Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

1.5 Stars

Dellarobia and Cub (first warning that I should stop reading this IMMEDIATELY) have been married since high school due to an accidental pregnancy.  They have spent the past decade practically sharecropping under the thumb of Cub’s mother and father.  While on her way to a tryst with a younger man, Dellarobia sees that their entire forest is filled with Monarch butterflies that have somehow migrated to Tennessee for the winter rather than Mexico.  Some think Dellarobia has witnessed a miracle, some just think she’s grown too big for her country britches, some are there to figure out the science behind the freak migration.

First reaction:  Whew – I made it through!  Second reaction:  A saga of redneck ecowarriors???  Final reaction:  Saaaaaad.  Not because the book is sad.  The book elicited ZERO emotion from me.  Sad because I loved the Poisonwood Bible.  When people ask for a recommendation – that is always top 10.  I have avoided anything else by Kingsolver because of my fear it would pale in comparison.  I should have stuck with my gut feeling.  This was awful - no other way around hit.  Kingsolver obviously has an opinion regarding global warming and used these 436 pages to express it.  Unfortunately, she did NOTHING in the way of creating characters that I give one rat’s fat a$$ about.  If your wine-swillin’, book-clubbin’ friends want to read it, power through.  Otherwise, skip it and re-read The Poisonwood Bible.