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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Political violence, death of a child, and colonial brutality depicted
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Brief references to sexual violence in the context of the Congo conflict
Substance Use
Barely any
Minimal substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Religious fanaticism, child abuse, and the psychological aftermath of trauma across decades
What this book is about
Nathan Price, a fanatical Baptist minister and Vietnam veteran, transplants his wife and four daughters to a remote Congo village in 1959. Told through the voices of the five women, the novel traces the family's unraveling against the backdrop of Congo's independence movement and the CIA's role in assassinating Patrice Lumumba. Kingsolver's sprawling novel is at once a critique of American imperialism, a portrait of an abusive patriarch, and a story of women's survival across decades.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Death of a child
Religious abuse by a patriarch
Political violence and colonial trauma
Reader Verification
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