Florida, Oddly Enough
I know I've mentioned this in other posts, but one of my favorite things about my job is my commute which allows me a 45 minute stretch, twice a weekday, to listen to audiobooks. I've got a story I want to talk about. I am late reading, The Poisonwood Bible, it was published in 1998. I've read several other Kingsolver novels, always intending to get to this one. Now I have discovered a treasure. I wasn't sure if I could stick with it at first, the narrator's rate of speech and cadence weren't pleasing to me. But within 10 minutes I was hooked, even if slightly annoyed. The Price family, preacher husband and father, Nathan, his wife Orleanna, and 4 daughters, Rachel, Adah, Leah, and Ruth May, reach the Congo where the pastor feels called to spread the gospel. The tale spans thirty years told through the eyes of each of the main female characters. Each has her unique voice and perspective on what befalls them over these years. We do not hear the father's point of view. But to give you an idea of the father's character, I'll give you this insight, which also explains the book's title: Lingala, the language spoken by the local villagers is tonal. Many words have vastly different meanings depending on how the syllables are pronounced. The father being aware of this, never takes into account that each week he ends his sermons unknowingly declaring, "Jesus is poisonwood!" From the book: "Tata Jesus is bangala!" declares the Reverend every Sunday […] Bangala means something precious and dear. But the way he pronounces it, it means the poisonwood tree. Praise the Lord, hallelujah, my friends! for Jesus will make you itch like nobody's business." The title also refers to errata of the bible and various translations which have become collector's items because of a poorly copied verse, Such as the Sin Bible, where Paul exhorts the crowd to sin on more, rather than sin no more. Adah collects these in the story. The father gives wife and daughters "the verse", when he wishes to chastise them, he shows no familial love. As if a bible believing automaton he has become, possibly as the result of being shell shocked in WWII, and survivor's guilt. After the belt or a stern talking to, the daughters tell one another, "He gave me John 3:12... for example. The womens' stories ripple through time, each changed, and changing in turn the histories of everyone they meet. Beautifully described in this quote: “Every life is different because you passed this way and touched history. Even the child Ruth May touched history. Everyone is complicit. The okapi complied by living, and the spider by dying. It would have lived if it could. Listen: being dead is not worse than being alive. It is different, though. You could say the view is larger.”
I've listened to it slowly, rewinding, relistening to many sections because it is masterfully written. Many lines left me needing to savor, so I would pause the cd, drive on, thinking. I believe it took her many years to write this book, over 10 years; she'd work on it in spurts, keeping it in a file titled "Damn Africa book." I'm so happy she kept at it as I feel the story as told, edified me as a human being. The rich descriptions of the Congolese, their beautiful philosophies and natural economy, the lush yet harsh environment, the history and troubles of the land, made me wish for more, for more of that story. A story, a story as the African folktale goes. The language is rich and wise, I'd love to hear more.
Next on the list is Maru, by Bessie Head, which will weave for me another tale of relationships, love, and customs, set in Africa. Then, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, recommended by Barbara Kingsolver, the memoir of a Florida native and her poverty stricken rural childhood in a fundamentalist family. In this way I will continue the themes set in motion in The Poisonwood Bible. I think certain books fall in my lap because there is something in them that I need to hear. How I would like to contemplate and expound upon my thoughts about this story with others, if only there were a book club discussion going on right now. But as I said I'm a couple of decades late.
Some stories change us, maybe they all do. It's the mark of a good book that you had to set it down, or pause it, in this case, just to let the words work magic in you. I treasure this book, and will buy it in both formats, print and audio. I grew to love the narrator's voice, so fitting for the mother, Orleanna's voice, perhaps.
I'll end with this beautiful quote:
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