Animal Dreams: A Novel

Animal Dreams: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver, reaffirms my high regard for this acclaimed author. The contemporary story takes place in America’s Southwest.

Codi Noline returns to her childhood home in Grace, Arizona when she learns her father, the small town’s only physician, is dying of a brain disease. When Codi was three years old, her mother died giving birth to her sister, Hallie. Growing up, the two girls were inseparable, but they had a difficult, distant relationship with their father.

Codi can’t bear the thought of living in her father’s house, but is invited to use the guesthouse of a high school friend who is married with five children.

Codi’s sister Hallie, who has a degree in integrated pest management, leaves for Nicaragua to share her knowledge of growing crops. Codi receives periodic letters from Hallie telling of her experiences and fears while in Central America. Codi considers Hallie “a cross between Johnny Appleseed and a freedom fighter.”

Although Codi considers herself a medical school drop-out, a well-trained bag lady, she is highly educated and is temporarily hired by the school district to teach high school biology. The Grace area has had deteriorating agriculture due to local mining operations. Codi takes her students on a field trip to test the soil and water. Together they confirm recent studies claiming the soil is so damaged it has the approximate pH of battery acid.

While at a social gathering, Codi sees an old high school boyfriend, handsome Apache Loyd Peregrina, whose gentle humor and wise perception fill an emptiness Codi has carried for years. Together, they visit places of his youth and she learns of the Southwest’s rich history.

Animal Dreams is a passionate, complex novel of love, forgiveness and one woman’s struggle to learn what “home” means. It’s full of warmth and wisdom, especially from Loyd: “It’s one thing to carry your life wherever you go. Another thing to always go looking for it somewhere else.”

I'm a sucker for reading other people's favorite books of all time. When someone tells me a certain book is one of the books of their life, I get this pressing urge to run out and secure a copy. It generally doesn't matter what genre or style of book it is. I think this is mostly because I know what it means to care so much about a book you have to have it nearby at all times. Maybe you own more than one copy so that if you lend one out you've still got a spare...just in case. Maybe you can't remember a time when you hadn't read and loved that book, those characters. I know what that feels like. And because I have such tender feelings for certain books, I want to have read the books others feel the same way about. It's almost always a rewarding experience. One of the most memorable of these times happened several years ago when a good friend of mine on Readerville was talking about what a superb novel Barbara Kingsolver's ANIMAL DREAMS was. I had read one Kingsolver book at that point--

Recently on Facebook, Elmore Leonard was quoted when giving tips to aspiring writers, saying, in other words, show, don't tell. He also suggests eliminating the parts you'd skip if you were reading the novel. I chuckled when I read these things. I just had finished reading Solzhenitsyn without skipping a thing. Leaonard said no one cares how the characters look, or how the scenery appears, bragging that he doesn't include those details in his books. He forsakes speaking of weather. Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors, violates all of Elmore's rules. Elmore envisions himself a minimalist, evoking self-images of Hemmingway; his characters are seedy, and while interesting, they are shallow, predictable cliches. Kingsolver's characters have depth, and she weaves the story like the wool ponchos I imagine her female characters wearing in this story, textured and detailed with life's stories depicted in the fabric. Her characters are palpable, rather than predictable, have depth and delve into meaningful work. If anything, she tries to tackle too many controversies, to out too many issues in one small book, taking on too much. But she deals with contemporary issues, from politics to feminist proclivities, chastising America's imperialism. I love her insertions about scenery, weather, living things and people's quirks. She writes a woman's voice, singing a jazz rhythm.

This will not be an objective review, I get a bit sappy over Kingsolver's work. I'm not alone. In this first person narrative, Cosima Nolina (Codi) returns to her home in Grace, AZ, looking for many things, among them, herself. So far, her life has been one of incompletions, a love affair that fizzled, a medical education abandoned at the last minute. Her former life in Grace was difficult. She and her sister, Hallie, were raised by a single parent, a conflicted, rigid father who was also the town doctor. As if being tall weren't enough (Hallie about six feet, Codi, just under), he forced them to wear orthopedic shoes for most of their early years, further isolating them from their peers. Now Hallie has gone off to improve agricultural practices in Nicaragua, and Codi has returned to Grace to resolve some of the demons within. The setting is so strongly rendered as to be a character in itself. Grace was named after a troup of sisters who were sent there (sold) by their father many years before. Kingsolver offers up painstaking, careful detail of the countryside and pueblo architecture. Among the many conflicts set forth, the trees in Grace are dying. A local mine is spewing forth acid rain. Saving the water supply, and the village becomes one of Codi's primary tasks. Suffice it to say, there are enough twists and turns to keep the reader turning pages. Even more than that, there are the characteristic Kingsolver insights: About her sister: "I spent a long time circling above the clouds, looking for life, while Hallie was living it." About her love interest, Loyd: "You can't know somebody, I thought, till (sic) you've followed him home." About bread served to her: "It had a hard brown crust and a heavenly, steaming interior, and tasted like love." About her family: "Family constellations are fixed things: they don't change just because you've learned the names of the stars." What's not to like? A great read!

This was Barbara Kingsolver's third novel, and it shows her great understanding of nature, humanity and how love really is all we need. The story is about Cosima, a woman struggling to find her place in the world. She returns to her childhood hometown of Grace to live with a friend ands begins to relearn her relationships with her dying father, neighbours, former lover and absent sister.

Codi (as Cosima is known) learns that her sister, Hallie, has signed up to help the Nicaraguan farmers who are living under the threat of U.S.- backed Contra insurgents. Codi says:'All I want is to be like you,to be brave, to walk into a country of chickens and land mines and call that home, and have it be home. ' - p. 200

Codi's ex-boyfriend from her teenage years, Loyd, reappears and they take up once again. Loyd does not know that Codi was pregnant with his child when she was fifteen, but miscarried and buried the feotus secretly. Loyd is a home loving type of person, who genuinely wants to make a life with Codi, but she is too self-loathing to see it, and plans to move on when the school term ends. Loyd introduces Codi to the Indian pueblos, and landscape: 'The sandstone had been carved by ice ages and polished by desert eons of sandpaper winds. The place did not so much inspire religion as seemed to be religion itself.' - p.210

This book overs so much of what is important and beautiful in the world, it is sad and funny and most of all, meaningful.

Without giving the ending away, Codi goes through a transformation during her Year of Grace. Of the townspeople she says: 'In their eyes my life should have been simple, purely a matter of love and he right wardrobe. It was as if I had fifty mothers.' - p. 311

I have enjoyed other books by this author, so I decided to read Animal Dreams when I found it on sale. Barbara Kingsolver is masterful at telling a character driven story. This is the story of a young woman returning home to a small town when her father is struggling with dementia. As she settles in, she has to make peace with her past, accept her present, and allow herself to plan for a future. She must remember and discover who she really is. There are several people from her past that prove to be important on her path of discovery.

There are many thought-provoking passages for the reader along the way. One is about the Importance of remembering and the dangers of forgetting. Another reminds us that childhood perceptions are not always accurate and to remember that people have reasons we may not be aware of for doing the things they do. Each of us just does the best we can.

While there are other titles by Barbara Kingsolver that I liked better, this one was good and definitely worth the time to read.

I was reading this novel for a class I was taking. I think reading analytically took a away from the book a little, however, this book was pretty good. I really enjoyed getting to know this little town of Grace. I also thought the twist towards the end was pretty great.

I really think that Barbara Kingsolver did an amazing job at inspiring her readers to take action against environmental issues.

SPOILERS I really wanted to like this book. Especially since The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all-time favorites. I ordered Animal Dreams with high expectations, based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews. I don't know what happened but I am a little over halfway through Animal Dreams and I am so terribly let down. I will say that Kingsolver is an immensely talented writer who certainly knows how to turn a phrase and use descriptive imagery. The main problem with Animal Dreams is that it is so boring. You know it’s bad when the height of the action is a cock fight. I detest animal cruelty and have to wonder why Kingsolver even included this as it added nothing to her main male protagonist besides make me wonder why Cosima would even continue to be with him after witnessing his participation in such an event. The fact that he immediately quits upon learning that Cosima disapproves of his life-long “hobby” struck me as very unrealistic and insincere. Is Loyd such a weak and immoral person that he couldn’t recognize the brutality of this “sport” until Cosima pointed it out to him? Is he quitting just so he can continue getting laid? Or is he so crazy in love with Cosima (after a few weeks of dating) that he will give up his beloved hobby in an instant to please her? It saddens me to admit that I don’t really care. I stopped believing this story about a hundred pages in and have not found any reason yet to change my mind. Another big problem I am having with this book is the unrealistic characters. I enjoy complicated characterization and expect them to be flawed as most normal human beings are. I gather so far that main protagonist Cosima puts very little effort into her looks, career or personality but is a “rockstar” who sports a Billy Idol haircut and effortlessly wins the heart of studly Loyd. Her sister Hallie is a “supermodel” farmer with a heart of gold who is busy saving the world. Hallie's story actually sounds like it would be infinitely more interesting than Cosima's but sadly we just don't get too much of Hallie in this book. Their father Doc Homer is so emotionally aloof as to appear almost robotic and adds almost no real depth to the tale, though he could have. The poor old guy only makes the plot more cumbersome and plodding, but it’s not his fault. I sense there was a much more interesting person in there somewhere but Kingsolver would not let us meet him. New boyfriend and former lover Loyd is portrayed as some kind of ladies man with a heart of gold in spite of his enjoyment of cock fighting and a checkered past. Cosima’s “best friend” Emelina is a married stay at home mother with a whole litter of children who maintains a perfect figure and a perfect marriage and as far as I can tell, perfectly dull children. These characters are almost caricature like with their total lack of realistic human qualities. I just cannot relate to any of these people and their “struggles”. Cosima returns to her home town of Grace, Arizona to stay with Emelina in her pretty little house in the middle of a pretty little orchard and all of these transitions are effortless. There’s no real conflict presented as would normally exist in the real world. No, this rock star of a person Cosima moves back to her hometown and immediately lands a job, a studly boyfriend and perfect little house to live in with the perfect little family. The resulting story is just resoundingly dull. Nothing happens to add any kind of depth, complexity or conflict to this tale or the people in it. Sure we have a few remnants of Cosima’s past and her complicated relationship with her father, but not nearly enough plot development to base an entire novel on. Kingsolver was perfectly capable of fleshing this story out and making it meaningful and compelling but for some reason did not. I wonder if this was an attempt at chick lit to appeal to a larger audience since The Poisonwood Bible is a magnificent book, but clearly not for everyone. There is very little dramatic appeal to this book. Simply put, not much actually happens, besides the cock fight and Cosima selling some peacock pinatas in an attempt to save her home town. I agree with the other reviewers who believe that the environmental angle was thrown into the story in an attempt to elevate it a notch or two above boring chick lit. I will go ahead and finish this book though at this point there is little it could do to redeem itself. I am very disappointed but I do forgive Ms. Kingsolver for boring me to death. I still consider her a very gifted and accomplished author and encourage my fellow readers to skip this book and read The Poisonwood Bible instead.

Two stars for decent prose and plot, and occasionally interesting scenes. Spoilers ahead.

Pros: 1. Interesting and complex relationships with father and sister well-illustrated. 2. Compelling plot of someone who is trying to find out why she has lost childhood memories and why she is wandering through life, as well as how to repair her damage. 3. Attempt to delve into the mind of someone with Alzheimers was well done.

Cons:

1. The most mundane things she experiences throughout the book are described in detail, while really important aspects in her life are glossed over (ex: By the way, he's been coming over to visit me for weeks now. By, the way, we've been sleeping together for a month, now. By the way, I finally told him something I should have all along yesterday and now he is sad. By, the way, I got some life-changing news the other day.) I have never seen so many missed opportunities at writing poignant scenes in detail. People say there is a beautiful romance unfolding in this book, but most of it is never actually written and shown, so there is no emotion to be felt. No emotion to be felt when tragedies occur, because we do not experience them with the narrator. We get told days after she finds out, as if it is an afterthought. It feels like someone ripped out the pages of all of the good parts of the book, so the readers miss out.
2. It doesn't occur to Loyd that cockfighting is wrong until someone tells him, and then his conscience is suddenly revealed. No one is that stupid.
3. When tragedy occurs, Loyd lets her create distance, rather than be a solid rock for her and insist on being present for her, even if she can't be touched or doesn't want to speak or interact. What a man. (of course, we are only told that this occurred in retrospect, not being able to watch it unfold. I guess it makes sense that if the author didn't care enough to show the majority of their romance unfold, it makes sense that she didn't care to show it fizzling out either.)
4. Despite the interesting plot, it is not well developed. I just feel that the author was really lazy, and expected us to write 90 percent of the book in our heads. I get the concept of reader interpretation, but when you have to "interpret" so much of the book yourself, you might as well rewrite the book for the author, which defies the point of reading.