The Bean Trees: A Novel | Barbara Kingsolver

The Bean Trees: A Novel | Barbara Kingsolver | [Highschool Freshman's Review]

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The Bean Trees: A ...

	The Bean Trees: A Novel Barbara Kingsolver HarperTorch, 1998 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 385 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great High School Text

I used The Bean Trees in a class that focused on Barbara Kingsolver's works. This was far and away the students' favorite read, and mine, too!

[Highschool Freshman's Review]

The Bean Trees is one of the few books included in my school's curriculum that I've enjoyed and related to. Taylor is an amazing main charachter because she makes mistakes and admits she's ignorant, and still doesn't realize how mature and generous she is in the meantime. The dealings with abuse, depression, illegal immigrants, racism and sexism are powerful throughout the story. While I address many of the bad reviews on Amazon, there may be several spoilers ahead:

This may not be one of the best books of all time, but it definetly is not some of the things a few of the reviewers here are calling it. Barbara Kingsolver is not being 'preachy', is not 'anti-men', does not support illegal immigrant escape or kidnapping. The reviewers that have written this have not fully understood the book or picked up on the underlying motifs and symbols. Lou Ann is not cut out of the book- in fact, after the first three chapters, Lou Ann and Taylor meet and she ends up being even more important and major in the story. Taylor knows that Turtle's relatives do not want her and goes to make sure of that, and is definetly not 'kidnapping her'. Turtle was sexually abused-who in their right mind would return a molested child back to the potential molester? As for Taylor helping Estevan and Esperanza-we all say that illegal immigrants should return back to their country, etc etc, but when you really know somebody, and have faces that match the name of 'illegal immigrant' it is a much different story. Taylor was doing what she thought was right, and it was, in fact, true and heroic. If Taylor had returned Turtle to her relatives and gave up Esperanza and Estevan, as some reviewer has suggested, the book would be disturbing, immoral, and cruel. And lastly, while Taylor first had a bad impression of men, Estevan helped dispell her fear. And by letting go of Estevan, Taylor stayed true to Esperanza.

For the people who are discouraged by reading all the bad reviews for The Bean Trees, I hope you will be able to differentiate the real reviews from the reviews that have been written by readers that do not truly understand the message of The Bean Trees.

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Well written but not much of a story

I clearly enjoy the writing of Barbara Kingsolver and wish I could write half as well. Her characters are human and she has the ability to involve us with their experiences. However, this story did not seem like much of a story to me though one reads on just to see what happens in the lives of ordinary people.

Kingsolver's soapbox

I loved The Poisonwood Bible because of its beautiful prose and complexities (minus the few stereotypical assessments of missionaries).
The Bean Trees was her first novel, so I didn't expect another Poisonwood. Even so, I could not find a lot to like about this novel. I gave it three stars for the good prose and attempt to unfold the characters' lives without giving tons and tons of details.

I believe Kingsolver might think she is subtle and not "preachy" in her political/social beliefs--but The Bean Trees is terribly obvious. The immigration issues run much deeper than a goodhearted couple that just wants to be accepted. NOnetheless, it is a light read, interesting in some parts, but predictable and mildly preachy.

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themes and characters.

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a fun read while also displaying some skilled plot structure and thematic development. Kingsolver's characters are like people you know, and you find yourself truly wanting them to be happy. I thought that Taylor's getting saddled with Turtle so early in her quest to escape teenage motherhood made an interesting statement about how people cannot change who they are, despite their efforts to run away from their lives. That, and that chance attachments are often the most important of our lives.

Pretty funny, pretty touching, pretty good read.

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