Kingsolver flourishes in 'Prodigal Summer'

By Jackie Reitzes

For the Daily

In "Prodigal Summer," the latest novel from acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver, three stories of rural inhabitants in an Appalachian farming community entwine to create a beautiful novel laced with themes of nature, love, sex and isolation. At the heart of this book is the unavoidable connection of humans to the earth around them, that the land that joins them and every living creature to it is a complex web of cohabitation. More than just geographical proximity, the characters of the story and the external beings that surround them are bound by the universal desires they share, to propagate their line and leave their legacy to future generations.

The novel evolves over the muggy days of one bountiful Southern summer, where each of three protagonists undergoes transitions from isolation to companionship. The story begins with Deanna Wolf, a forest ranger in her mid-forties marked by her deep reverence and knowledge for the wildlife around her. In Deanna, one recalls the strong, independent female archetype that Kingsolver has perfected in past novels such as "The Bean Trees," "Animal Dreams" and "The Poisonwood Bible." In the opening pages of the novel, Deanna encounters Eddie Bondo, a young, confident hunter of the endangered coyotes she renders so sacredly. Their relationship softens Deanna's toughened autonomy and penetrates her seclusion, forcing her to question her self-sufficient but hermit-like existence.

Also focal to the story is the character of the young and newly widowed Lusa, left to take charge of her husband's farm and grapple with her in-laws whom she never really knew in the first place. In order to keep the farm running and to prove to herself to her husband's family, she will need the help of Garnett Walker, a crotchety old man who is trying to live out the rest of his life within his set of routines that keep him withdrawn from the rest of the community.

The aura of attraction is also central, as Deanna and Eddie are drawn together by the same primal forces that bind moths, and Lusa, in her pocket of grief, is consoled by a dream of a mountain satisfying her sexual urges. The moon, with its ancient fertility connotations, serves as an overseer to all that transpires beneath it.

Kingsolver writes with the assurance of a writer who has already proven herself to the literary world, and this novel delivers with the elegant and lyrical prose she has established as a trademark of her storytelling. Her knowledge of the ecological world comes through as extensive but not intimidating. She describes the bounties of the land and the idiosyncrasies of its animal kingdom with the lush style these themes deserve. Beyond the atmospheric poetry of the surrounding, the emotional journeys of the characters are what lie as the essence of her work.

The conclusion of the story does not tie up as neatly as one would idealize, as the three stories never fuse directly into a whole, but this is perhaps the most realistic perspective, with nature itself becoming the detached but observant narrator. Overall, the book reads with ease and delight, like a warm summer breeze in the middle of winter.

Barbara Kingsolver reads from "Prodigal Summer" tomorrow at Rackham Amphitheatre to benefit two local environmental groups. Call Shamun Drum for ticket info, 662-7407.

Courtesy of Harper Collins

Barbara Kingsolver will read from "Prodigal Summer."