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Jul 08, 2018NedSu rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I've just read this novel for the 4th or 5th time. Most of us have novels that we love and re-read, and this is the one for me. I cannot tell you why it strikes such a chord for me, or how it gives me a different point of view as I age. Suffice it to say that I hope to read it again in a couple of years. I see it now as a very human retelling of the fight for the Belgian Congo/Zaïre that has been verified by open record about the CIA involvement in forming the region without regard to such democratic ideas as freedom of speech and honoring elections. This all takes place in the background of an entrancing story of how Africa changed five white females. Kingsolver's narrative is spliced together from the distinctive musings of 4 sisters and their mother. Each style and character remains consistent as time progresses over some 30 years. The changes that occur are logical extensions of their personality. Almost nothing in the novel is filler- each incident or observation lends itself to the plot. It remains for me the best of Kingsolver's work, and she has written several excellent ones.