Personal+Review

I thoroughly enjoyed reading //The Bean Trees//. Barbara Kingsolver writes with such a genuine voice, and the characters are so real. I feel like I know Taylor, like she is my best friend. I even see a bit of myself in her sense of humor and love of life. When the characters speak, I can hear their voices so distinctly in my head, and even picture the way they sit and smell. Even though I’ve never traveled farther west than Ohio, I could imagine the wide Oklahoma plains and rusty Arizona desert as if they were laid out before me. Everything stood out vividly against the rich southwestern setting.

Yet sometimes I felt like there was something missing from the novel. Taylor’s character definitely grows as the plot develops; she becomes more aware of people around her and learns about life beyond her little hometown. But I wish the book explored the issues Taylor encountered with greater depth – issues like childhood abuse, government corruption, and Native American culture. These potentially profound topics were only skimmed across as the novel centered much more on Taylor’s personal life. Still, //The Bean Trees// was an excellent story and a joy to read.