The Bean Trees by Barbara KingsolverMissy Greer, our narrator most chapters, grew up in the 70's in a small town Kentucky southern town. Pittman county is so behind the times that phone calls were handled by an operator instead of a dial until 1973. From the money she makes working at the local hospital, Missy buys a car, and then she drives out of Pittman County. She decides to change her name to Taylor after the first place she runs out of gas in. Taylor drives adventurously for a while, and then a broken rocker arm(part of her car) forces her to stop at a station near the edge of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. As she is about to leave, a woman comes over to her car with a toddler, and deposits the baby on Taylor's front passenger seat. She asks Taylor to take the baby, and Taylor does.
Lou Ann Ruiz is pregnant, which she is happy about. She is not getting along well with her husband, which she is not happy about. Angel (pronounced Ahn-hel) leaves her, and takes with him everything he considers his, which includes the TV set. Lou Ann is not working, having quit her job earlier to take care of Angel after his leg was amputated. After alternating chapter where we watch Lou Ann in the third person and listen to Taylor in the first, Taylor moves in with Lou Ann after Lou Ann advertises for a roomate, Angel's space being vacant. Taylor gets a job at a the Jesus Is Lord Used tires, which turns out to house illegal immigrants who should have been given political asylum, but weren't.
This is an awesome story, but after reading it I'm left with the feeling that I never quite got the point- it's subtle. Politically, the point is definitively made on immigration, and there is a definite disparagement of the Children and Family Services agency. The tone and style of Taylor's narration remind me of
To Kill A Mockingbird, although possibly that's only because it has a definite southern accent and makes a point about people's prejudices and the justice system. The manner in which Taylor seems to make friends seems unrealistic, although possible. The nature scenes in this book are great, and since the author lives right where the scenes take place, they're probably even real. One topic is almost missing- race relations. The illegal immigrant Estevan mentions American thinking along racial lines, and Lou Ann's parents hold a grudge against Angel for being Mexican, but unlike almost every other conflict in the narrative, this one is not analyzed.
Happy reading.
: 3:23 AM
