Book Review
Prodigal Summer

By Barbara Kingsolver
Reviewed by Bill London
from the November 2003 Newsletter

There is a big difference between “show” and “tell.” Writers can, and often do in academic texts and essays, tell their readers what to think. They lay out their ideas and thoughts in an explicit manner. Other writers show the readers another way of thinking or believing through a story, like a novel. Their involvement through the characters, and seeing the world through their eyes, allows the reader access into another way of thinking.

That showing method is what Barbara Kingsolver uses in her book “Prodigal Summer” to share her message about the interwoven natural world, the poisonous and self-defeating reality of pesticides, and the importance of predators in the animal world. She shows us another world, in rural Kentucky, through the stories of three different people whose lives, inevitably intertwine.

Kingsolver’s message is a compelling one, and her book is so well written, that (after you get accustomed to the separateness of the three stories) it is very hard to put down. The book, “Prodigal Summer” is available at the library or for sale at BookPeople.

Bill London edits this newsletter, and reads a few chapters of something nearly every night.

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