Diane S ☔'s Reviews > Unsheltered

3.5 Upon my completion of this book, I was left with a serious conundrum. What do I rate this? I actually finished a few days ago, a read with Angela and Esil, and have been pondering that question throughout. One expects when reading Kingsolver to be confronted with her opinions, political, environmentally or something to do with the natural world. Here she gives us all three, in two different stories, ons in the past, one in the present. The connection being the house that is lived in that happens to be falling apart around those within.

In the present day we are introduced to Willa and her family, husband, dying father in law and two grown children, one with an extra. She and her husband had, she felt, done everything right, but now I their late fifties they find themselves scrambling just to make dnds meet. I loved her character, very realistic portrayal, and loved her daughter Tig. The father in law, not so much, he was the spewer of all things wrong in this country, from Obama care, to immigrants being allowed in, he is a great believer in turning back the clock and returning to the good old days.


In the past, we have a woman and a town that actually existed. This for me alwsys adds more authenticity to the story. Mary Treat was a real 19th century, self taught biologist who had a writing relationship with Darwin among others. Thatcher is a young, married man hired to teach at the school. The struggle here is the opinion of those believing in Creatisionalism, refuting and positively disliking the views of Darwin and natural selection. Thatcher and his family are the ones living in the house.

While I understand the connection, the message Kingsolver is presenting. That have had struggles in the past between those who want to cling to the way things were, dislikng progress, that these time pass, we will get through them. These two stories were so different, not in subject, but in tone and presentation, that I finished feeling as if I had read two separate books. I understood the unifying theme but didn't feel it. The writing though in both sections was very good, as are most of Kingsolver, and i enjoyed learning about someone I never knew, I just had a hard time finding this a cohesive whole.

ARC from Edelweiss.