book review: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

-
The backstory: Flight Behavior was shortlisted for the 2013 Orange Prize for Women's Fiction.

 The basics: Dellarobia is a young, married mother of two in Appalachia. When Monarch butterflies are discovered in the woods behind their home, their land becomes a spectacle of sorts.

 My thoughts: There's a fabulous moment in Center Stage (one of my all-time favorite films) when Peter Gallagher's character says "I need to see the movement, not the effort behind it." That sentiment perfectly fits my thoughts on Flight Behavior: As I read, I saw the effort behind the novel rather than the novel itself. I don't necessarily mean that as a criticism. Flight Behavior is a novel I quite enjoyed, but it wasn't one that swept me away. I never felt the characters were real people, but they were well-formed. I didn't feel Flight Behavior was set in actual Appalachia, but rather an idyllic version of it. Still, I loved the experience of reading this novel. Kingsolver's prose was fluid and beautiful. This novel is filled with long sentences, long paragraphs, and long chapters. I found myself wanting to read it in bursts, and as I finished each chapter, I closed the book and pondered it for awhile. It wasn't a classic page turner, as I didn't care as much about what happened as I did why Kingsolver makes the choices she makes: I cared more about her motivations as a writer and the message than I did about the characters.

 The verdict: Flight Behavior is a thought-provoking novel concerned with climate change and science. This emphasis is both a strength and a weakness, as I found myself more engaged with the issues than the characters themselves. Kingsolver's writing shines brighter than the characters, but it's a novel I ultimately quite enjoyed, albeit for surprising reasons.

 Rating: 4 out of 5
Length: 448 pages
Publication date: 
Source: publisher via TLC Book Tours

 Convinced? Treat yourself! Buy Flight Behavior from an independent bookstore, the Book Depository or Amazon (Kindle edition.)

Want more? Visit all the tour stops, visit Barbara Kingsolver's website, and like her on Facebook.

As an affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits that bring more content to this blog!

Comments

  1. AndiJuly 10, 2013 at 12:31 PM

    Ha! I love that movie. And that's a great comparison. I have this one waiting for me, so we'll see how it goes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. TiJuly 10, 2013 at 12:55 PM

    I love that movie too and you hit the nail on the head with this review. I felt that the book was just a vehicle for the message she wanted to put out there. I still thought it was well done, but the characters... oh that woman! Cannot believe she shared that news with her son on his bday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. nomadreaderJuly 10, 2013 at 1:02 PM

      Yes! I think the reason Dellarobia didn't bug me more was because I never thought of her as a real person, so I wasn't attached to her actions. I had to keep reminding myself she was young and Southern because I kept thinking of her as a middle-aged WASPy person.

      I had the hardest time writing this review. Ugh.

      Delete
  3. Leslie (Under My Apple Tree)July 10, 2013 at 3:35 PM

    I listened to the audio version which the author narrated. I did get the feel of being in Appalachia from hearing the accents. Definitely agree, the story was a vehicle for the message, but I enjoyed it anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. nomadreaderJuly 10, 2013 at 3:41 PM

      Leslie, I wish I would have listened to this one, I think.

      Delete
  4. AthiraJuly 10, 2013 at 7:12 PM

    I could never get into this book because I couldn't connect with any of the characters either. Someday I'll give it another try.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 11, 2013 at 8:50 PM

    When I read this one I'll keep in mind that the issues are the real focus of the book so I don't worry if I don't connect with the characters.

    Thanks for being on the tour!

    ReplyDelete
  6. (Diane) Bibliophile By the SeaJuly 12, 2013 at 8:13 PM

    Now I have to watch the movie you referenced:) I liked the book..not loved but liked.

    ReplyDelete
  7. JennyAugust 31, 2017 at 9:00 AM

    Your review of this book is spot-on, and puts into words all the things I was feeling as I was reading. The quote perfectly summarizes what I've been thinking the whole time, too. I respect Kingsolver so much, and the work that she has done and continues to do, and I know what she was trying to do with this novel. I just couldn't believe in the legitimacy of the characters, and I think that made me always feel like I was ingesting the story at arm's-length.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an...
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about ...
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the ...
Read more