Prodigal Summer

Product Information

Despite my resistance to some features of the worldview presented here, I’m still on board with Kingsolver’s general goal, which is to stubbornly contextualize human activities and aspirations within the diverse dance of earthly life and the greater cosmos that contains it. Humility is called for, early and often. Death is nearby, and not worth lamenting more than is necessary to confront and process our grief. Birth and rebirth are always imminent. I’ll let her have the last word: Deanna is the self-appointed protector of coyotes and all predators. Is she disturbing nature's own ways of dealing with upsets? What about Garnett and his quest for a blight-free chestnut tree-is this "good" for nature? At its core, Prodigal Summer is about one thing, and one thing only: sex. I’ve never read a text so unabashedly brimming with sexual imagery and sensuous excess. There’s nothing lurid or depraved about Kingsolver’s exploration of this theme; on the contrary, this novel is an empowering and poetic paean to the glory of sexual reproduction. As the title suggests, the story unfolds over the course of a single summer, a “season of extravagant procreation” in which “the collisions of strangers” generate new and intoxicating mixtures of emotions, ideas, and––of course––genes (51, 6). “There was no engine on earth,” Kingsolver writes, “whose power compared with the want of one body for another” (415). Sex, she teaches us, makes an incomparable contribution to evolutionary robustness, even as it also creates a landscape of genetic diversity in which some individuals are dealt a losing hand: While one part of the three characters meshing together really surprised me (& was handled beautifully) others felt forced to tie everyone up a neat, tidy bow. Even if you never touch meat, you’re costing something its blood”, she said. “Don’t patronize me. I know that. Living takes life.”

What may annoy some in this writing are passages of character thoughts that those reading for entertainment only don't want to think about. Even these character thoughts aren't necessarily dispensed as gospel though, as they may be muddled, even contradicted, further on, leaving the reader to ponder the subjective good vs. bad aspects of the natural world that perplex us. Nature is oblivious to our considered rights and wrongs, adapting life forms in moving on, intent on balancing the paradoxical and symbiotic interactions among evolving life forms in preserving a continuum of physical life.These characters, like all creatures, are connected. There are several large connections between these characters. Deanna's father is also the father of Nannie Rawley's daughter. Garnett is the grandfather to the children Lusa adopts. Both Deanna and Lusa care about the coyotes living on the mountain, as well as the forest behind the Widener home. There are many other smaller details that attach one character to another, including personality traits, the nature that surrounds them, and the growth that takes place in their lives over the course of two seasons. As an example of the plot, in the first chapter the story begins in introducing the reader to not only a main character, but also to Nature in the randiness of spring as seen through the human umwelt. It's a thread exploited further as the story progresses, spiked with joy, enmity, loss, and irony. What better way to grab the reader's interest than with hormonal enticement, the subjective issues it engenders, and accompanying pleasures and resentments. In my experience, that's the cornerstone of much of literature. I'm not complaining mind you, I'm for whatever might work to hopefully instill a better understanding of the natural world that sustains us — that for the sake of our futures. i put this book down twice and read other things, then brought it on vacation with me and slowly read it over a month. jesus, a month. Garett's interesting. Actually, the guys in the periphery of this book are all more fun to read about than the women. The three threads begin with "Predators" which follows Deanna, who is a Forest Preserve ranger and lives alone in a small cabin high upon Zebulon Mountain. She unexpectedly begins a romance with a roaming coyote poacher, although Deanna is working tirelessly to protect a hidden den of coyotes. Next is "Moth Love" about newly married Lusa and her adjustment to life on her husband's family farm and the large family that comes along with it. Finally there is "Old Chestnuts" which focuses on Garnett and Nannie, two old folks who have lived next door to each other their whole lives. The cantankerous relationship between them eventually arrives at mutual understanding and a unique sense of harmony.

Kingsolver is an ambitious writer, but here she has bitten off a lot that she doesn't really chew. A richer book might've given life to the hunter's worldview and Bible Belt ignorance rather than setting them up like bowling pins to be As Kingsolver fans will expect, Prodigal Summer also includes long discussions about whether humans are somehow separate from nature or an intrinsic part of it, as well as politically-tinged debates about the economics of farming, the dangers of pesticides, and the ethics of hunting. Some of these are tiresome and don’t feel as fresh as they probably did when the book was published two decades ago; I personally am less sympathetic to Kingsolver’s point of view than I would have been as a younger man. There’s a fair amount of appealing to nature going on here, but not so much than it ruined the book for me. In particular, Garnett represents a nice attempt to get inside the perspective of someone from a previous generation who balks at the newfangled methods of “the damned hippies” who see nature as inherently harmonious. He’s a bit of a stereotype, but also a vivid and strong character in his own right. Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of southern Appalachia. A complex web of human and natural struggle and interdependency is analyzed with an invigorating mixture of intelligence and warmth. I read this book again, so I can write a better review, since this book definitely deserves a second thought.Her body moved with the frankness that comes from solitary habits. But solitude is only a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot; every choice is a world made new for the chosen. All secrets are witnessed. You’re not much of a talker,” he said. “Most girls I know, they’ll yap half the day about something they haven’t done yet and might not get around to.” The second main character mentioned is Lusa, and her chapters are titled "Moth Love." She is an entomologist from Lexington who is lonely in her new home and marriage. She and her husband frequently argue, and she feels like an outsider in his family's home and the community. Soon into her story, Cole is killed in an automobile accident, and she spends the rest of the book dealing with his death, becoming part of his family, and finding her place in this small community in Zebulon County. Cole's life becomes a string of stories to learn more about his life, as well as the history of his entire family. She has become part of this family, when she and the family let their guards down and get to know each other. Also, she falls in love with her dying sister-in-law's children and prepares to adopt them. This adoption gives her a place in this family, and it keeps the family home in the Widener family for another generation.

It is summer in the Appalachian mountains and love, desire and attraction are in the air. Nature, too, it seems, is not immune. From her outpost in an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. She is caught off guard by a young hunter who invades her most private spaces and interrupts her self-assured, solitary life. On a farm several miles down the mountain, Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer’s wife, finds herself marooned in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly feuding neighbours tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities of a future neither of them expected. Over the course of one humid summer, these characters find their connections of love to one another and to the surrounding nature with which they share a place. I promise I could make you laugh if I showed you the comments my teachers made in my high school yearbook in my senior year. This was an odd moment for me to finally get around to reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer, which has been waiting on my bookshelf for ages. Bursting with energy and appreciation for all living things, the book reminds me that I am not a farmer, that I am not a naturalist––not in the true sense of those words, anyway. It offers a snapshot of my former ambitions that, for whatever reason, did not motivate or entice me in the way I thought they might. Even so, I had no trouble enjoying the scenery while traipsing through this smart and artful novel. Before delving into the many merits of this book, I must first set down my one complaint. Several times during my initial reading I felt an odd sensation of being preached to, admonished and yet at the same time educated. Kingsolver almost goes over the top with what I'm calling her "agenda," her thoughts on the fragility and vulnerability of nature at man's mercy, that come through the voices of her main characters. But despite this, her characters' passion and zeal ring true more often than not, especially because the novel takes place in southern Appalachia, Kingsolver's old stomping ground, both in fiction and in life. Each story/chapter has it's own title. "Predators" is essentially a love story, an older "mountain woman" and a much younger hunter meet by chance on a mountain trail. Their story isn't so much love as it is obsession. In terms of nature, their story is very detailed. I love how Kingsolver can describe a tree, a rainstorm, a snake, a bug, a cabin in the woods and each time it's different and beautiful. She doesn't feel like she flipped through a thesaurus and learned new words as she went along. Her language is very easy and flows nicely with the setting of the story. Since Deanna Wolfe is a woman who has lived on the mountain for two years observing the flora and fauna, this type of dialect would come easily to her.

Need Help?

From her outpost in an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. She is caught off-guard by a young hunter who invades her most private spaces and confounds her self-assured, solitary life. On a farm several miles down the mountain, Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer's wife, finds herself unexpectedly marooned in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly feuding neighbors tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities of a future neither of them expected. Did you know that nature is kept in balance by predators? Or that chemical pesticides aren't so good?

Prodigal Summerweaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of southern Appalachia. At the heart of these intertwined narratives is a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches the forest from her outpost in an isolated mountain cabin where she is caught off-guard by Eddie Bondo, a young hunter who comes to invade her most private spaces and confound her self-assured, solitary life. On a farm several miles down the mountain, another web of lives unfolds as Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer’s wife, finds herself unexpectedly marooned in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the complexities of a world neither of them expected. Very descriptive and calming. Three stories tied into one, and cleaned up neatly at the end. A good summertime read. There is trouble a few farms down as well; two elderly neighbors, both set in their ways and growing ever more cantankerous as they get older, are in the throes of an escalating feud that started out as a small disagreement but with every humid day that passes gets more and more heated itself. They fight about the existence of God, the impact of technology that they don't like, don't want and don't understand, and the use of pesticides that are changing the way that they farm entirely.Another pause. She watched his hands, but what pulled on her was the dark green glint of his eyes. He observed her acutely, seeming to evaluate her hill-inflected vowels for the secrets behind her “yep” and “nope.” His grin turned down on the corners instead of up, asking a curved parenthetical question above his right-angled chin. She could not remember a more compelling combination of features on any man she’d ever seen. How does the relationship between Deanna and Eddie Bondo change them both? Should Deanna have told Eddie about the pregnancy? Do you think he already knew and that was one of the reasons he left when he did? Prodigal Summer" is a novel about members of a community in Appalachia, specifically focusing on the lives of Deanna Wolfe, Lusa Landowski, and Garnett Walker. These main characters are introverted and solitary individuals who have unique and strong views about their natural surroundings. Throughout the course of a spring and summer, their lives change drastically and they realize that they, like other creatures, are not solitary. They are a part of a complex web that connects all living beings. It follows three different family’s lives during one prodigal summer. They each had underlying issues and needed a different kind of love, but were highly misunderstood. It was about loving and taking care of the earth, and loving and accepting each other.