Prodigal Summer

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sum it up in a sentence (or two): Three loosely connected stories of love, family, self-discovery, and nature all set in the Appalachian Mountains weave in, out, and through each other.

First thoughts: I liked the "Moth Love" storyline right away. "Predators" took me some time to warm up to. "Old Chestnuts" took me the longest to get in to. Lusa seemed to be my favorite character throughout, or at least the one I related to most for some reason.

Favorite quotes:

"For several more minutes her hands lay motionless on her book while she considered a language that could carry nothing but love and simple truth." -p47

"The wrong words are impossible when there are no words." -p79

"We're only what we are: a woman cycling with the moon, and a tribe of men trying to have sex with the sky." -p244

"Living takes life." -p323

Final thoughts: I loved how all three stories brushed against one another, gently intersecting without all tying together in a neat bow or hitting the reader over the head with connections. They all kept their autonomy to the end. That epilogue though.


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