Homeland and Other Stories

"A dazzling array of short stories . . . Kingsolver's knowledge of human nature, and especially domestic relationships, is breathtaking." -- Publishers Weekly “Read Homeland and Other Stories and you will feel glad to be alive. You are delighted by a gifted storyteller. You are strengthened and healed by the toughness and tenderness she discerns in humanity’s daily rounds.” -- Newsday “Kingsolver’s humanity sounds the clearest note.telling us about characters in the middle of their days, who live as we really do, from one small incident of awareness to the next.” -- Los Angeles Times "Extraordiarily fine . . . Kingsolver has a Chekhovian tenderness toward her characters . . . The title story is pure poetry." -- Russell Banks, New York Times Book Review “Kingsolver understands in an uncanny way the significance of the ordinary, the fleeting moment that may become lost or become catharsis. She writes with refreshing clarity, humor and honesty.” -- Detroit Free Press “Kingsolver is an extraordinary storyteller.” -- Chicago Tribune "Delightful." -- New York Woman --This text refers to the paperback edition. With the same wit and sensitivity that have come to characterize her highly praised and beloved novels, Barbara Kingsolver gives us a rich and emotionally resonant collection of twelve stories. Spreading her memorable characters over landscapes ranging from Northern California to the hills of eastern Kentucky and the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Kingsolver tells stories of hope, momentary joy, and powerful endurance. In every setting, Kingsolver's distinctive voice— at times comic, but often heartrending—rings true as she explores the twin themes of family ties and the life choices one must ultimately make alone. Homeland and Other Stories creates a world of love and possibility that readers will want to take as their own. --This text refers to the paperback edition. From Library Journal Kingsolver's second book--her novel, The Bean Trees ( LJ 2/1/88), won high praise--consists of uniformly affecting short stories, enhanced by real wisdom and generous warmth. Her characters, mostly mothers and daughters, uncover those memories and truths, once deeply buried, that emerge in moments of sudden crisis. In "Rose-Johnny," a young southern girl clings tightly to the ostracized woman she befriends. In "Blueprints," an unmarried Sacramento woman endures and transforms a long relationship, once happy, that threatens to turn into cabin fever. Kingsolver is not an innovator, but her voice is sure and her narrative skill accomplished. Highly recommended. - Timothy L. Zindel, Hastings Coll. of the Law, San Francisco Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly With this dazzling array of stories, demonstrating a wide range of characterizations, settings, situations and narrative voices, Kingsolver confirms the promise of her astonishingly accomplished first novel, The Bean Trees. Most of these dozen tales ring with authentic insights, leaving the reader moved, amused or enlightened. Kingsolver's knowledge of human nature, and especially domestic relationships, is breathtaking. She is able to convey the personalities and voices of such diverse characters as a feisty union organizer of Mexican ancestry; a young girl trying to be faithful to the legacy of her Cherokee grandmother; a life-scarred ex-con determined to go straight; an upper-middle-class wife and mother on a clandestine trip to the Petrified Forest with her lover; a middle-aged man whose cherished wife gives him an intimation of her mortality; a child from a poor farming family who befriends an outcast in her Kentucky community. Among the standout stories is "Islands on the Moon," in which a single mother faces her pregnancy with added exasperation because her mother--also single--will be having a baby at the same time. Propelled by fresh, breezy dialogue, funny, tender and full of surprises, the story takes a poignant turn when the mother and daughter heal their estrangement on a portentous day. If the symbolism in a few of these tales is sometimes too obvious, Kingsolver handles every other narrative device with delicacy and subtle skill. First serial to Redbook and Mademoiselle. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered , Flight Behavior , The Lacuna , The Poisonwood Bible , Animal Dreams , and The Bean Trees , as well as books of poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction. Her work of narrative nonfiction is the influential bestseller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life . Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has earned literary awards and a devoted readership at home and abroad. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts, as well as the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. She lives with her family on a farm in southern Appalachia. --This text refers to the paperback edition. From AudioFile These twelve stories dramatize the everyday lives of assorted characters from all over the U.S. All are living on the edge of poverty; they're down but definitely not out. In one story, an unhappy daughter living in a trailer must face her alienated mother after they are thrown together in a freak accident. In another, a young girl defends an older woman against bigots in a Southern town. All the characters, struggling for decent lives, command our respect. In telling about them, the author has wisely left her readers free to interpret the stories as they wish. But this technique may be more successful in print than it is on tape. On tape the narrator, for better or worse, conditions the response. C.J. Critt, for instance, has been consistently accurate in her interpretation of the Kingsolver novels for Recorded Books. But Paula Parker, narrating this collection, fails to grasp the understated power of Kingsolver's prose. Except for one story, in which she captures beautifully the voice of a feisty Mexican-American woman, her reading is too histrionic for literary fiction. J.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the audio_download edition. Read more