Flight Behavior

For my summer reading this year, I cast about for a favorite author. In this case, Barbara Kingsolver’s novel Flight Behavior landed in my net. What I truly appreciate about Barbara Kingsolver’s first-class writing--as in The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, and Animal Dreams--is the finely crafted story with complex plot, characters and themes.

Her novel Flight Behavior, however, snagged a heavy environmental message, with the characters, plot and my interest draining out of every page. Set in rural Tennessee’s Appalachian mountains, the main character, Dellarobia Turnbow, happens upon a wondrous sight of Monarch butterflies; the miracle turns into a nightmare that awakens her from her apathy, creating changes in her life and the lives of those close to her.

Unfortunately, I was bored throughout the book with the drudgery, mind-numbing life of poverty and Dellarobia’s personal angst about her life, her future and her past. I quickly got the message that we are screwing up the environment; by the end of the book, I had stopped caring.Still, I would highly recommend Barbara Kingsolver, as she is a skilled author who can make one think; and I will go on to read other works by one of the truly fine writers of our time.