The Poisonwood Bible
Wow! What else can I say about this book. This is probably my new favorite book.
The Poisonwood Bible tells the story of a family that moves to the Belgian Congo to serve as missionaries. The book details the trials and tribulations this American family has living in central Africa. The story is told from the point of view of each of the women in the book, the mother and four daughters. The story itself is fictional, but it is set against real events in the history of the Congo. The family moves to the Congo in 1959, just before the Congo gains independence from Belgium. The first democratically elected president of the Congo is then assassinated with the help of the CIA in 1961 and eventually, the dictator Mobutu comes to power, in 1965, backed by the United States. I’ve been to Africa a few times, but never lived there, and never to a place like a small village in the Congo. But, I think this book does a great job describing what a “civilized” family would experience in such a situation. The book covered a good amount of recent history in central Africa, but one thing that it mentioned was the involvement of evangelist Pat Robertson in the diamond trade. Apparently he was quite close with Mobutu and one of his companies is involved in the diamond trade in the Congo. I guess I’m not too surprised, as he is a colossal douche bag. I don’t want to give too much away about the story, so I will stop here. Great book.
