Unsheltered
Ratings8
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.4
New York Times bestseller An NPR pick for Best Books of 2018 An O, The Oprah Magazine's Best Book of 2018 A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2018 One of Christian Science Monitor's best fiction reads of 2018 One of Newsweek's Best Books of the year The New York Times bestselling author of Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, and The Poisonwood Bible and recipient of numerous literary awards—including the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Orange Prize—returns with a timely novel that interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval. How could two hardworking people do everything right in life, a woman asks, and end up destitute? Willa Knox and her husband followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and an inherited brick house that is falling apart. The magazine where Willa worked has folded; the college where her husband had tenure has closed. Their dubious shelter is also the only option for a disabled father-in-law and an exasperating, free-spirited daughter. When the family’s one success story, an Ivy-educated son, is uprooted by tragedy he seems likely to join them, with dark complications of his own. In another time, a troubled husband and public servant asks, How can a man tell the truth, and be reviled for it? A science teacher with a passion for honest investigation, Thatcher Greenwood finds himself under siege: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting work just published by Charles Darwin. His young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his worries that their elegant house is unsound. In a village ostensibly founded as a benevolent Utopia, Thatcher wants only to honor his duties, but his friendships with a woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor threaten to draw him into a vendetta with the town’s powerful men. Unsheltered is the compulsively readable story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum in Vineland, New Jersey, navigating what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. With history as their tantalizing canvas, these characters paint a startlingly relevant portrait of life in precarious times when the foundations of the past have failed to prepare us for the future.
Reviews with the most likes.
I consider myself a Kingsolver fan, but this is by far my least favorite of her books. It has a jumble of intentions, I think. It is anti-Trump and pro-science, which is to be expected and admired, but even more heavy-handed than usual. There are two stories here that connect loosely, one a contemporary account of a family living in a ramshackle house in New Jersey just as Trump is being elected and another family living on the same street in the late 19th Century when the Darwin controversy is still raging.
3.5 stars. This book was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the writing and dual timelines. The comparison between what was occurring in the past and present was interesting to me. At the same time, the characters seemed one dimensional and there wasn't much nuance when it came to their views on social and political issues. It is worth the read if you are a fan of Barbara Kingsolver and like literary fiction. Otherwise, you might not find this to be a compelling novel.
