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Small Wonder: Essays

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In her new essay collection, the beloved author of High Tide in Tucson brings to us out of one of history's darker moments an extended love song to the world we still have. From its opening parable gleaned from recent news about a lost child saved in an astonishing way, the book moves on to consider a world of surprising and hopeful prospects, ranging from an inventive conservation scheme in a remote jungle to the backyard flock of chickens tended by the author's small daughter.

Whether she is contemplating the Grand Canyon, her vegetable garden, motherhood, adolescence, genetic engineering, TV-watching, the history of civil rights, or the future of a nation founded on the best of all human impulses, these essays are grounded in the author's belief that our largest problems have grown from the earth's remotest corners as well as our own backyards, and that answers may lie in those places, too. In the voice Kingsolver's readers have come to rely on -- sometimes grave, occasionally hilarious, and ultimately persuasive -- Small Wonder is a hopeful examination of the people we seem to be, and what we might yet make of ourselves.


PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:

Binding: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 267
Publication Date: 2002-05-01
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 2002-04-02
Studio: HarperCollins


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)
• High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never
• Homeland and Other Stories
• Prodigal Summer: A Novel
• Animal Dreams


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Thought provoking but not my style -
I am a great fan of Kingsolver's, and I appreciate her concern for family, society, and the environment. She always comes across as someone I'd like to know personally, even if I don't always agree with her viewpoints. I prefer her fiction, which is marvelous, to her nonfiction writing such as Animal, Vegetable Miracle (which I loved for its humor and writing style, but disagreed with some of her conclusions). Small Wonder is my least favorite of all of her work, partly because I don't agree with some of her points, and partly because I'm not a fan of essay collections. I also think Kingsolver's writing style, which contains a lot of internalized thinking, comes out as somewhat choppy in a short essay and does not work as well as in longer pieces where her ideas have more exposition.

That being said, the content of the essays varies. Most are written with Kingsolver's trademark skill, but the topics range all over the place. They are not all about 9/11 as some reviewers have stated, which makes me wonder if I read the same book. Some of the essays are quite thought-provoking such as letters to her daughter and mother. The one about being a stranger in a strange land (Japan) was hilarious, and some are just plain boring. As a research scientist, I also question some of her conclusions, which is not meant as a criticism so much as a desire for more explanation, which is what science is all about. Unfortunately, you can't do all that in a short essay.

All in all, this is a good book for Kinsolver fans, if you like her nonfiction work. It's not my personal favorite, but it is readable, and may get you thinking.

Small Wonders -
Barbara Kingsolver is a remarkable and admirable woman, who lives what she believes at her core. I am truly impressed

Inspirational -
I found Barbara Kingsolver's "A Small Wonder" inspirational. It's the first time I've finished a book and immediately turned it over and read it again! Ms. Kingsolver is a perceptive storyteller and the way she portrays everyday experiences sheds an illuminating perspective on a better way to experience life - from how we use resources, to how we raise our kids, to how we relate to others. It's a wonderful guidebook for those who are concerned about peace, family and the environment. Everyone should read it because we should all be concerned about these things!

Not a fun read, but a GREAT read -
We just discussed this book at our book club and it was described as "broccoli". It's a book you should read, but isn't one you exactly race back to reading any change you get. This book makes you think, which is great in modern day culture. We discussed the book for 2 hours and didn't even cover at least 1/2 the topics we could have discussed. WARNING: If read with an open mind, it can lead you to make small changes in your life and your community and appreciate all the small wonders in your own life.

Reassurance That There Are Small Wonders and Hope In Post-9/11 -
Barbara Kingsolver
somewhere outside of Tucson
or
somewhere in Appalachia

Dear Barbara,

Thank you. Keep writing! Although this one is not for sissies.

I feel that I can call you Barbara, because I have read most of your books, and, also, knowing you from your books, you would look over your shoulder if I addressed you as Ms. Kingsolver.

This book of essays predicated by events on September 11, 2001, is an outlet for so many of your passions for peace, humanity, justice, children, simplicity, your mother, nature, gardens and hummingbirds, to name a few. So many of them are also my passions, but it is a hard read. Then, so is living in the United States right now with the air filled with fear, anger and hate. As you write, "All of the promises of politicians, generals, madmen and crusaders that war can create peace have yet to be borne out."

You keep reasuring me and others throughout this book that there are small wonders and there is hope.

Your description of the miracle of a hummingbird building her nest outside your window made me gasp with awe. Such a sharing! And the reminder about the importance of diversity which follows sets down the dangers of the genetic engineering of foods so clearly.

"What Good is a Story?" had me marking passage after passage. You describe how I feel about your own fiction:

"I love fiction, strangely enough, for how true it is. If it can tell me someething I didn't already know, or maybe suspected but never framed quite that way, or never before had sock me so divinely in the solar plexus, that was a story worth the read."

and

"The business of fiction is to probe the tender spots of an imperfect world, which is where I live, write, and read."

I thank you for your writing, and I'm looking forward to your next book. Thank you, also, for donating the proceeds from "Small Wonder" to organizations helping to create hope and life in this imperfect world.

Hugs, Judith

by Judith Helburn
for StorycircleBookReviews
www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
reviewing books by, for, and about women