Fetch Homeland And Other Stories Author Barbara Kingsolver Visible In Copy

have just recently returned from a my first trip to Europe, and I toured many of the major museums, It struck me as funny the way people would literally run up to one of the great masterworks of Western Art and get their picture taken, and the way folks would elbow their way to get as close as possible to the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh's Self Portrait.
I think people want, even if just for a few second to be in the presence of greatness, Standing in front of the Mona Lisa is as close as you will ever get to being in the presence of one of the greatest minds in western culture, For my own part, I felt that way as I stood in front of the original Bust of Nefertiti, It was just an amazing experience to be in the presence of such great artistic ability and an object of such beauty, Which brings me to Barbara Kingsolver,

I have not read every book of Barbara Kingsolver's as of yet, but I have read many, When you read a Barbara Kingsolver work it is like being in the presence of the master fororhours or however long it takes you to read her book.
I will never cease to be amazed at the technical skill, the ability to evoke a picture, the ability to write dialogue BK possesses, Homeland is a collection of short stories that range in subject matter from the descendants of a Cherokee woman who seem not to realize that their greatgrandmother is an Indian, a woman having an affair and on a camping trip with her lover, a little girl's first encounter with a lesbian in her small town, a union leader trying to get her folks through a strike, two thieves that live in two connected apartments, and more.
The dialogue includes the accents without being patronizing of the people who possess the accents, There was not a single story in here I disliked all of them are excellent, The main theme of this collection is that people are people now matter which station of life they come from and what they do with their time, no matter their color, their gender, their orientation, etc.
These characters all have a story to tell and lucky them, the modern day master of storytelling is doing the work for them, Again, another leap of faith I took on a Barbara Kingsolver piece, Not usually a short story reader but I had to try, Not my favorite of hers but just as satisfying as her other works,

What I found most amazing about this collection of short stories was how raw and loud her political and social voice came through in these stories, More so than her novels, This would make sense since one has less time in which to lull the reader into a sense of what you the writer are trying to say so the message comes quickly and suddenly.


For that reason, it was a great read, It is one I would go back to again, Highly recommend it. I recommend this to those who can pick up on the subtle things as many of these stories are more impressions or snapshots of life what people are like, how they feel, what they want, etc rather than big, exciting plots.


This book was lovely, I could relate to every single character in this book, be they young, old, man, woman, happy, miserable, and so on, Kingsolver's writing is so poetic while conveying such REALITY, I am full of admiration for her as a writer and have yet to find anything by her that I didn't love,

I feel as though having at least some experiences in the South southwest and south south are necessary to fully understand some of the scenes and characters' motivations and beliefs, but I'm sure it would be fine without.


The title story is the first story in the book and probably one of the best, I read it and then put the rest of the book down for a few weeks as I just kept thinking about it,
Read: "When the seasons changed, it never occurred to us to think to ourselves, "This will be Great Mam's last spring, Her last June apples. Her last fresh roasting ears from the garden, " She was like an old pine, whose accumulated years cause one to ponder how long it has stood, not how soon it will fall, "
These lines are indicative of how thoughtful and beautiful her writing is, Is there anyone who can't relate to those lines Is there anyone doesn't take a moment to realize just how carefully she must have chosen every word, Consider the verb 'to ponder' rather than 'to think' or 'to muse' or anything like that, Doesn't it just reiterate this idea of the pine tree to you It makes me imagine the ponderosa pine, Ahhhh, her writing is, simply, exquisite,

Other favorites within the collection: Blueprints, Stone Dreams, and RoseJohnny,

Warning: Sometimes these stories and characters are so real and relatable that it hurts to read them, Barbra Kingsolver knows how to encapsulate feelings of isolation better than nearly any other writer Ive read in this short story collection, Whether its isolation through societal pressures, regret from stagnating in the same place, racial tensions, or by cultural differences, every story focuses on characters in the act of becoming ostracized or realizing theyve been alone all along.
Kingsolver doesnt waste words her poetic prose is concise but breath taking in how it can capture heart breaking moments and the wonder therein as characters either drown in these realizations or continue to struggle beautifully against them.


Favorite Stories: “Covered Bridges”, “Stone Dreams”, “Extinctions”, “RoseJohnny” Barbara Kingsolver is a gem, Ill be pondering these stories, . . and the meaning of home, . . for a good long time, What a lovely collection. I admire Kingsolver's versatility with her character voices, She writes things she is knowledgeable about but does it engagingly, I often read authors who write what they know but don't consider most readers' unfamiliarity with the subject and give no explanation, so you have to google everything, Kingsolver tells you all you need to know, and she gives you STORY as opposed to some authors who think good writing is tons of DESCRIPTION, Leave it to my mother, Every time I get to the point where I've almost relegated her to the lands of the unenlightened, she pops out of the woodwork and shows off a surprising amount of taste for a Baptist minister who proudly voted for George W.
Bush and thinks Carrot Top is funny, my mom occasionally knows what's up, Homeland was an Easter gift, buried between chocolate bunnies and "inspirational" literature meant to soothe what she sees as my wayward soul, Like a lot of her gifts, the aforementioned Mom Stigma kept me from tearing right into it on the contrary, it was five months before a long road trip provided the impetus to finally see what Ms.
Kingsolver had to tell me,

The timing, I found, couldn't have been better, Like everyone inth grade AP English, I read The Bean Trees , took the quiz, wrote the essay and forgot about it, my only memories of the story being "Jesus Is Lord Used Tires" and a vague notion that I didn't hate it.
Knowing that I would soon be trapped in car driving from Maine to western Kentucky, I grabbed a pile of books that I hoped would preserve my sanity enter Homeland.
By the time we'd left New England my literature stash was already halfdepleted, so as the forests and fast pace of the northeast faded into the slow, rolling hills of the south I said a silent prayer that my mom didn't strike out, smoked a bit of marijuana and tackled the first story.


Give either Kingsolver or the pot credit I've never

been able to keep interested in Native American stories am I a bad person Likely, but "Homeland" didn't bore me one bit.
In fact, for the first time, I kind of understood the allure of the culture and the people that actually care about it and as the author presumably falls into this category, one could chalk this up as the definition of successful literature.
Beautifully written, the titular tale whispers a sad message on the disintegration Native American culture without the kind of overplayed pity that usually turns similar pieces into unwitting selfparodies instead of a feathery, facepainted Indian shedding tears at someone's discarded soda can, Kingsolver presents a character old but vibrant, stoic but sad, and the reader is left not with obligatory guilt but a soft melancholy.
It's kind of beautiful.

All the stories in Homeland subscribe to a general theme of small towns and "simple" people, Rather than crafting elaborate or glamorous plot lines, Kingsolver lets her nearlypoetic words and characters carry the stories, and as our vehicle plunged into the warm drawl of the midsouth it felt like each narrative could be happening right next to me.
Homeland could never be a Hollywood film, The relationships within eschew fiery breakups and dramatic, emotional reconciliations for slow, subtle declines that creak and bend like an old weathered bridge moments of clear profundity sometimes strike the characters, but like real life these epiphanies rarely change anyone's life significantly.
In Kingsolver's world, people live and love and hurt but they still have to get up for work the next morning,

Homeland is not a Catcher in the Rye type of book no one is going to rethink their lives or carry it with them on a trip to murder John Lennon, but that, in essence, is the point.
It's hard to relate to most popular books and films, with their fantastic tales and characters that always seem to end up ok regardless of what craziness ensues, While those kinds of things hold an integral place in the artistic world, it's refreshing to see the lives of "ordinary" people brought to life in an equally entertaining way, and one could argue that the simplicity of Kingsolver's stories makes them more impressive.
I'll leave that to someone else, But by golly, if you find yourself on a long drive through the heart of America, pick up Homeland and let yourself get wrapped up inside it even if it lets you down, it'll be subtle and you might not even notice.


Not all books are meant to be audiobooks, but those that are, absolutely must be listened to and then listened to again to catch the nuanced, beautiful language that can be missed the first time.
Such is the case with Barbara Kingsolvers Homeland and Other Stories, read by Kingsolver, She reads her stories with the soft, sweet accent of rural Kentucky, where she grew up,
It put me in mind of other books Ive listened to that I categorize as “gentle reads”, like Major Pettigrews Last Stand by Helen Simonson, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce and Paddington Bear by Michael Bond.
They are all books that soothe the soul by the very nature of the narration,

Unfortunately the edition that I had turned out to be abridged, so there were far fewer stories than in the unabridged edition, I am not even certain that the stories themselves werent abridged, Two of the five were unusually short, No matter, the first story, the books title was told by a young girl about her “greatmam” greatgrandmother
who was a member of the bird clan, one of the fugitive bands of Cherokees who resisted capture.
Greatmam had a way of sharing her wisdom that sometimes seemed to be caught only by her great granddaughter,

Barbara Kingsolver is among my favorite authors and Ive read aboutof her books, Shes a magician with language, but never was her use of language more beautiful than in these short stories, These delicious stories are another reason I adore Barbara Kingsolver, She never fails to woo me with her simple, yet intriguing storytelling, I return to her time after time, One of my aunts once wrote a postcard to Barbara Kingsolver after reading Animal Dreams and she responded to it so kindly, I like to think of my mom and some of her sisters, when they were just a little older than me, reading Barbara Kingsolver and thinking about how to take some of her messages along with them in their lives It's always difficult to rate a collection like this.
I feel like four is an insult to the awesomeness of the several stories I loved, stories that I will return to again and againboth as a writer and a teacher of writing.
Still, I can't in good conscience give the whole book fiveit wouldn't be fair to my favorite stories to imply that the lessgreat stories could hang with them,

Regardless of ratings, Kingsolver is a gifted short story writer, I'm surprised this is her only short story collection given her prolificness since it was published in, I hope she has another short story collection in the works, Sad stories about sad people, beautifully written, In truth, there were some very funny moments in the book and some people who, although facing difficult circumstances, did not come across as sad or pitiable, but for me the overarching impression left by the book is how difficult it is to find happiness in life and how we seldom achieve our dreams.
It is less preachy than some of Kingsolvers books and more just an series of insights into the lives of various women, It contains a lot of truths and tells them in a very engaging and beautiful manner, Still, I am now looking around for something a little more uplifting to read as my next book, I read this when I was, not in one go but in bits and pieces on trips to a particular rental house in Dauphin Island where it was located, It left a strong impression, and the memories of that time run deep, So excited to see how this goes, . . is Barbara Kingsolver even capable of short stories

Wonderful characters, not surprisingly, Is it weird to say that my biggest complaint was that I would get to love the characters then on to the next story Sorry, Barbara, but you do that to me.
Every story was so unique, I really enjoyed each, The main characters were pretty much always women no surprise there, But I still feel weird reading short Kingsolver stories, There was this one very small character I found in three of the stores, if only lightly mentioned, so I have no idea what that could be about, . . Once again, Barbara Kingsolver does not disappoint, While I prefer her novels over short stories, this collection of stories was special, Her writing is lovely, as usual, and over the course of these twelve stories, she touches on topics that any human could related to, I chose to read this book during a time when I was working hard in a storage unit, sorting throughyearsworth of my mother's and father's possessions, It was physically and emotionallydraining work, and I wanted to come home and curl up with a book that wouldn't tax me further, I knew I'd be "safe" with Barbara Kingsolver, Her writing has a lightness in it, an underlying current of sensitivity and joy and hope, even when her writing is about heavy issues, I particularly enjoyed three stories: Homeland, Bereaved Apartments, and RoseJohnny, .