Barbara Kingsolver's Pigs in Heaven is the heartwarming sequel to The Bean Trees, by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Lacuna.
Barbara Kingsolver's thirteen books of fiction, poetry and non-fiction include the novels The Bean Trees and the international bestseller The Poisonwood Bible which, amongst other accolades, won the 2005 Penguin/Orange Reading Group Book of the Year award. Her most recent novel The Lacuna, won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2010.
"Possessed of an extravagantly gifted narrative voice, Kingsolver blends a fierce and abiding moral vision with benevolent concise humor. Her medicine is meant for the head, the heart and the soul.""--New York Times Book Review""A novel full of miracles.""--Newsweek""Full of wit, compassion, and intelligence." "--People""There is no one quite like Barbara Kingsolver in contemporary literature. Her dialogue sparkles with sassy wit and the earthy poetry of ordinary folks' talk; her descriptions have a magical lyricism rooted in daily life but also on familiar terms with the eternal." "--Washington Post Book World""Kingsolver makes you care about her characters to the point of tears; she is bitingly funny--and she writes like a dream.""--San Francisco Chronicle""Breathtaking...unforgettable....This profound, funny, bighearted novel, in which people actually find love and kinship in surprising places, is also heavenly....A rare feat and a triumph.""--Cosmopolitan""That rare combination of a dynamic story told in dramatic language, combined with issues that are serious, debatable and painful...[it's] about the human heart in all its shapes and ramifications.""--Los Angeles Times Book Review""A crackerjack storyteller...Kingsolver has a way with miracles. One is the way she opens her plot to them. The other is the way she makes us believe.""--Newsweek""Immensely readable, warmhearted...brim[ming] with down-home wisdom and endearing characters.""--Boston Globe"
In movieland, the trend toward seemingly endless sequels might make one weary; yet with books like Kingsolver's Pigs in Heaven, one can joyfully seize the sequel to The Bean Trees (LJ 2/1/88) and the continuing tale of Taylor Greer and her adopted Cherokee daughter, Turtle. Unsought fame leads mother and daughter to appear on Oprah and threatens to break up the small but sturdy family when a Cherokee attorney probes Turtle's apparently illegal adoption. Kingsolver's story bounces entertainingly from Native American legend to slightly offbeat wisdom to pop culture satire while seriously exploring the conflicts between the needs and rights of the individual and those of the tribe. The characters make one truly glad for the return visit. Recommended for most collections. [For a review of the abridged version of Pigs in Heaven, see Audio Reviews, LJ 7/93.-Ed.)-Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, N.Y.
YA-When a young Cherokee tribal lawyer comes to the door to claim Taylor's illegally adopted Indian daughter, the white woman must face the fact that her stable life is about to be torn apart. The story follows her and six-year-old Turtle across the West as they flee from the threat of separation and exist on minimum-wage earnings. Meanwhile, Taylor's mother, Alice, leaves her second husband and goes to stay with her cousin in Heaven, Oklahoma. There she meets Cash, a full-blooded Cherokee, who has been living outside the reservation, but yearns to return to his roots. The richness of Indian tribal life is seen through the eyes of Cash, Alice, and Annawake Fourkiller, the lawyer. There are some wonderful scenes revealing Cherokee customs and lifestyles. The stories of the different characters are woven together with humor and sensitivity. When Taylor and Turtle come to the reservation to face their future, readers will feel the adoptive mother's helplessness as she admits that she, too, might have let the child down. The characters are ordinary, yet noble and memorable, and the ending is just and gratifying. The issue of Indian children being adopted outside the tribe is addressed with respect from all sides.- Penny Stevens, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
"Possessed of an extravagantly gifted narrative voice, Kingsolver blends a fierce and abiding moral vision with benevolent concise humor. Her medicine is meant for the head, the heart and the soul.""--New York Times Book Review""A novel full of miracles.""--Newsweek""Full of wit, compassion, and intelligence." "--People""There is no one quite like Barbara Kingsolver in contemporary literature. Her dialogue sparkles with sassy wit and the earthy poetry of ordinary folks' talk; her descriptions have a magical lyricism rooted in daily life but also on familiar terms with the eternal." "--Washington Post Book World""Kingsolver makes you care about her characters to the point of tears; she is bitingly funny--and she writes like a dream.""--San Francisco Chronicle""Breathtaking...unforgettable....This profound, funny, bighearted novel, in which people actually find love and kinship in surprising places, is also heavenly....A rare feat and a triumph.""--Cosmopolitan""That rare combination of a dynamic story told in dramatic language, combined with issues that are serious, debatable and painful...[it's] about the human heart in all its shapes and ramifications.""--Los Angeles Times Book Review""A crackerjack storyteller...Kingsolver has a way with miracles. One is the way she opens her plot to them. The other is the way she makes us believe.""--Newsweek""Immensely readable, warmhearted...brim[ming] with down-home wisdom and endearing characters.""--Boston Globe"
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