Prodigal Summer are also unrelatable to me, (lady scientists who think hair brushes are tools for collecting strands of DNA). . . this is the book that FINALLY worked for me.

Prodigal Summer is so stunning. It may be the greatest tribute that a novel has ever paid to a single season (two runners up may be Doctor Zhivago or Ethan Frome for winter) and it is a celebration of. . . well. . . procreation.

Everybody's doing it here, people: the humans, the moths, the coyotes, the snapping turtles, the salamanders, the birds, the flies.

I ruined my copy by taking it, twice, into a cold shower with me.

I never knew that blue-green algae could be so. . . sexy.

Physical pleasure was such a convincing illusion, and sex, the ultimate charade of safety.

I'm finally on board the Barbara bandwagon.

Turns out, she just needed to get dirty.

[meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok. What gives, Kingsolver?
I have adored her work for years, and had this particular book sitting on my shelf for a long time unread. I picked it up to read recently, and went "oh yeah, that's why". i'd tried previous times to read it and couldn't "get into it". I'm usually a stickler for the "getting in to it" factor. if something doesnt hold my attention, or is downright fucking painful, within the first chapter, i have to ditch it.

but no. i gave Barb K the benefit of the doubt. i mean, she wrote the Poisonwood Bible, after all. i decided i'd read this entirely, even if it killed me.
it nearly did. it wasn't bad. i infact enjoyed it more and more as the LONG ASS story went on and on. very little plot. nothing really happening. lots of boring ass inane descriptions of nature that got really old really fast. her previously used narrative device of telling different stories with different narrators each chapter was annoying here. i found i only cared about 1 person's story, and didnt care about any of the other co-protagonists.
it was a book that was beyond slow, beyond tedious. it could've been told in 1/16th the length. i hate nothing more than books that're just taking up pages. Mind you, when you find books you love love love, you wish they'd never end. you get sad when it's finished.
this isnt one of them.
i put this book down twice and read other things, then brought it on vacation with me and slowly read it over a month. jesus, a month.
fhew, it's over now.
i'd love to hear from someone who actually liked it

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't want it to end! :( There's still much life for these characters to lead and I want to be there for it! Although I guess it has to end somewhere...

The BEAUTIFUL NATURAL WORLD she gives - my kingdom to know so much and be so deeply involved in the real world around me. (This week, I met the wooly bear caterpillar and the granite spiny lizard at Mission Trails, both locals. I can't wait to meet more and learn about more. Thank goodness for parks and rangers - at least SOMEONE is maintaining this knowledge!)

Her writing is nice - she is especially beautiful describing plants and animals, and has a storyteller's voice for introducing them to humans. Her scenes are long and involved - no quick hits to make a point but no excess either. The pace matches the story. It takes TIME to know the world and is not something you learn in soundbites.

I want to live there. I want to be these characters and have their problems and flaws. My heart aches. Unreservedly 5 stars.

[Jan Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hot.

It's my favorite Barbara Kingsolver novel.

I came away liking coyotes. And grieving the American chestnut.

[Always Pouting · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Tim Null · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual in a Kingsolver book the writing in Prodigal Summer is just beautiful and the descriptions lyrical. It is a book to read carefully and slowly and just enjoy.
Several different stories run parallel and tie up eventually towards the end of the book. I found my interest in each story uneven and tended to rush the parts about Garnett Walker because I became tired of his constant, repetitive musings and I wanted to get back to Deanna or Lusa. However I never rushed any of their parts:)
The author has a very strong philosophy on life which always runs through her novels but in this one she does rather get on her soap box, and I did occasionally feel she was trying to brow beat me into submitting to her views (and I am already a believer!). For me this loses the book one star.
Nevertheless it was a lovely read with some charming characters, very human behaviours and a positive, hopeful ending.

[Kerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did you know that nature is kept in balance by predators? Or that chemical pesticides aren't so good?

No? Well, here, read this five hundred page book that will explain it to you by stretching multiple moth metaphors and telling the story of three identically tedious women who know best because they menstruate to the moon. These women will encounter men who are clueless about the mysteries of nature just to create the plot device needed to provide you with dialogue between nature women and clueless men that will help explain it all to you in the most dumbed down way possible.

Despite the fact that one woman loves coyotes, and one loves bugs and another loves organic gardening, all of these women seem like identical cliches to me. It's like Kingsolver's saying, "We women want to be strong and wyld, but really we're just commanded by our emotions and hormones and the cycles of the moon, and we don't want to admit it. But boy, do we understand how the woods work, because we're *connnected* to it. Right, girls?" Well, no... not me, at least. I mean, yeah, I was born and raised in the woods myself and feel a huge connectin to nature (that you'd think would be enough to allow me to enjoy the endless catalog of flora and fauna descriptions), but really, my moon cycle didn't make me succumb to men I didn't want, then randomly fly off the handle at them, or get drunk and nearly make out with nephews, or get into no-win debates with Bible thumping stubborn old men. I've got a little more self control than that. The women make me squirm. The bordering-on-romance-novel sex scenes make me embarrassed. And this book is so looooong!

Garett's interesting. Actually, the guys in the periphery of this book are all more fun to read about than the women.

I loved Poinsonwood Bible. I even enjoyed Animal, Vegetable Miracle, which pretty preachy and precious too, but finishing this one was such a struggle.

All that said, this book is screaming to be made into a successful movie along the vein of Steel Magnolias or Fried Green Tomatos. Actually a movie, without all those words and words and words, might actually be enjoyable.

[Dorie - Cats&Books :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of three sets of characters living in the Appalachians in Virginia. There is a woman biologist, a new wife, a sour old man and a wonderful "nannie".

As usual Kingsolver's characters are strong and exciting. Her descriptions of landscapes, animals and insects, etc are so impressive you can be there in your mind.

I loved this book and it's intertwining of lives. My only regret is that it wasn't longer.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, a delightful, thoughtful and refreshing novel. I loved the pure joy, the contagious adoration, for nature — from top predators to insects to extinct trees to blossoming weeds — that shines through the pages. (My only real gripe with the book is that, on occasion, this love morphs into rather a preachy cautionary tale, or scolding—it could still have been powerfully ecological and progressive without the few soap-box passages.) Another message is the sometimes-lovely, sometimes-scary, ever powerful theme that no creature (including humans!) is ever as solitary as we may seem, even if we strive to be so. The characters are so vivid and "real." Worth the read if only for the "Old Chestnuts" section with the most endearingly stubborn and ornery old man you'll ever want to meet! I absolutely loved how the three "separate" stories wove together as the novel progressed, so that in the end it seemed everyone in the small town was tied to everyone else by the glorious web of non-solitariness among us. It's almost like a mystery story in the way that Kingsolver drops clues here and there as to how the connections will go—and once you know, you find all these little nuggets you didn't even notice at first. Very fun, in that regard. A really stellar story, a love-song to Nature and to Life. (Caution to some readers: While never very graphic and always respectful, there are a few passages that are definitely sex-charged--one of Kingsolver's points is how Nature is so fueled by sex, the desire to procreate--and that humans are also part of this.)

***************************************************************
Another of the summer-themed books I'm cramming to read before summer ends! Thankfully, this one is at the library where I'm working for summer school (three weeks) and so it brings a bit of the brilliant summer indoors; if I have to work during summer, at least it's nice to have time to read about summer!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

audiobook. Enjoyable and strong ecological message with beautiful descriptions of the natural environment. This is a reminder to us humans that we have a responsibility to all life forms, as we are all connected. Don’t mess with nature.

[Leigh Statham · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think my favorite line of "poetry" from this book is "He made love to me like a farmer!" She then goes on to talk about milking cows and tilling the land while describing their love making. Maybe I've just known too many farmers in my life and found none of them in the least bit attractive. There is nothing romantic about the smell of manure on a man. And anyway, I think that line sums up the depth of this book pretty well. From the first chapter I knew I was in trouble when one of the leading ladies ends up doing "it" in the forest, in a log, with a stranger. Ugh. I kept reading just because I had heard such great things about her first book, but I was really disappointed. The plot never thickened beyond the farm lust and I just found myself getting more and more angry at her heroines. I can handle people in a book not making the same choices I would have made, but it has to be well written prose to keep me hooked. I actually returned this book to B&N because I couldn't stand to read the last four chapters and I seriously wanted my money back AND I didn't want any book on my shelf that had a line like "he made love to me like a farmer" in it. UGH!!!

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read Barbara Kingsolver maybe 10 years ago and really liked her. Since then, I've discovered authors like Edna Forbes and Alice Hoffman who also both have an interest in the lives of rural women, rich narratives and, sometimes magical realism. That said, Kingsolver is still very much at the top of this field. However, this book left me somewhat disappointed by the end for two reasons:

1. Big themes- without spoiling too much, the theme of this book is that evolution is always going on and that human beings are not the end product of evolution, just a part of it. Perhaps more importantly Kingsolver tries to remind us that evolution is a slow, long, adaptive process. Evolution rarely happens quickly, yet Kingsolver’s characters themselves go though rapid, possibly even radical changes, by the end of this book. Good stuff for drama, but inconsistent with some of the broader themes.

2. Narrative Structure- nonlinear storytelling is not accomplished solely through an unconventional conclusion (read: Hollywood happy ending/closure). Kingsolver ends her book in a kind of abstract manner, shifting perspective to some coyotes whose existence in the plot prior to the end point seemed added on. Many minor plot were left unresolved as the coyotes walked off into the Sun, This would have been fine if the rest of the plot has not been so plodding and attentive to every detail in each character's life, but it was.

The conventional tale paired with an aspiring, but unresolved ending, just felt incomplete.

Along the same lines, the interweaving of characters and narrative voices is great, but about 3/4 of the way through the book every main character had been connected to every other main character in a way that simply felt over the top and a bit trite. Like, we get it, it's a small community and these characters needed to have some kind of theme tying them together, but it got a bit silly by the final connection.

Despite these flaws, Prodigal Summer was a good read and brought up a lot of interesting ideas and themes. The dialogue was well written and engaging.

[Paula Mota · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

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.

[Talkincloud]

Znowu przeniosłem się w Appalachy. Do lasu. Wniknąłem w sensualną, gęstą od emocji i zapachów książkę Barbary Kingsolver, pozwalając, by jej opowieść mnie uwiodła. To historia trojga bohaterów, zmagających się ze swoimi lękami – samotnością, stratą, nieufnością wobec bliskości. Wszystko to można zamknąć w słowach: "utrata i nowy początek”. A w tle – upalne lato, ostre promienie słońca i natura – dzika, pulsująca, nieustępliwa.

Deanna Wolfe, biolożka i naukowczyni, czuje się częścią lasu, który chroni. Obserwuje i bada kojoty, powracające drapieżniki na "jej" terenie. Gdy w samotność kobiety wkracza myśliwy Ed, Deanna wie, że to spotkanie zmieni wszystko. Nie chce, by zakłócił jej wewnętrzny spokój, ale nie potrafi o nim zapomnieć. Z każdym dniem, z każdym krokiem wzdłuż tej samej leśnej ścieżki, otwiera przed nim serce, choć tak bardzo pragnie pozostać niezdobyta.

Nieopodal, na farmie, Lusa Maluf Landowski – potomkini polskiego imigranta – próbuje odnaleźć się w wiejskiej codzienności. Nieprzyzwyczajona do życia na roli, nagle zostaje sama, postawiona twarzą w twarz z dramatyczną utratą. I właśnie wtedy zaczyna dostrzegać, że wokół niej są ludzie, którzy mogą stać się rodziną i ziemia, która domaga się czułości. Dostała szansę zapuścić korzenie. Może nawet stać się matką – nie z obowiązku, ale z miłości.

Kilka mil dalej, stary, uparty rolnik Garnett, prowadzi ideologiczną wojnę ze swoją sąsiadką o pestycydy. On marzy o odrodzeniu amerykańskiego kasztanowca – ona żyje teraźniejszością. Ten pozornie osobny wątek, pełen humoru i złośliwości, spaja wszystkie opowieści, dodając im jeszcze jedną warstwę sensu i kontrapunkt dla młodszych bohaterów.

"Lato marnotrawnych” to powieść obyczajowa w najlepszym, najbardziej literackim wydaniu. Sceny zbliżeń są napisane ze smakiem i intymnością, jakiej chciałoby się więcej w literaturze – bez taniego erotyzmu, za to z klasą i prawdą. To książka o czułości – do zwierząt, do przyrody, do drugiego człowieka. O tym, że czasem wystarczy zostawić serce na kamieniu i pozwolić, by ktoś się nim zajął.

Kingsolver z mistrzostwem snuje opowieść zawieszoną między dramatem a lirycznym spokojem. Doceniam tę niespieszność, bogactwo biologicznych szczegółów i emocjonalną głębię. To idealna lektura na lato – i chyba urzekła mnie nawet bardziej niż "Demon Copperhead”, wobec którego miałem raczej zbyt wygórowane oczekiwania.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction.

Three stories weave together into a beautiful story of nature, love, and family. The biology Kingsolver integrates in the narrative is educational and fascinating.

The three threads begin with "Predators" which follows Deanna, who is a Forest Preserve ranger and lives alone in a small cabin high upon Zebulon Mountain. She unexpectedly begins a romance with a roaming coyote poacher, although Deanna is working tirelessly to protect a hidden den of coyotes. Next is "Moth Love" about newly married Lusa and her adjustment to life on her husband's family farm and the large family that comes along with it. Finally there is "Old Chestnuts" which focuses on Garnett and Nannie, two old folks who have lived next door to each other their whole lives. The cantankerous relationship between them eventually arrives at mutual understanding and a unique sense of harmony.

My favorite character in the book is Lusa, who, for me, is the catalyst for action in the lives of the people she comes in contact with. Kingsolver's tying together of all these characters is subtle, yet powerful int he unknown impact each has on another. This truly is a work of art.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[L.G. Cullens · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 Twain

There 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 Schlossberg

I 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 ;-)

[Ruthie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Barbara Kingsolver book. Won't be my last. It is so BEAUTIFULLY written. Every sentence is crafted - which means it's quite a slow read; no skipping through paragraphs like most books. It has the jewel-like clarity and intensity of Ian McEwan but without the prissy, look-at-me-I'm-so-clever that creeps into his work.

Such vivid characters, each with their own voice. There were clear themes running through the book reflecting Kingsolver's detailed knowledge of biology and farming: evolution, the danger of man destroying any of the earth's creatures because of the knock-on effect, a fantastic exposition on why spraying insecticides on crops makes the problem worse. I've just gone and made this book sound boring haven't I? But it isn't; it's quietly gripping and life affirming.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book to begin the New Year. I enjoyed Poisonwood Bible so much. This was another enjoyable book. Barbara Kingsolver has a way with words that just keeps you connected to the story. I didn’t want this book to end.
This book has three stories set in the Appalachian Mountains.
Deanna is a biologist lives alone in a secluded cabin.
Lusa is a young wife who experiences unexpected challenges.
Nannie and Garret are neighbors constantly in conflict.
This is beautiful lyrical book weaving the three stories together. it is about nature and ecology. The descriptions of the environment were breathtaking.
If you love nature and science you will love this book.

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to create a new shelf for this book as I couldn't put it on my literary fiction shelf as I don't believe people will be reading this book in a hundred (or even fifty) years time. & it was too "heavy" to be categorised as chick lit.

I had a lot of problems with this book.

For one thing, it featured multiple points of view - which I'm not a fan of. At least it didn't go back & forth in time as well.

I was far more interested in Lusa's story than the other two - although my interest in Deanna's was high at the start, then faded & Garnett's story was (finally) interesting at the finish. I'm a bit of a tree hugging, muesli munching, bone carving wearing greenie myself,* but found this book got more than a little "preachy" as it went on. For example;

... "So? Who needs birds?"
"I do. You do."[redacted] "Not to mention, the rain would run straight down the mountain and take all the topsoil off my fields. The creek would be pure mud. This place would be a dead place."
Chrys shrugged "Trees grow back"
"That's what you think. This forest took hundreds of years to get like this."

& on & on & on!

Also a minor point but Deanna was supposed to have really beautiful, but amazingly long hair in the conditions she was living in? Yeah, right!

& endless stuff stuff about the minutiae in the character's life. Like, I just made plum jam, then plum chutney but didn't have enough plums to make plum sauce. Interested? Didn't think so. I think a good 50 pages could have been pruned off this book.

While one part of the three characters meshing together really surprised me (& was handled beautifully) others felt forced to tie everyone up a neat, tidy bow.

Kingsolver writes well and does capture the sour disenchantment of Lusa's disintegrating marriage perfectly. Since she is my sister's favourite author I may try another one - but I'm not in any rush!

* Phrase I always liked from a long ago NZ magazine - probably Metro.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The key themes of the book are ecological/natural: that Spring/Summer are times of active reproduction and are sexually charged in nature; that removing a predator from an ecological system has huge repercussions, often causing the next layer down to devastate the ecology; that indeterminate pesticides often have the effect of boosting the population of the herbivore insects they seek to control (because of their proportionately effect on their carnivore predators); that man is also a natural creature but has largely forgotten or obscured the basic effects of pheromones or of lunar inspired cycles; the importance of re-wilding.

These themes are very interesting but perhaps overplayed and the divide between the better educated and informed women and the simpler farmers is not sufficiently nuanced but rather one sided in presentation.

Overall though a book which leaves a strong impression – the writing style complementing the theme and giving a strong sense of the battle between man and the wild.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kingsolver's artistry is supreme. The issues she addresses matter deeply to her characters and her readers. What is the fine line between man and beast, conservation and man's need to use the natural world to his own ends? How do you fit into this world if your beliefs differ from most of the people around you? Can you change minds? Deanna removes herself, but humanity finds her and reconnects her to the world of man despite her isolation. Wonderful work.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this is a joyous experience. Other people have written long and thoughtful reviews but I'll just say that I loved its exuberance - a light exuberance, not at all boisterous - and its gentle, often funny, exploration of family and neighbourly 'business'.
I returned it to the friend who lent it to me and bought a copy to keep. She had said 'Try this' when I confessed I had never been able to get into The Poisonwood Bible, didn't want to read about missionaries in Africa. Thank you Lisa!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Annika · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this felt like being inside a nature documentary, observing and learning and soaking in all the lush dimensions of forest life, and at the same time being a voyeur to a number of human stories evolving around the documentary’s chief biographer and others on the periphery of the project.

As after watching a science show, I think I return this and easily find new things to notice.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Month of August 2022: Trendy Fictions

This book could have been the perfect segue between last month’s reading topic on ecology, and this month’s topic, trendy fictions. It’s an “earthy” story, which takes place in a small town called Egg Fork in Zebulon County, in the Appalachia Mountains.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like the three different storylines that were followed merged nor were very well connected. I kept waiting and wondering. Now, I’m a black and white reader. I don’t read fluffy stuff between the lines and I couldn’t figure out what the moth dream was about. I finally did see one small connection between two families, but it was such a brief point and nothing substantial. The story didn’t really lead up to anything, just the different groups of people casually talking things out each time it was their turn. There was no climax and no ending and I had no feelings or even cared what happened to the characters.

It follows three different family’s lives during one prodigal summer. They each had underlying issues and needed a different kind of love, but were highly misunderstood. It was about loving and taking care of the earth, and loving and accepting each other.

I will say the author is very knowledgable in regards to nature and how it behaves and functions. She mentions several things I’ve just learned about in the last few months. She knows so much about wild weeds and forest animals and birds. She even spoke about the ivory-billed woodpecker, now extinct, which I just read a book about just a few months ago.

She mentions the highly invasive Japanese honeysuckle that Lusa Widener, one of the characters, had decided, as a city girl, to let grow in-spite of her late husband’s warning. It eventually had taken over the garage. So now, I’m reconsidering removing the first little sprig of Japanese honeysuckle that I’ve discovered this summer growing here on Hoo Hoo Acres.

Lusa also talks about her favorite two silk moths: the luna and the lo moths. Now, how bizarre is this? We have lived here for 17 years. And just this past spring, I spotted my very first lo moth on my front door AND my very first luna moth on my living room window screen, both under our front porch. They stayed there, in one spot all day long until 4:15pm when, as I was watching, a bluejay swooped in under the porch and plucked the luna moth off the window. That was my very first and my very last sighting. And every time the author mentions the luna moth, she also brings up the lo moth. Strange!

When she described the snake’s sound of slithering overhead in the roof boards, like a “ dry, rough, papery scrape, almost like sandpaper…”. Well, this was EXACTLY the sound I heard above in the rafters of the chicken coop one day. I was gathering eggs and heard it. Looked up and, lo and behold, the largest rat snake I had ever seen in my life was the length of the coop and slithering in and out around the rafters above my head. That was one my husband relocated down to the bayou. It runs in cycles, just like this novel explains. When it’s a snake year, we see no mice. And when it’s a mice year, that’s because we don’t see many snakes around for whatever reason, except her cause was for the coyotes.

So, is this just a fictional story? All the parts on nature were actually very factual.

[Julietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why I hadn't gotten around to reading this book from my own bookcase until now. After all, I'm a huge fan of Barbara Kingsolver, her lush writing style, her themes of Darwinism, and the natural world in general! Another aspect of her work that I also adore in many other
novels is alternating chapters from different storylines. In this case, the storylines then converge in a very satisfying way, although there are no Hollywood endings here.

Surprisingly, some major protagonists of "Prodigal Summer" are coyotes. We get to learn of the enormous importance of predators in the animal (including human animal) world. Many readers might be familiar with environmental themes about the importance of bees and pesticide-free organic farming, but this work expands this knowledge exponentially without being didactic.

Not to spoil outcomes, I won't reveal what becomes of the strong female characters: *Lusa, the city woman who is both Jewish and Muslim
*Deanna, the forest ranger and coyote enthusiast
*Nannie, the elderly though fit organic farmer. I love a book where the heroes are women of substance!

Ultimately, Kingsolver's book is an ode to biology, and the animal need to be one with nature, multiply ourselves, and care for our own species and the rest of the species that share our planet.

Don't miss this one!