Ashley’s January Recommendation

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

“Our online catalog offers this description of Flight Behavior: ‘Tired of living on a failing farm and suffering oppressive poverty, bored housewife Dellarobia Turnbow, on the way to meet a potential lover, is detoured by a miraculous event on the Appalachian mountainside that ignites a media and religious firestorm that changes her life forever.’ I’d simply add that this miracles turns out to be an ecological disturbance that the characters in the books must face. Kingsolver writes stories that marry down to earth characters with the earth. Her work weaves in information about plants, bugs and animals and relates them to people. She gives the environmental movement a deeply human context. Flight Behavior is no exception. The character transformation in this novel cannot be emphasized enough. Dellarobia goes from discontented housewife to budding scientist–all because of an environmental phenomenon that occurs on her mountain. This tranformation has a lasting impact on her relationship with her friends and family–many of whom experience their own transformations throughout the novel.”