My Favorite Novel: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

The best novels are those that change the reader's life, outlook, or give understanding to an experience. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver is one such book.

Set in southern Appalachia, this novel follows three people living in a rural community. Each chapter rotates from the three character's point of view. This is the exact same structure Kingsolver uses in her very popular previous novel, The Poisonwood Bible. Written this way, the reader is able to personally to connect with the three main characters and truly live their lives with them.

Prodigal Summer isn't just about people, though. As with most of Kingsolver's novels, there is a greater message at hand. This message is a belief so important to me, that I continue to reread this book year after year. A message about preservation, conservation, and the importance of life of all kinds.

Kingsolver earned her undergraduate degree in biology, and weaves much of that natural scientific knowledge through this narrative. It isn't just about the people, but the whole ecosystem they interact with. It isn't just about a person's story, it's about the connection we all have with others, animals, and the land we live on.

Kingsolver's words on solitude have particularly touched me and continue to affect me as I read them again and again. "Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen."

Through the three characters in this novel, the reader sees how they are connected to the world and how important that connection is. Few books have imparted that kind of wisdom upon me. The choices I make, the way I act has consequences far deeper than I'll ever see, and this book is what truly brought that message home.

For me, Prodigal Summer made me reevaluate how I looked at the world, and made me more careful about the choices I will have to make in life. It did all the things a great novel is supposed to do. It changed me and the way I view the world.