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Original Title:	Homeland and Other Stories
ISBN:	0060917016 (ISBN13: 9780060917012)
Edition Language:	English

Homeland and Other Stories

Barbara Kingsolver

Paperback | Pages: 245 pages

Rating: 3.82 | 6572 Users | 351 Reviews

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Title	:	Homeland and Other Stories
Author	:	Barbara Kingsolver
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 245 pages
Published	:	November 25th 2003 by HarperPerennial (first published 1989)
Categories	:	Fiction. Short Stories. Contemporary. Literature. Adult. Adult Fiction. Literary Fiction

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Leave it to my mother. Every time I get to the point where I've almost relegated her to the lands of the unenlightened, she pops out of the woodwork and shows off a surprising amount of taste; for a Baptist minister who proudly voted for George W. Bush and thinks Carrot Top is funny, my mom occasionally knows what's up. Homeland was an Easter gift, buried between chocolate bunnies and "inspirational" literature meant to soothe what she sees as my wayward soul. Like a lot of her gifts, the aforementioned Mom Stigma kept me from tearing right into it; on the contrary, it was five months before a long road trip provided the impetus to finally see what Ms. Kingsolver had to tell me.

The timing, I found, couldn't have been better. Like everyone in 11th grade AP English, I read The Bean Trees , took the quiz, wrote the essay and forgot about it, my only memories of the story being "Jesus Is Lord Used Tires" and a vague notion that I didn't hate it. Knowing that I would soon be trapped in car driving from Maine to western Kentucky, I grabbed a pile of books that I hoped would preserve my sanity- enter Homeland. By the time we'd left New England my literature stash was already half-depleted, so as the forests and fast pace of the northeast faded into the slow, rolling hills of the south I said a silent prayer that my mom didn't strike out, smoked a bit of marijuana and tackled the first story.

Give either Kingsolver or the pot credit- I've never been able to keep interested in Native American stories (am I a bad person? Likely), but "Homeland" didn't bore me one bit. In fact, for the first time, I kind of understood the allure of the culture and the people that actually care about it (and as the author presumably falls into this category, one could chalk this up as the definition of successful literature). Beautifully written, the titular tale whispers a sad message on the disintegration Native American culture without the kind of overplayed pity that usually turns similar pieces into unwitting self-parodies; instead of a feathery, face-painted Indian shedding tears at someone's discarded soda can, Kingsolver presents a character old but vibrant, stoic but sad, and the reader is left not with obligatory guilt but a soft melancholy. It's kind of beautiful.

All the stories in Homeland subscribe to a general theme of small towns and "simple" people. Rather than crafting elaborate or glamorous plot lines, Kingsolver lets her nearly-poetic words and characters carry the stories, and as our vehicle plunged into the warm drawl of the mid-south it felt like each narrative could be happening right next to me. Homeland could never be a Hollywood film. The relationships within eschew fiery breakups and dramatic, emotional reconciliations for slow, subtle declines that creak and bend like an old weathered bridge; moments of clear profundity sometimes strike the characters, but like real life these epiphanies rarely change anyone's life significantly. In Kingsolver's world, people live and love and hurt- but they still have to get up for work the next morning.

Homeland is not a Catcher in the Rye type of book; no one is going to rethink their lives or carry it with them on a trip to murder John Lennon, but that, in essence, is the point. It's hard to relate to most popular books and films, with their fantastic tales and characters that always seem to end up ok regardless of what craziness ensues. While those kinds of things hold an integral place in the artistic world, it's refreshing to see the lives of "ordinary" people brought to life in an equally entertaining way, and one could argue that the simplicity of Kingsolver's stories makes them more impressive. I'll leave that to someone else. But by golly, if you find yourself on a long drive through the heart of America, pick up Homeland and let yourself get wrapped up inside it- even if it lets you down, it'll be subtle and you might not even notice.

Rating Epithetical Books Homeland and Other Stories

Ratings: 3.82 From 6572 Users | 351 Reviews

Appraise Epithetical Books Homeland and Other Stories

These delicious stories are another reason I adore Barbara Kingsolver. She never fails to woo me with her simple, yet intriguing storytelling. I return to her time after time.

This collection of short stories all have women as the protagonist. What makes the book interesting is the variety of characters. Kingsolver portrays people as diverse as a native matriarch,couples at various stages of their marriages who have lost the ability to communicate or trust, a single mom,a union supporter. Unconventional women,ordinary women, but all strong women. Her stories made me wish that she had written a novel about each one; I wanted to get to know them better and see them in

I recommend this to those who can pick up on the subtle things as many of these stories are more impressions or snapshots of life -- what people are like, how they feel, what they want, etc -- rather than big, exciting plots.This book was lovely. I could relate to every single character in this book, be they young, old, man, woman, happy, miserable, and so on. Kingsolver's writing is so poetic while conveying such REALITY. I am full of admiration for her as a writer and have yet to find anything

While I'm not a huge fan of short stories, if the author is Kingsolver they're going to be good. These particular tales revolve around the theme of family. Especially good was "Bereaved Apartments', about an elderly woman with antique treasures who thinks someone has broken into her home over 100 times and damaged or stolen her belongings. Kingsolver doesn't really resolve (no pun intended)her stories so much is left up to the reader to imagine. Sometimes I like that, and sometimes I want it all

Not all books are meant to be audiobooks, but those that are, absolutely must be listened to and then listened to again to catch the nuanced, beautiful language that can be missed the first time. Such is the case with Barbara Kingsolvers Homeland and Other Stories, read by Kingsolver. She reads her stories with the soft, sweet accent of rural Kentucky, where she grew up.It put me in mind of other books Ive listened to that I categorize as gentle reads, like Major Pettigrews Last Stand by Helen

If I were teaching a fiction workshop to undergraduates, I think this would have to be on my reading list. Kingsolver waltzes with those story components so gracefully and each story has range; the reader does not feel as if she is reading the same story with slight shifts. With each story, I felt comfortable with it as a whole entity, though with many, I wish there were more, wanting to live in that world a bit longer. The only issue I took were a good handful of her endings--they felt as if

I was so conflicted about how to rate this book: some of the stories were definitely 5 star quality, while others I would rate at a 2 or 3. In the end, I decided that the great stories outweighed the meh stories, and so it got four stars. The title story, "Homeland" is extrememly good, although my favorites were "Covered Bridges" and "Rose Johnny" A theme of these stories is an "incomplete" or sort of abrupt ending. At first, this bothered me, until I realized it's a perfect statement about life