Reviews

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

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kitkat2500's review against another edition

4.0

This is an easy read, and a fast one - contrary to the other books I've read by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a lovely story of family and friendship and resilience.

wayfaring_witch's review against another edition

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5.0

This book captured the 'in between' moments of life between people while still having an incredibly relevant overall plot 30 years after it was first published. 2018 Reading Women Challenge - A book with a food item in the title

dlberglund's review against another edition

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4.0

This was the 2nd Kingsolver I ever read, and I had forgotten most of it. It was a great read the second time around. I chose to reread it because I learned that she actually got quite a lot of flap about the major plot point in the book (a white woman illegally adopting a Cherokee child), and was pressed to fix that culturally incompetent decision. Pigs in Heaven was the resulting sequel, so I decided to reread The Bean Trees. Flawed, yes, but well written. She can tell a great story, and bring some compelling characters to life.

jlworley's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 stars.
Loved it. Definitely recommend.

susannaopal's review against another edition

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5.0

This 2020 "Re-read" came for me about seven years after I first read it. I listened this time around and it was fantastic as an audiobook. I absolutely loved the story just as much, if not more this time around. Very much recommended! In fact, I am upping it to five stars. I am not sure why I took a star away to begin with. Kingsolver is one of the very best living authors in our midst today.

***
2013-original review.
For some reason several years ago when I first attempted this title I couldn't get into it. That was of course before I had read "The Posionwood Bible" or "High Tide in Tucson", and this time around I really just enjoyed it. I just finished this morning after another bout of insomnia and really the best way, to sum up my parting feeling of this novel is a quote from it: "I think we all felt the same exhaustion. There are times when it just isn't possible to say goodbye." I am looking forward to reading other Kingsolver titles in the future.

jhaverinen's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

erinlynum's review against another edition

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2.0

I gave this two stars mainly because the story doesn't age well for 2023. A young white woman looking for a new life driving west from her upbringing in Kentucky is basically handed a Native American child who has been molested at a restaurant/bar in Oklahoma. From the beginning and to the end, you get the feeling that Taylor lacks motherly instincts. She doesn't think to take the bruised and clearly abused child to a doctor until midway through the story, and then when the little girl is potentially molested again later, Taylor mentally checks out. Taylor talks at least a few times about her family's "head rights" to distant Cherokee lineage (which probably wasn't true). It seems like Taylor and, similarly Lou Anne, surround themselves with women who have lived their lives more and are more aware of the wider world, including the problematic Virgie and Edna, Mattie who helps with the underground railroad of immigrants hiding from the government, and Esperanza, who fled her country and is quietly dealing with a terrible loss. But Taylor is flawed as flawed can be. I wanted to shake her when she was spooning with Estevan, as his wife was recovering from a suicide attempt. I found myself hoping she would give Turtle/April to Esperanza because she was an experienced mother who clearly loved her. I do appreciate that a romance wasn't a main point of the book and that it was more about the relationships between women who support each other when the rest of the world seems to be letting them down.