Bean Trees
The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, is the story of Taylor Greer and her struggle to find a place to belong. Like Kingsolver, Taylor began her journey in Kentucky and ended in Tucson, Arizona. As a result of writing The Bean Trees, Kingsolver has been praised by many critics. The San Francisco Chronicle called the writing in The Bean Trees, "...so wry and wise we wish it would never end...". I could not wait for this book to end. Though the novel is well written, the content was done in bad taste. Many factors have led to my disapproval of this novel. For now I will only discuss a few of these factors: an unnecessarily long beginning, the portrayal of Taylor Greer as a heroin, and randomly placed offensive material. From the beginning I was disappointed with this novel. Kingsolver chose to begin the novel from Taylor's point of view in Kentucky, but when the reader reaches chapter two, the book switches to Lou Ann's point of view in Arizona. This tradeoff continues until the end of chapter five when these two characters finally meet and decide to live together. By this time I had no idea what to expect next from this story. Some may enjoy this type of delay before the story truly begins, but I am not one tho
Her lack of quality writing in this novel is shown through her wrongful portrayal of the main character, Taylor Greer, as a heroin, the randomly placed offensive material in the text, and her decision to spend the first five chapters confusing and boring her readers. The fact that she finished High school and did so without getting pregnant is triumphant. All of these excerpts could have just as easily been left out. By adding extra chapters for detailed character exploration Kingsolver takes away the suspense and intrigue and leaves the reader confused and bored. If it were not required of me to read this book, I would have given up reading it by chapter three. There is no need for extra background information on a supporting character like LouAnn. The heroin theme is reiterated when Taylor takes in Turtle; a young abused Indian girl abandoned by her family. Kingsolver could have introduced Lou Ann's character in less detail. Many critics have praised her work, but I cannot agree with any of them. She overcame many obstacles and managed to avoid seemingly predestined events in her life, but she is not the first or last to do so. By the end of the novel, Taylor has accepted what has become of her life and she does not show any desire for a better life for herself or for her newly adopted daughter. Kingsolver's cockiness in her writing was also shown through her lack of taste.
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Acceptance Essays
