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Product Description
Review
A rich, compassionate book (Alice Hoffman )
If you enjoy prose, you'll treasure ANIMAL DREAMS. A beautiful, memorable novel full of scenes and images that linger in the mind (Tony Hillerman )
ANIMAL DREAMS is one of those rare novels I could not put down and left me wondering whether to go back to the beginning or simply anticipate the next product from this woman's pen (LOS ANGELES TIMES )
If you enjoy prose, you'll treasure ANIMAL DREAMS. A beautiful, memorable novel full of scenes and images that linger in the mind (Tony Hillerman )
ANIMAL DREAMS is one of those rare novels I could not put down and left me wondering whether to go back to the beginning or simply anticipate the next product from this woman's pen (LOS ANGELES TIMES )
Book Description
* A wonderful novel about unravelling a young woman's secret past.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like many people, I first encountered Kingsolver's work through the magnificent The Poisonwood Bible. After finishing it, I turned to her other novels - one of which was Animal Dreams. To a certain extent, it's a disappointing read in comparison with the scale of The Poisonwood Bible: it lacks the different narrators with their compelling and individual voices and the epic vision which she brought to the relationship between Africa and the 'First World'. However, Animal Dreams is written with the same compassion, the same insight into the lives and emotions of women, the same understanding of complex parent-child relationships, and the same passionate, fervant and whole-hearted sorrow and anger at humankind's lack of respect for the environment. The book is the story of Codi, returning to her home town where she was an unhappy teenager whose life was marked by two familial deaths, because her father, the town doctor, is losing his memory and becoming confused. Her sister Hallie is in Africa, helping to rebuild a community. Kingsolver charts Codi's relationship with the town, its inhabitants, her father, Hallie and Loyd, whom she dated a few times in high school, with skill and humour. Codi is an utterly believable character, traumatised by unhappy events in the past and unsure if she is willing to risk hurt again. Kingsolver's best writing occurs when she describes the landscape and the damage perpetrated upon it by greedy corporations, although the novel veers towards the didactic at times. I felt that Codi's relationship with Loyd is a little unconvincing. Loyd is never fully realised, and his Native American descent makes him virtuous, in perfect communion with the landscape, and able to heal Codi's emotional wounds; perhaps Kingsolver should have made him less of a paragon. I would love to see Kingsolver tackle her themes on a larger scale and tackle the 'great American novel', but this is certainly a moving and evocative read, which I definitely recommend to everyone.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a displaced Sonoran Desert Dweller (from Tucson) and all I have to do is read Animal Dreams and I am back home in an environment and culture that is familiar and soothing. Barbara's descriptions of other areas of Arizona, Canyon de Chelly and the ancient Indian dwellings in the White Mountains, are as if you are standing there.
The characters are with depth and if you went to Arizona to those places during those times, that is what you would find. Strong women like Emelina, keeping their culture alive, and a big-city community barely aware of the on-goings in Nicaragua. It also describes the not uncommon will to survive of mining towns that no longer have the mine. (I'll wager that Grace is representative of the towns Clifton and Morenci.)
Animal Dreams is always a homecoming.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Barbara Kingsolver weaves words with the ease and artistry of those who are truly gifted. And Animal Dreams contains some of her most beautiful writing. Her images are so vivid they drew me in and wrapped me in their language. Her characters and relationships are true and as poignant and sad as they are strong and beautiful. I keep this book close by because it inspires me to write and to read beautiful work.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hauntingly evocative
This is my first experience of a Barbara Kingsolver novel, and it won't be the last. In "Animal Dreams" she moves seamlessly from past to present, to a projected future, and back... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Brenda Young
excellent
Perhaps my favorite novel of all time. I use this book as part of my curriculum in the second year of the English course I teach in Italy. Read more
Published 23 months ago by A. Sipf
Beautiful book
I thought this was a beautifully written book. I think it handled the intricacies of family, pain, loss, roots very well. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Wren
Did not live up to author's best
Touching and readable but not a patch on Kingsolvers "Poisonwood Bible ". Disappointing ending with lots of unanswered questions.
Published on 25 Aug 2005
Pages steeped in an addictive drug
I was totally reluctant to read Kingsolver...a friend of mine kept pestering me and pestering me to read her books and i just never wanted to. Read more
Published on 19 July 2000
Intelligent entertainment, but not much more
Animal Dreams starts out very promisingly, with a lot of local color and interesting demons sitting on the shoulders of the protagonists. Read more
Published on 26 Oct 1999
Beyond Words
This book is a masterpiece. Kingsolver has amazing insight into relationships, between Cosima and her sister, her father, and Loyd with one L. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 1999
Breathtaking
This book has been recommended to me for years, but I never got around to reading it until very recently. Read more
Published on 19 July 1999
Lovely language and vibrant characters
When I pulled this down off the shelf, my wife thought it would be too girly for me. She was wrong. This is one of the greatest works of modern fiction I've read in years. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 1999
the woman is god
I just love her. She's up there with Isabel Allende for me. "Animal Dreams" and "The Bean Trees" are two of the best examples of modern fiction I've ever had... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 1999
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