Unsheltered

A Novel

By: Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver

The New York Times best-selling author of Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, and The Poisonwood Bible and recipient of numerous literary awards - including the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Orange Prize - returns with a timely novel that interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval.

Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it’s so unnerving that she’s arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work and dedication but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The magazine where she worked has folded, and the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing and cantankerous Greek father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her dutiful debt-ridden, ivy educated son, Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development.

In an act of desperation, Willa begins to investigate the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might take an interest and provide funding for its direly needed repairs. Through her research into Vineland’s past and its creation as a Utopian community, she discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood.

A science teacher with a lifelong passion for honest investigation, Thatcher finds himself under siege in his community for telling the truth: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting new theory recently published by Charles Darwin. Thatcher’s friendships with a brilliant woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor draw him into a vendetta with the town’s most powerful men. At home, his new wife and status-conscious mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his financial worries and the news that their elegant house is structurally unsound.

Brilliantly executed and compulsively listenable, Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts. In this mesmerizing story told in alternating chapters, Willa and Thatcher come to realize that though the future is uncertain, even unnerving, shelter can be found in the bonds of kindred - whether family or friends - and in the strength of the human spirit.

©2018 Barbara Kingsolver (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

wow a graceful and inspiring true world story

how she captures the current cultural chaos while interweaving the local town history is prismatic....well done.
beautiful true and hopeful

Kingsolver does it again!

This is such a profound look at families, complex and inexorable, through the ages. Sublime.

A most inspiring conversation between a mother and daughter.

The conversation from chapter 15, “Unexpected Reserves” between Willa and Tig is inspiring, challenging and heartily truthful.
I have found myself on both sides of that discussion sorted by age and topic. The perspective of Tig spoken calmly gives ease to emotionally tied ideals.

respectfully covers heavy matter (suicide)

Very well written, as usual. Just because people adore Kingsolver's early works is not reason to insult her late work. The bad reviews are not true. K. is just as amazing as she always was. So glad she produced this novel, and glad to have illumination on mental illness and its subject matter.

Good story / okay performance

I like how Kingsolver connects the two stories and time periods, reminding us that our current obstacles and political conditions are “new” and familiar repeats.
While I find it interesting to hear an author read their own work, I don’t think that the story benefits from an author/reader in this case.

Performance Problem

I have always enjoyed Kingsolver's books in the past. She is a very fine writer. She should not give up her day job. Her narration was weak at best. I agree with other reviewers the performance was wretched. The story was a good one - very compelling characters. I just wish someone else had read it to me.

Intelligent, interesting

I loved the double story line of the novel and the connections to our current political and cultural situations. The characters were well drawn, believable and likeable. I especially loved the female scientist. I would highly recommend this novel.

Terrible narration!

I love Barbara Kingsolver's books but I find her narration so irritating that I couldn't listen to this book!
I did make it thru listening to "The Prodigal Summer" several years ago. Didn't like her voice then but was able to finish but this time I just couldn't continue. Sorry, Barbara.

Wonderful

As usual Barbara Kingsolver delivers prose that feels like a poem,and a fabulous story!

What’s not to love?

I have read everything by Barbara Kingsolver and they never fail to delight. The only hard part is deciding which one is my favorite.
#sweepstake #tagsgiving