This
novel by
Barbara Kingsolver is the story of an
American family in the
Congo. The father, Nathan Price is a
Baptist missionary who takes his family to the Congo in
1959 to convert the savages. The story is told through the voices of his four
daughters and his
wife. Kingslover’s use of five distinct
voices allows her to offer
multiple viewpoints on the events of the novel. The novel also contains the story of the Congo’s independence form
Belgium, the murder of the first president,
Patrice Lumumba (only 51 days after independence), and the American involvement that installed a
dictator (
Mobutu) who would rule in terror until 1997. It is a novel that asks us to examine our own roles in
colonization.
The Price Family
Nathan Price : a
tyrant who is so
disconnected from reality that he seems to barely notice his family being struck down by
malaria and
hunger, and can’t fathom why the village women won’t let him dip their children in a river with
crocodiles that have been known to eat children.
Orleanna Price : The
mother of the family, she struggles to keep her daughters alive, and leaves the Congo filled with
guilt for the one she left.
Rachel Price : An
unrepentant colonizer. She arrives in the Congo reluctantly, wanting nothing more from life than
a sweet sixteen party and
a pink mohair sweater set. Spouts fabulous
malapropisms such as “In America we have a system of marriage and it is called
monotony" or "a tapestry of justice".
Leah Price : She follows her father to the Congo seeking his
approval, but she stays for herself, and to try to help right some of the wrongs done to the Congo by America.
Adah Price : The one with the
slant, lacking kakakaka (Kikongo for hurrying up) spouting
Emily Dickinson and
William Carlos Williams and her own
palindromes and backwards hymns (oh god, dog ho!) She is the one that doesn’t speak. Adah pokes fun at her father and the
Bible.
Ruth May : The child, the
innocent whose voice reveals the horror of
racism with her misunderstandings and such statements as “Jimmy Crow says that, and he makes the laws” and “Their day for the Zoo is Thursday. That’s in the Bible.”
So much more to say about this book, just read it, it’s
wonderful!