In five pages this book is reviewed in terms of its combination of elements from both Western and Southern literature in a discussion of themes and family meaning. A text synopsis is also provided. Four sources are cited in the bibliography.
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pointed out, in many ways, this is a "Southern novel taken west" (15). The text definitely begins with a southern feel as protagonist Taylor Freer talks about "mud-bottomed ponds,
tobacco farmers, boiled greens and eggs for dinner" (Wright 506). However, it quickly turns to an "on-the-road" narrative when Taylor purchases a Volkswagon and leaves her Kentucky life behind for
points west. Taylor comments on her plans: "I promised myself... I would drive west until my car stopped running , and there I would stay" (Kingsolver 12). Taylors journey
west is not a mythical adventure -- shes no hero, as she is frightened by the sight of the Great Plains -- nor is this a Jack Kerouac-like rejection
society. Rather, Taylor is simply looking for a home, for herself and also for her adopted daughter, "Turtle." When Taylor is frightened by the flatness of the Great Plains,
she turned south and tried to drive around it, only to have her car break down in central Oklahoma. Taylor explains, "In Kentucky, you could never see too far...but out
there on the plain it was all laid out right in front of you, and no matter how far you looked it didnt get any better" (Kingsolver 12). She stops
at a bar before moving on and a Native American woman deposits a three-year-old girl in her car and begs her to keep the child. The woman wont
take "no" for an answer, just says that the "baby" was born in a Plymouth, the mother of the "baby" is dead and no one wants it. Taylor protests
that the "baby" is clearly a toddler and has been around long enough for someone to notice, but the woman just walks away. As Taylor contemplates what to do, the