Pigs in Heaven: Amazon.de: Barbara Kingsolver: Englische Bücher

From Kirkus Reviews

For what's hoped to be a ``break-out book,'' a greatly gifted storyteller returns to the characters and settings of her celebrated first novel (The Bean Trees, 1987). Kingsolver previously tracked plucky ex-Kentuckian Taylor Greer as she made her way west to Tucson, struggling to earn a living and to deal with the frightened, wounded toddler Turtle, who had been abandoned in Taylor's care in Oklahoma. Now it's three years later. Settled Tucsoners Taylor and Turtle are on vacation at the Hoover Dam when six-year-old Turtle witnesses an accident--a retarded man has fallen into a spillway. When the man is rescued, Turtle becomes a celebrity--which brings self-confidence but also the attention of Cherokee Nation authorities in Heaven, Oklahoma- -especially that of Indian-activist lawyer Annawake Fourkiller, who recognizes Turtle as a missing Cherokee child called Lacey Stillwater; Lacey, it turns out, is the daughter of a deceased Cherokee woman whose alcoholic sister's abusive boyfriend broke both of Turtle's arms before the sister and boyfriend ditched her and disappeared. When Fourkiller pays an ominous visit to Taylor, whose adoption of Turtle may have been illegal, Taylor packs up the child and goes on the lam. As their flight becomes more punishing, Turtle regresses severely. Meanwhile, Taylor's spirited mother Alice Greer, remembering she has a Cherokee cousin in the town of Heaven, pays a visit, snoops around, and falls in love--with Cash Stillwater, Lacey/Turtle's grandfather and only living relative. Soon Taylor (no mother, not even those in the Indian myth of the odd title, is more loving) shows up to spare Turtle the trials of flight. All will be amicably, hilariously, and heartwarmingly settled to everybody's satisfaction. Not the truly wonderful book it might have been--characters who seem important disappear; carefully marked trails turn out to be merely picaresque, leading nowhere--but a terrific read nonetheless. (First printing of 100,000) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

From Library Journal

It takes an insightful writer like Kingsolver ( Animal Dreams , LJ 8/1/90) to tackle the complicated, emotional issue of dysfunctional families, but she does it well (again), making this development of characters first introduced in The Bean Trees ( LJ 2/1/88) as enjoyable to read as its predecessor--and better. Taylor Greer and her kindergarten-aged adopted daughter, Turtle, unwittingly place themselves at the center of a controversy involving Turtle's Native American heritage. Their love for each other--an unspoken, unquestioning bond--helps them cope with family, friends, and lovers as they try to tie the loose ends of their lives into a strong, tidy knot. Maybe this novel will help readers understand the meaning of life or simply provide them with some good entertainment. But as Kingsolver brilliantly reveals from the first pages of this novel, the answers to our questions aren't delivered easily but must come from the heart. Recommended for all general collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/93.
- Marlene McCormack-Lee, Reedsport Branch Lib., Ore.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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Read the book just for fun 12. Juli 2000

Von Annie

Format:Taschenbuch

An easy to read and enjoyable book but nothing to knock your socks off. The book moved along and kept my interest. It must be read with the idea that it is fiction, almost a fable, because there is a lot in this book that is pretty unbelievable. For example, the coincidence of relationships among the characters, the highly romanticized vision of family and life on the reservation, the lack of forethought and wisdom of the main character on the run with her daughter and the everything neatly tied together ending. This book certainly delves into social issues pertinent to our times and does give pause for thought but is disappointing with respect to these issues because of the ending. Read the book for fun.

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Not her best 26. Juni 2000

Von "kangapooh"

This book just didn't live up to The Poisonwood Bible in terms of character development and plot line. That said, there is some very interesting background about the Native American struggle to regain their cultural heritage and how that plays out against other challenges their tribes are facing. The storyline didn't seem very realistic to me (altough perhaps it is, given Kingsolver's penchant for detailed research)which was somewhat disappointing. She's an excellent writer but if you're only going to read one of her novels, this isn't it.

Pigs in Heaven - an English view 18. Juni 2000

Von Sensible Cat

This book (along with The Bean Trees) came to me through the mail from a friend in Canada, otherwise I'd probably never have read it. As it happened, I'd recently finished a course in American History so I was ready for a perspective on the Native American situation. I hadn't appreciated its complexity and whilst I'd consider myself a liberal, I'd also come to care deeply for Taylor and Turtle, I'm a mother myself, and I was ready to kill anyone who tried to part them. Gradually this wonderful writer chipped away at my prejudices and got me inside the skin of a completely unfamiliar community.

What do I love about this book? It's unputdownable. It's full of memorable, beautifully realised characters. It doesn't write anybody off as too boring, too old, too screwed-up or too anything to have feelings and be fascinating. I've rarely come across a relationship more beautifully portrayed than the growing and richly deserved love between Cash and Alice. The ending made me want to run around the garden whooping. If it has any faults it's (a) an over-reliance on the long arm of coincidence but heck, Dickens did that as well and nobody blamed him for it and (b) a tendency to make the Indian characters maybe a little too likeable in the interests of political correctness. But both these pale into insignificance beside the beauties of this wonderful book.

I had no problem understanding why Taylor hung on so long before surrendering the child she thought of as hers - she'd become a mother, and she was damn stubborn. I like the way this book contrasted the individualism of the American Dream with the human need for more social connection without falling into trite and oversimplistic solutions. The wonderful chat between Jax and Anawaukee got this across very powerfully. And I understood why it only took a seemingly trivial thing to make Taylor finally give up her fight - but then I have a lactose-intolerant (and completely Anglo-Saxon!) child.

"The Poisonwood Bible" has just appeared over here and I hope we're going to hear a lot more of Kingsolver. We Brits might think the Indian issue isn't our business but we're postcolonials struggling to find our identity too. These themes are universal.