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This book cut close to home for me, as it is a sometimes too obvious exploration of capitalism's current moment and middle-class decline. As someone who has also "done everything right," gotten an education, a house, had kids and is finding it hard to have a "better" or more secure life than my parents, I found the main character, Willa, and her struggles and discussions with her husband and social justice warrior daughter familiar. Ron Charles, in his Washington Post review, seemed to ding the
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Doesn't really sound like my usual kind of book, but ... it's Kingsolver, AND it's set in Vineland, NJ, so how can I resist?!
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This was not my favorite Barbara Kingsolver book, but I did like it. Perhaps the setting had something to do with it. I grew up in New Jersey and lived a few years in south Jersey, not too far from Vineland. I had no idea that Vineland had that history. Our move from New Jersey to Virginia was a lesson in culture shock so I could relate to the shock Willa Knox found when she moved from Virginia to New Jersey. However, it did seem that all the current ills that many people are experiencing now fe
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4.5 stars
A beautiful meditation on the meaning of "home" and the impact of sticking to your principles while the world around you struggles to resist inevitable change, 'Unsheltered' is an unhurried pair of character studies of people very much products of their times. A teacher in the late 1800s with a passion for the natural world is barred from mentioning evolution in his new post, while the treasured antique house his family has inherited is crumbling around him. In the modern day, a recentl ...more
A beautiful meditation on the meaning of "home" and the impact of sticking to your principles while the world around you struggles to resist inevitable change, 'Unsheltered' is an unhurried pair of character studies of people very much products of their times. A teacher in the late 1800s with a passion for the natural world is barred from mentioning evolution in his new post, while the treasured antique house his family has inherited is crumbling around him. In the modern day, a recentl ...more
Such a fun and fascinating book.
I enjoy “time travel” and characters connected through random things/places.
Both family stories were interesting and the way history repeats itself is also interesting.
The characters are all so specific so I’m curious about Kingsolver’s connection with a Greek family or the 1900s lol
The debates towards the end reminded me of the Monkey Trials play that kids had to read back in the day.
Great characters. And the little glimpses that fill out a character were rea ...more
I enjoy “time travel” and characters connected through random things/places.
Both family stories were interesting and the way history repeats itself is also interesting.
The characters are all so specific so I’m curious about Kingsolver’s connection with a Greek family or the 1900s lol
The debates towards the end reminded me of the Monkey Trials play that kids had to read back in the day.
Great characters. And the little glimpses that fill out a character were rea ...more
Feb 14, 2019
Kate
marked it as lost-interest-didn-t-finish
I may return to this at some point. I was a bit distracted by the (author's) tone narrating the audiobook. I was hoping for the richness of The Poisonwood Bible; almost the entire first chapter of this book is exposition. And it all seems very heavy-handed. I will try again when I'm in a different mood, perhaps.
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May 09, 2018
Lara
marked it as to-read
Aug 14, 2018
Cristella
marked it as to-read
Sep 18, 2018
Lauren
marked it as to-read
Nov 01, 2018
Miranda
marked it as to-read
Nov 29, 2018
katie
marked it as to-read
Jan 15, 2019
Cheryl
marked it as to-read
Jun 17, 2024
emily
marked it as to-read
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review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-historical,
fiction-nongenre
