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Homeland and Other Stories By Barbara Kingsolver ( Harper Perennial )
Release Date: 1990-05-23
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List Price: $13.95
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Product Description
With the same wit and sensitivity that have come to characterize her highly praised and beloved novels Animal Dreams and The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver gives us a rich and emotionally resonant collection of twelve stories. Spreading her memorable characters over landscapes ranging from northern-California to the hills of eastern Kentucky and the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Kingsolver tells stories of hope, momentary joy, and powerful endurance. In every setting, Kingsolver's distinctive voice -- at times comic, but often heartrending -- rings true as she explores the twin themes of family ties and the life choices one must ultimately make alone. Homeland and Other Stories creates a world of love and possibility that readers will want to take as their own.
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 Her novels are brilliant, her short stories aren't quite... I still always recommend her! ( rqp )
Kingsolver, who has never written anything that hasn't awed me, manages to capture much of the very essence of the human existence in our culturally and socially backward world (and country). These stories, however, are not nearly as powerful and earth-moving for me as her novels (Prodigal Summer, Poisonwood Bible, Pigs in Heaven, etc..)
This is a collection of short stories that each deal with the frustrations that average people face in their desire to lead normal, quiet, decent lives. Frequently her personages are `different' in some way and their frustrations are compounded in economic, social, cultural and sometimes just personal ways. And the power of persistence, love, and respect is frequently what combats those frustrations. None of these stories are loud and angry, none are suspenseful or thrilling, but each is softly, powerfully moving and thought provoking.
I respond to Kingsolver because she presents her characters in ways that pull in the reader, leaving the reader as an ally, quietly rooting for the protagonist. I always recommend Kingsolver to other readers because she can enlighten you without you even knowing it!
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Talented writing, but the stories get redundant ( markdaniels2 )
My sister and I are both big readers; my favorite novelists are John Irving and Anne Tyler, her favorite is Barbara Kingsolver. I decided to give Kingsolver a try, and decided to start with this book - her short stories - to get a taste, and see if it was worth my time to try one of her longer works.
The writing talent is certainly there, but I feel after reading this collection (and reading the summaries of Kingsolver's full length novels), I've already read enough to decide not to go further.
The similarity of subject matter becomes redundant after awhile. Every story (and - apparently - every Kingsolver novel) tells the story of a semi-lost woman (usually living in Arizona or Appalachia), each containing an element from the natural world as a metaphor for that confused woman's life. Kingsolver's naturalist interests are obvious; we get an Indian woman's God-like reverence for the stars, another character's interest in Geology, a child's interest in endangered species, etc.
We're also occasionally shamed into caring more for the environment, as Kingsolver does. The story "Extinctions" is a good example of what I mean, with the heroine's two children interested in whales and dinosaurs: "(Matt's) infatuation is not whales but dinosaurs - species that are already gone. It strikes her that by the time her sons are grown there will be little difference. Their own children will view whales as kinds of dinosaurs - mythical beasts - not something real, to mourn. They will never believe those huge, fishlike creatures moved through the seas in modern times, while people were driving around in Hondas and drawing money from bank machines." Now, I'm as Liberal as a hippie, and perhaps we SHOULD care more for the natural world than we do, but must I be ashamed that I don't, and shamed for owning an automobile and ATM card? I think that's a bit preachy, Barb. Subtle perhaps, but preachy.
With all due respect for my sister's tastes, I'll stick with my John Irving novels for the time being. I guess I like male protagonists from New England better than female protagonists from Kentucky and Arizona.
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 Beautiful Characters ( novak158 )
Kingsolver's attention to the details of life shows itself again is this lovely collection. Great for reading in the bathtub, my favorite spot.
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Good read but .... ( manfarr1974 )
I am a huge Barbara Kingsolver fan, and the short stories are really good - but seemed somewhat unfinished to me...It could be that each of them could be a chapter in a different book...maybe that is a sign of good short stories...BUT regardless, the characters are complex, deep, and real...
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I wish each story was its own novel.
A lovely collection of stories, as is to be expected of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction. The characters are rich and dynamic, and the stories are so well developed that I wish each one was a full-length novel. Well worth the read-
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Addiction
