Title: Flight Behavior
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Goodreads
Why I picked it up: A friend loaned it to me! And I’d never read a Barbara Kingsolver book before, figured it was about time.
What it’s about: A hoard of monarch butterflies settles on a mountaintop in Appalachia instead of their native Mexico for the first time ever. A local family is caught up in the drama as scientists try to figure out what it means.
What I liked: Barbara Kingsolver writes people really well. Characterization is a huge part of what draws me to books, and I loved that her characters seemed so believable. I liked that this book explored the divide between the scientific community and those with more academia under their belts in general and poor Southern conservatives. Due to the increasing polarization in this country (or maybe helping cause it), people seem to be talking past each other a lot. Unwilling to listen to each other…a lot. I like that this book tackled that in a sensitive way.
What I didn’t like: At times it felt perhaps a little heavy-handed. I don’t necessarily mind, because it’s an important issue. I’m worried that it might turn off the exact audience she seems to be reaching for, but maybe the message is more for “liberals” anyway. Regardless, not a huge fault and not something that really impacted my enjoyment of the story.
Overall / recommended: I’m glad I read this book and I thought it was a worthwhile read. I didn’t love this book–it was somewhere between “I liked it” and “I really liked it,” though, which is a decent rating. I would recommend it to many people.
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