Book Review: "Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver

My mother handed me Barbara Kingsolver’s new book, Flight Behavior, as we were packing up at the end of a long and difficult weekend that included a family member’s funeral. I’ll admit right off the bat that it’s been a while since I opted for a work of literary fiction (lately I’ve been inhaling mysteries, young adult novels, and anything with a pink or pastel cover) but I’ve read many of Kingsolver’s books over the years, and have always loved her storytelling style.

Flight Behavior (HarperCollins, 2012) did not disappoint. The book chronicles a winter in a small mountain town in Tennessee, where a young wife and mother named Dellarobia has discovered something strange and beautiful: a mountainside full, coated with orange butterflies. Butterflies that should not be there. Kingsolver tackles big, relevant issues in Flight Behavior: climate change, the economic realities of twenty-first century rural life, faith, family, marriage.

The writing in Flight Behavior is lyrical, beautiful, but straightforward and clean - Kingsolver’s expressive literary style infused with her background as a science journalist. She writes easily between the worlds that collide in this story, from the plain-spoken intelligence of Dellarobia and her family and friends to the learned academics who visit the mountain from research universities.

As with her other books, Kingsolver does a remarkable job of capturing real people in real situations - reminding the reader how high-stakes everyday life can be. Fans of Kingsolver are in for a familiar treat with Flight Behavior, which is her first novel since 2009’s Lacuna (considered by some to be the author’s masterpiece). Readers of Alice Munro, Anita Shreve, and Margaret Atwood will find echoes these authors in the strong women characters and excellent writing in this and other Kingsolver novels.

• Click here to find Flight Behavior in RockCat. 
• Click here to find more books by Barbara Kingsolver.