About the book: Six-year-old Turtle Greer witnesses a freak accident at the Hoover Dam, leading to a man’s dramatic rescue. But Turtle’s moment of celebrity draws her into a crisis of historic proportions that will envelop not only her and her mother, Taylor, but everyone else who touches their lives in a complex web connecting their future with their past.
My review: Barbara Kingsolver is a superbly gifted story-teller. I read her novel The Poisonwood Bible a few years ago and loved it. So when I came across this book (older, published in 1993), I had to read it. I was not disappointed. I got into the story right away and enjoyed it to the very end.
The plot is about a white family with an adopted Cherokee daughter. There is question over whether the adoption is legal according to the laws of the Cherokee nation. All involved in the situation agonize over what is the right thing to do. I could feel the heartbreak of the mother, and the fierce protectiveness of both the mother and the lawyer representing the Cherokee nation.
Though it is a work of fiction, the book enlightened me quite a bit about Native American culture. The characters in this story are lovely; the reader can empathize in some way with each of them. But what makes this a great novel is not the plot or the characters or the interesting culture lesson. It is the gifted writing of Barbara Kingsolver. I was sitting on the airplane finishing this book and actual tears sprang to my eyes as I read this line about a woman talking to a man who had lost his daughter, “She stops trying to talk for a while, since there is nothing to say about a lost child that can change one star in a father’s lonely sky.” That is great writing, people.
I did find out after I read it that it is the continuing story of some characters from her earlier novel The Bean Trees which I have not read. So those of you who have not read either might want to start with that one, though Pigs in Heaven could be read independently.
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver is available from HarperTorch Publishers.
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October 8th, 2008 at 10:00 am
This sounds interesting to me. Friends of mine adopted a baby girl two years ago and had to go through the mother’s tribe to be allowed. It was quite nerve-wracking for all of us to wait for the verdict from the tribe.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Its been years since I read these books, but I remember really enjoying them. I’d also recommend her book Animal Dreams.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:49 am
This was one of the first Kingsolver books I read years ago, and I was just thinking recently that I’d like to do a Kingsolver re-reading spree. I’ve loved everything I’ve read of hers, esp. The Poisonwood Bible.
October 11th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I’m one of the few who didn’t care for Poisonwood Bible but I loved Pigs in Heaven. I read it before The Bean Tree but still enjoyed both.
October 11th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Sounds like something I need to check out, thanks:)
November 14th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
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June 7th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
[...] The Friendly Book Nook – Review: Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver [...]