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    The Bean Trees
    The Bean Trees
    The Bean Trees
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Bean Trees

    Written by Barbara Kingsolver

    Narrated by C. J. Critt

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    “The Bean Trees is the work of a visionary. . . . It leaves you open-mouthed and smiling.”  — Los Angeles Times

    A bestseller that has come to be regarded as an American classic, The Bean Trees is the novel that launched Barbara Kingsolver’s remarkable literary career.

    It is the charming, engrossing tale of rural Kentucky native Taylor Greer, who only wants to get away from her roots and avoid getting pregnant. She succeeds, but inherits a three-year-old Native American girl named Turtle along the way, and together, from Oklahoma to Arizona, half-Cherokee Taylor and her charge search for a new life in the West. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in seemingly empty places.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 19, 2009
    ISBN9780061901874
    The Bean Trees
    Author

    Barbara Kingsolver

    Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered, Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal Dreams, and The Bean Trees, as well as books of poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction. Her work of narrative nonfiction is the influential bestseller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has earned literary awards and a devoted readership at home and abroad. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts, as well as the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. She lives with her family on a farm in southern Appalachia. 

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    Reviews for The Bean Trees

    4.5/5

    274 ratings110 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Beautiful story well told and read. It reflects society and gives us hope that we can be better.
    • 5/5
      I truly beautiful and wonderful story. All about love, loss, and found family that puts into perspective the beauty of haveing people who care about you as much as you them. This book made me smile, laugh, and cry. Simply lovely.
    • 3/5
      Kingsolver preaches about the perceived faults of the West, abandoning nuance and subtlety.
    • 5/5
      Barbara Kingsolver is a late and wonderful discovery for me. Her characters are strong and I’ve met many of them in my life- real people!! Loved this book!
    • 5/5
      Love the story telling. Per the usual Louise weaves lovely characters together with tribal knowledge.
    • 5/5
      I loved this story, made me laugh, made me cry, made me lonesome for the family I used to have.
    • 3/5
      Much inferior to her later works, this is nevertheless an engaging if lightweight read about failies and connections as we follow a young woman on a journey across America as she acquires a child, mother, and a sister, all more or less by accident. A fairly simple-minded plot provides minimal structure for a good character study.
    • 4/5
      We are first introduced to Taylor Greer and Turtle in this novel. Taylor is a carefree spirit, who leave Kentucky to head west to Arizona. She is left with an abandoned toddler, Turtle and is suddenly responsible for the welfare of this child. Kingsolver brings many interesting characters into this story, while infusing some real-life issues. Excellent book
    • 2/5
      The plot is set short and the book isn’t all too exciting, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who looks for the thrill of a story in a book, it was a bit bland
    • 4/5
      Barbara Kingsolver is moving up on my list of authors. This is the second novel I've read from her and I enjoyed it - not as much as I enjoyed [Prodigal Summer] but it's still up there.Just like in Prodigal Summer, Kingsolver manages to bring in a cast of characters and fleshes each out well-enough that you can appreciate everyone of them and not feel overwhelmed. It's a rough story in parts to read - not because of her abilities, but because of the subject matter here and there. But well-worth the read overall!
    • 5/5
      Barbara Kingsolver is quickly rising to the top my favorite authors lists. Swoon!

      Basic Summary: This is a magnificent story of the power of love and family. Blood and acquired. Marietta Greer spent her entire rural Kentucky life swearing she would not get pregnant like all the other girls in her town. She saves up enough money to by a '55 VW and heads West to see what life has to offer. At a road-side bar in Cherokee Nation, a toddler wrapped in dirty blankets is thrust upon her by a Native American woman. The woman says the child's mother is dead and the child will be harmed if she stays with her. The mysterious woman puts little Turtle into the backseat and takes off. Now, Msrietta has a child - the very thing she was looking to avoid - and must find a place to call home. She takes on a new name of Taylor and heads to Arizona where she meets the most unlikely bunch of people.

      Now I don't do this book justice with my late night review of it, because it is truly a piece of work. I believe this was Ms. Kingsolver's debut novel and it is incredible. She has an incredible knack for visualizing beauty with words. For creating deep-down depth, you love her characters to the point of tears. It is rare to find an author who can master fluidity as she can.

      I've yet to read The Poisonwood Bible, which I know is the main book people swoon over - nevertheless, I am enamored with her awe-inspiring delicate touch of Native American culture and life in the Southwest. The only thing that confused me was that I didn't know there was a sequel to the book (Pigs in Heaven). They are not listed as such in the jackets of either book, nor on her website. Only on Goodreads are they put together and thank goodness for that. If you read Pigs in Heaven prior, there'd be no point in reading The Bean Trees. You would also miss the huge character build and emotional tie-in if you skip the prequel.

      <3

      Favorite Quotes:
      1) "I had decided early on that if I couldn’t dress elegant, I’d dress memorable".
      2) "Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer".
      3) "That was when we smelled the rain. It was so strong it seemed like more than just a smell. When we stretched out our hands we could practically feel it rising up from the ground. I don’t know how a person could ever describe that scent".
    • 5/5
      I'm trying to figure out how to write a review. This was a great book. I have to re-read it. I was reminded of this fact when I saw "Jesus is Lord" written on someone's roof a few days ago. My first thought was "Jesus is Lord Used Tires."
    • 5/5
      A beautiful story that demonstrates the power of love.Taylor Greer set out on a cross country trip to escape the fate that had been bestowed upon most of her teenage high school peers, unexpected motherhood. Despite this, she is surprised by a woman who gives her a toddler halfway on her journey to find a new place to call home. Although reluctant at first Taylor kept the child and named her Turtle after strong grip and eventually fell in love with Turtle as if she were really her own.Throughout the novel she meets new friends, new companions and her first love...who happens to be an illegal immigrant...and married. But that was only a small part of the novel. Kingsolver's debut novel shows how a self discovering journey can really test a person and what they had once thought were their priorities. Taylor became a confidant woman in herself and an amazing mother who helped her daughter overcome her past demons. It was heartwarming and endearing, I would strongly recommend it as a feel good novel.
    • 3/5
      The author is good at forming characters and using metaphors and similes but I felt like this story had no arc to it. It was little boring for my taste.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyable book on families of all kinds.
    • 5/5
      Barbara Kingsolver remains one of my favorite authors for her ability to weave many issues into a compelling plot about interesting characters. Many books that talk about issues make them a front-facing part of the plot whereas many here are explored by the characters as they discover them. Kingsolver is particularly good at making wonderfully true women in her books.
    • 5/5
      Barbara Kingsolver at the top of her game! If you like her, it is a must read..
    • 5/5
      In my habit of reading authors chronologically, I converted to absolute Kingsolver groupie-dom with this first book of hers...not surprisingly. A girl who leaves her hometown, discovers a new name, and ends up in the southwest, along with haphazardly adopting a Cherokee girl and helping refugees from Central America and on. Sigh.
    • 5/5
      Barbara Kingsolver is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, even though this is only the second of her books that I've read.

      The Bean Trees is the story of Taylor Green (born Marietta), who manages to leave her Kentucky home and head west. Along the way, she unexpectedly gains custody of a baby and ends up in Arizona. There, Taylor finds friends who become a new family for her, and she learns that the things that she always avoided were actually the things that she values the most now.

      Taylor is one of my favorite narrators. She's funny, irreverent, and clever. I loved the relationship between her and Lou Ann, and I appreciated the fact that, at least in the beginning, Taylor wasn't a good parent to Turtle, and she knew it. She absolutely had faults and weaknesses that balanced her out and made her a much more dynamic character.

      I would honestly love to read more about Mattie: her history, how she became the person that she is now. She was fascinating to me - as was the story of Estevan and Esperanza, which I'd also like to learn more about.
    • 4/5
      This was a quick and enjoyable read of Barbara Kingsolver's first novel. I liked it for several reasons. First, I lived for some time in the Arkansas Ozarks (I'm an old back-to-the-land hippie) and I also lived for a shorter time in Kentucky. "Hillbillies" are an underrated and misunderstood group of people thanks to Al Capp and his Li'l Abner cartoon, films like _Deliverance_ and the like. Kingsolver does a good job of revealing their humanity. Also she's got the voice down without resorting to bad grammar and dropped letter "g"s. Since she grew up in Kentucky, she should know. Second, much of the book took place in Tucson where I live now, and where Kingsolver lived for many years. It was fun guessing where characters were doing things, and reading about local people, fauna and flora (like the night blooming cereus) Third, the substory that ran through the book about the refugees who crossed the border without papers was timely. Kingsolver wrote this in the 1980s around the time of military decimation of native populations in El Salvador and Guatemala. It is ironic and very sad that nearly 25 years later, we still have refugees crossing the border - this time they are mostly children. When oh when will we have immigration reform? When will we Americans face up to the problems we've caused in Mexico and Central America? I hope this tragedy ends so that 25 years from now, novels don't have to written about the same refugees seeking a new life.
    • 3/5
      A well-crafted story, but I'd already read "The Poisonwood Bible" and "The Prodigal Summer" and was disappointed that this book did not seem as rich or multi-layered as those later works.
    • 3/5
      Kingsolver's debut story of Taylor Greer who is on a trip west and ends up in Tucson, Arizona. She avoids getting pregnant and she gets away from Kentucky but by the time she ends up in Arizona she has a three year old American Indian girl she calls Turtle. This is a story about so many things. It addresses women's issues, issues of abuse, issues of immigration. Its a good story and the heroine is very appealing. I liked and enjoyed reading this story. The characters were fun. I think that the social issues are presented nicely but they are one sided.
    • 4/5
      A fast read. Action, reaction, emotional upheaval. Thought provoking. Taylor and her foundling "daughter" Turtle wind up in Tucson when their VW bug has two flat tires. A bit simplistic, but I love her writing. There's humor here, and growth, and the promise of a wonderful future.
    • 3/5
      The Bean Trees is a compliment to women; coming together to conquer adversity. Throughout the book there are references of a garden in the harsh Arizona desert; hope and beauty under the most difficult of life’s circumstances.

      "We were sitting out with the kids in Roosevelt Park, which the neighbor kids called such names as Dead Grass Park and Dog Doo Park. To be honest, it was pretty awful...The grass was scraggly, struggling to come up between bald patches of dirt...Constellations of gum-wrapper foil twinkled around the trash barrels."
    • 5/5
      The magic of books is their serendipitous ability to find you at exactly the right moment. The Bean Trees, published in 1988, is like a breath of fresh air. Escaping her poor, dead-end Kentucky town, Taylor Greer finds herself in Tucson, Arizona working in a tire shop that doubles as a safe haven for Central American refugees and learning to be a mother to an abandoned 3-year-old Native American girl. Kingsolver's heroine is naive but fearless as she learns what the human spirit is capable of surviving. A surprisingly contemporary novel of great heart.
    • 3/5


      This wasn't the type of book I normally pick up, but my son asked me to read it with him for his summer reading project. At first, I wasn't sure I would like it- especially with the way the author changed from first to third person in chapters 2 & 4. However, the characters are engaging and I became absorbed in how it would all turn out.
    • 4/5
      I really needed a light and funny read after some of the heavy and gothic books I have been reading. This fit the bill perfectly. I had read this book so many years ago that I can't remember when, so it was like reading a fresh story for me.

      The first sentence sets the tone for this novel perfectly: "I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine's father over the top of the Standard Oil sign." How can you not fall totally in love with a book with an opening like that? The characters are sassy, down-to-earth, eccentric, and very, very real. While this one probably won't change your life, it will tug at your heart strings and make you laugh. It should also make you run to another Kingsolver book!

      Recommended.
    • 5/5
      I really liked the literary style of Kingsolver's The Bean Trees, and the story was compelling. I enjoyed the motifs that the author wove through the text, and the symbolism of the bean tree itself was very well executed.There were a great many quotable moments throughout the text, and Kingsolver touched on family, relationships, love, and life itself.The story was powerful, and the storytelling was enjoyable.The only thing that bothered me about the book at first was the copy I originally was reading from had a ton of inane writing in it, but that was rectified after I changed over to an e-book copy.I will say that the significance of Newt also took quite a while to come through, although it was worth the wait. The epiphanies just kept rolling at the end of the book - it was overwhelming. I did a lot of highlighting on my Nook copy as the book drew to a close.
    • 3/5
      A tremendously vibrant and optimistic book, creates the feeling that if you are generally nice to everyone, as the narrator is, then everyone will be nice back. Wish it were true. Maybe it is.Gutted that I read this one after Pigs In Heaven, which is the sequel, as I knew what was going to happen at the end, whereas I might otherwise have been on the edge of my seat. Definitely better to read these two in the right order. It did strike me that this book is slightly dismissive of the Cherokee Nation, which perhaps left the sequel with a balance to be redressed.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't expecting this book to touch me the way it did. I also wasn't expecting it to have been the author's first work. I had read some of her other books, but I didn't notice this was her first until after I finished it. Holy cow, was I even more impressed with it once that knowledge came to me. There are so many themes and so much symbolism within these pages, but it isn't the type that smacks you around the head with "Here's a theme!" or "Here comes some symbolism!" I simply read the book from beginning to end and enjoyed every moment of it.The Bean Trees is a story about family and finding that family in some unusual places. They say you don't get to pick your family, but in this case you do and when told this way, it is a thing of beauty to watch the relationships form and grow. I recommend this book for anyone wanting an emotional, well developed plot that will touch the heart and soul. Put aside your worries about plot devices and story set ups and just read from beginning to end because of the joy of it.