The Poisonwood Bible

"I have pictured it many times-Hope!-wondering how I would catch such a thing one-handed, if it did come floating down to me from the sky. Now I find it has fallen already, and a piece of it is here beside our latrine, one red plume. In celebration I stooped down to pick it up." (p 185)
Recently, most of my free time as been going towards re-reading my favorite book, The Poisonwood Bible. I'm not the type that usually re-reads books (besides the Bible and cookbooks) because there's always new books I want to read. A few weeks ago, though, I was in a reading slump and trying to remember why I tagged The Poisonwood Bible as my favorite book. So...I got out the book and haven't been able to put it down. Why do I love this book? This book is a story of all things I'm most passionate about rolled up into one geniously written novel...God, missions, culture, injustice, women, love, history, economics, integrity, language, perseverance, etc.
For those of you who have read the book and are surprised that me, a Christian, would like this book so much let me just say a few things: I'm angered that the missionaries in this book gave God a bad rep which negatively effected a whole family & villages' view on Jesus. I think, however, that a lot of readers can relate to feeling those same negative feelings towards Jesus and Christians because of the harsh or boring or manipulative way Christ was explained to them. Everything within me wants to fix the mistakes of the father chracter and introduce the villagers to the Jesus that I know. I'd like to do the same for real people as well. I do believe there is a place for missionaries & I wish the book had a happier ending. But The Poisonwood Bible is a fascinating & realistic-feeling story that re-kindles the fire within me to make my life count by living a life that has been changed because of Jesus. It challenges me to think about what Christianity is all about. I'm not going to enter into any more details, but if you have ever been dying to strike up a conversation with me, read the book and I'd love to listen to your thoughts and share mine!