The Poisonwood Bible

I wish I could give half stars, so I could put this at a solid 3.5.

I liked several things about this book:
-It was told from the four girls point of view, primarily. Each chapter switched between the girls, with a few guest chapters from their mother. The girls' voices were well developed, with interesting little details, like misspelled/misunderstood words in the oldest daughter's chapters.
-The accelerated pace at the end of the book was really compelling, as you went through the girls' adult lives.
-African culture was shown as rational and important, more so as the story evolved. The setting was almost its own character.

I didn't like:
-The length. About page 250, I felt like I should be done with the book-but it felt like we hadn't really gotten past the first plot point.
-The parents' stories were underdeveloped. While we got some glimpses into the mother's mind, the father never got his own chance to speak. I may be okay with representing the father as a villain, but I'm not okay with the short shrift the mother got.
-Some of the leaps the story took seemed unreasonable.

Overall it was a good story, but not one that I'd recommend with abandon. You have to be in a good state of mind and be ready for a reading marathon. I will, however, be reading more of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction, because it was excellently written.