Flight Behavior in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Feb 08, 2013 Dana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: moms-club-book-club

It's been awhile since I read a book where I was sad as I knew the end was approaching and missed a character for days afterward. But it happened with this book and Dellarobia Turnbow. I was initially so excited to read it--an environmental phenomenon bringing in scientists, activists, and the media who class with the people of a small Appalachian town sounded like just my kind of book and I'm a fan of Kingsolver's. I was disappointment at first because the book started off slowly, with setup, d It's been awhile since I read a book where I was sad as I knew the end was approaching and missed a character for days afterward. But it happened with this book and Dellarobia Turnbow. I was initially so excited to read it--an environmental phenomenon bringing in scientists, activists, and the media who class with the people of a small Appalachian town sounded like just my kind of book and I'm a fan of Kingsolver's. I was disappointment at first because the book started off slowly, with setup, description, and dialogue seeming to drag. The information all was relevant later and once I finally had some time to read regularly and forge on, I started to love it.

Kingsolver does take the chance to get on the soap box about the reality and dangers of climate change as well as clear cutting, which was fine with me since I know she's right and she is in fact a biologist. But while providing the insights from the scientists about the changing weather that brings the butterflies that usually winter in Mexico to Kentucky and then threatens them, she also provides fair time to residents of Feathertown and Dellarobia's poor farming family. A discussion between Dellarobia and an activist asking people to take a pledge to reduce their carbon footprint nicely points out that while the poor in Feathertown may not "believe in" or care about global warming, they also have much smaller carbon footprint than many of us who are very concerned--as Dellarobia says she only shops in second-hand stores, eats locally grown/raised food from their farm, doesn't eat much meet, doesn't use much gas, doesn't use take-out containers from restaurants because she can't afford to eat out. And while the dangers of the attitude that "God controls the weather" are pointed out, the spiritual viewpoints aren't made fun of.

Amid the story of the happenings in the town, there is the personal story of Dellarobia, who was married at 17 because she was pregnant, then lost the baby as well as her mother. Orphaned, she stays with her husband and ulimately has two more kids (wonderfully portrayed) but is not in love and has a cool relationship with her in-laws. She is smart and wanted to go to college, but with classes taught by sports coaches with no content knowledge, other than one caring English teacher, she could not pass the ACT. She is living in her small world and was considering taking flight herself (the title works for both the butterflies and her story). The scientists coming to her farm open her world for her and make her realize she wants more. I cheered for her and for the butterflies. Having been studying biology I enjoyed the science. All in all, I really enjoyed this book. If the subject matter is interesting to you, power through the first 100 pages. I'm glad I did. ...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Mandy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub, kindle

Flight Behaviour is Barbara Kingsolver's treatise on climate change and it's a doozy. There's a lot of information dumped on you as a reader but once you get past the science, the relationships between Dellarobia, her family, and the scientists are really interesting and well done. I found myself relating to Dellarobia and her situation but I found the ending a little too pat. Without giving anything away, things change drastically in her life and instead of leaving it as a metaphorical change, ...more

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