Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

[Erin]

What were your thoughts about the "Flight Behavior"? Please discuss.

[Rachel]

I'm still reading it. I'm about a third of the way in, and like it so far, though in all honesty it is NOT my favorite of Kingsolver's work. Bean Trees and High Tide in Tuscon are still better in my view.

[Erin]

I could have loved this book. But I didn't. It was very well written. I appreciated the main character. But honestly, I felt it was a little too preachy. Also, I felt that it dragged.

I like the point- that a change seemingly small can have huge ramifications. I just wish it would have been woven throughout the story in a more subtle and interesting way.

[Rachel]

Yeah, I totally hear you. The lack of subtlety has bugged me (no pun intended) and it appears to only be getting worse as the book goes on. It seems unlike her, almost like she had an axe to grind and wrote impatiently to that end. Like I said before, several of her other works are MUCH more masterful in terms of weaving in a message without being too preachy

[Lee]

Okay, finally finished this one. It left me feeling a bit empty, frankly. I feel like she has this compulsion to use her literary fame to get the message of Global Warming out there (as if we didn't already know that shit is hitting the fan.)

Did you ever read The Celestine Prophecy? Wretched book: some really interesting ideas cloaked in a truly crappy story. Anyway, this wasn't as bad as that, but I wish she had just focused her considerable talent on telling the true science of the matter (sort of like she did in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) instead of trying to wrap it up in a basically uninteresting story. Or focus on the story/characters without the overwrought science lectures. Choose a path, lady. And the ending was overly theatrical, both obvious and absurd

I still admire her work in general, I just had higher expectations for this one than she delivered.

[Erin]

I totally agree with you guys. It was a great concept, but the execution could have used some finesse. I really liked the main character.