Book 6 of 2021 Done!

As of today, I can say that I have finally read all of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels. It’s taken me 14 years - but we are finally caught up!

What I love about Kingsolver’s books is how she writes about nature, grief, environmental change, science, and human relationships. Animal Dreams illustrates these themes beautifully.

Codi Nolime comes home to Grace, Arizona, to take care of her father with advanced Alzheimer’s and learns that the nearby mining company is threatening to divert the town’s river after years of poisoning the local watershed. Meanwhile, Codi’s sister is doing agricultural support work in Nicaragua and facing increasing violence from American backed Contras.

While home, Codi tries to learn more about her mother who died during her sister’s birth and archive her family’s history from her father’s moments of lucidity and the local “Stitch & Bitch” club.

This book was heartbreaking on so many levels and left me wanting more (another theme with all of Kingsolver’s novels).