[stylist] BLP: book review

[Chris Kuell]

Here's a review I wrote about 5 years ago about a novel which remains one of 
my favorites.


Jesus is Bangala!

By Chris Kuell

The last decade of my life has been filled with changes. Topping the list 
are the birth of my daughter, the loss of my sight,   a kidney transplant 
and my transformation from research chemist into fiction writer.

I became blind in 1997 from complications of diabetes. I lost my job, sank 
into depression, then began the journey of rebuilding a new life as a blind 
guy in a sighted world.

Like many people, after graduate school, starting a family and climbing the 
lower rungs of the corporate ladder, I found I had little time or energy to 
pursue reading as I once did. Blindness gave me the time and audio books 
gave me the ability to read again. I began by listening to books on 
philosophy and the holocaust, which helped me develop a better life 
perspective. I also rekindled my love for a good story, catching up on 
classic fiction I missed growing up, and giving friends and family a great 
outlet when looking for gifts.

My wife gave me The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, for Christmas 
in 2000. It was newly out on tape, and I wasn't sure it merited the large 
purchase price. A week later, I wanted to buy it for everyone I knew.

Kingsolver weaves an intricate tale that expertly delves into issues of 
family, race and religion.
An arrogant Baptist preacher takes his wife and four daughters on a 
missionary trip to the Belgian Congo in 1959. I read with fascination as the 
family crumbled along with the Congolese government, and gained insight into 
a time and place that is often misunderstood.

I am a fan of the character driven novel, and Kingsolver is a master at 
unleashing the camera of the imagination. It had been years since I'd 
encountered such vivid characters, all of whom fascinated me as they 
struggled in their own ways to survive what life dealt them.

I watched as the loathsome preacher destroyed his family by refusing to 
modify his Western ideas. Sympathized with Orleanna as she struggled between 
the pull of her maternal instinct and role as good preacher's wife. 
Kingsolver provides a brilliant depiction of the world of Adah, the twin who 
suffered from hemiplegia. One side of her brain defective, she spoke little, 
yet entertained profound thoughts, often in the form of palindromes. Leah 
was caught up in trying to please her deteriorating father, and Rachel, the 
tall blonde teenager who fascinated the natives, never saw much past her own 
woes.

Recorded books can be great for insomnia, but I found myself listening late 
into the night, unable to stop until the end of the chapter, then unable to 
resist starting the next.

Although I can no longer physically see, great writing fills the screen of 
my imagination. After finishing The Poisonwood Bible, I kept visualizing the 
fire ants as they ate their way through the entire village. I heard the 
crazy preacher as he proclaimed, "Jesus is Bangala!" mispronouncing the 
Congolese word for Savior so it meant Poisonwood, a harsher African version 
of poison Ivy. I felt angry at the needless corruption of a simple people as 
careless governments played their games. Among the many details of the book, 
one particular thought persisted--I'd love to be able to write like that.

In 2001, I began writing short stories. I'm also working on a novel and 
devouring books by great writers to learn how they transform words into 
characters who captivate us, and stories that make us feel deeply what it is 
to be human.

My goal is to someday write stories such as the Poisonwood Bible, with well 
fleshed out characters who illuminate us through breathtaking detail and 
attention to the emotional world that we all inhabit in our minds. Stories 
that don't shy away from difficult or even taboo issues. Stories that refuse 
to let the reader go away unchanged.