Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Review: Dellarobia had dreams of escaping her rural Tennessee town but an unexpected pregnancy resulted in marriage at age 17. Even though she miscarried, she stayed in the marriage (despite not loving or respecting her husband) and eventually had two children. Now age 27, she finds herself flirting with the idea of an affair when she discovers a forest burning with monarch butterflies. She believes it's a sign from God to go back to her family and make things work.
I loved the Poisonwood Bible and was expecting to love this book. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. The positives? It was well written and very descriptive. The overall message regarding the environment and global warming was good. There were a few laugh out loud moments (including some of Dellarobia's observations at church). The not so good? Dellarobia. Although she grew on me, she was difficult to like for most of the book. She constantly complained about money, yet she always found funds for her cigarettes (disclosure: I grew up in a house where money was extremely tight yet my mother always found money for cigarettes. I was always annoyed by this). Dellarobia also made constant comments about how they couldn't afford Christmas ornaments, but she knew how to sew. I kept waiting for her to make some homemade ornaments or start a business on the side sewing...but it never happened. There also seemed to be a lot of conversations in stores (consignment shop, Wal-Mart). Last point of contention-the ending. I'll avoid spoilers but there seemed to be some discussions and financial matters that happened/were discussed off the book to enable to last chapter to happen. I was glad that Dellarobia finally took control of her life but the extent at which she did it it did not ring true to the rest of the book.
Grade: 2/5
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