"The Bean Trees"

A friend suggested many years ago that I might like reading Barbara Kingsolver but I just never seemed to get around to it until my book club chose "The Bean Trees" as our September read.  It was an easy read -- finished it in one day -- and I love Kingsolver's way with words and her ability to describe in such a way that you can see, hear, smell, and taste her scenes.  "The Bean Trees" was her first novel published in 1988 and a tenth anniversary edition was published in 1998.

The story follows a young woman, "Missy" Taylor Greer, from her high school days and early working days in Kentucky where she lived with her mother to a road trip that leads her to Tucson, AZ, and a new life. 
Taylor is a strong young woman with a supportive mother and she is one of the few young women in her high school who manages to finish school without getting pregnant and married.  When she decides it is time to take her life on the road, she purchases a run down car and starts her journey.  It's a journey that brings a child along the way and a host of new friends.  It's not an easy life but it's a life she chooses and she builds a family in Tucson with the people she meets and loves.

In addition to weaving a moving story, Kingsolver takes on issues of the time in which she was writing which still ring true today.  She talks about immigration issues and particularly sanctuary houses for individuals who might be killed if they're deported to their home country.  She talks about child abuse, neglect, poverty and much, much more but throughout the book there is a spirit of resiliance that shines through.  I look forward to reading another one of her books.  pazt