Book Report: Prodigal Summer

Today was our day of rest, so there was no big excitement in Arizona other than a pleasant walk around Bell Rock, where I got to see and hear the beautiful desert-dwelling Scott’s Oriole. So, I’ll finally write about the most recent book I’ve read, Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver (2000).

The reason I read this book was that Jay, one of my old online/IRL friends noticed what genre of books I’d been reading and felt strongly that if I hadn’t read it, I should. So she ordered me a copy and had it mailed to me.

I particularly enjoyed reading this pre-loved copy, because I felt like I wasn’t alone reading it. Some college or high-school student must have been writing a book report themselves, because there are many notations and bits of “analysis” written on the pages. It was fun to see what they were getting out of the prodigal summer.

As for my analysis, of course I enjoyed Kingsolver’s writing – she’s as great as everyone says she is – I just hadn’t gotten around to reading anything by her yet. And as my reading buddy noted, her characters are just great. I like them as much as I like Maeve Binchy, the Irish novelist. Each one of them is fully developed, and I especially like that they grow and change and admit their mistakes. I like a realistic protagonist instead of an all-knowing one.

One reason Jay wanted me to read the book is that one of the lead characters is a naturalist who likes to be by herself with nature. Who does that sound like? This woman is very protective of a family of coyotes in the mountains in Eastern US, where she lives, since they had been pretty much extirpated in modern times. When I saw my healthy suburban coyote yesterday, I recalled this book, and had to smile knowing how well coyotes are doing in Texas and Arizona today. What an adaptive animal!

However, my favorite character is an older gentleman who is really fond of his traditional farming methods as he tries to resurrect the American chestnut tree. He gets himself all worked up about tree-huggers who don’t mow or use pesticides, and is particularly suspicious of Unitarian women from the next down over. I enjoyed his internal monologues so much I kept reading them aloud to Lee.

Prodigal Summer is worth reading just for this one character’s story, but hey, there are other main characters to enjoy, including a woman who takes over a farm and does a lot of canning while experiencing personal growth.Of course there’s an old hippie woman, as well. And you get the bonus of learning a lot about Appalachian plants and animals along with the humans.

I’m really glad I had the chance to read this book, though I must be getting old or embracing my inner Ace, because I could have done with less extra graphic sex. Still, I might even have to read it again, just to enjoy the old dude. Thanks, Jay!