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I finished The Bean Trees a couple days ago. I wouldn't say that it's great literature or the best book I've ever read, but it was certainly engrossing and fun to read. Barbara Kingsolver did a great job of capturing her main character's distinctive voice, and also managed to write about a character who was not well-educated without implying that her lack of education has anything to do with her intelligence. The book was interesting in that it dealt with some very serious topics, yet still managed to feel like light reading. The low level of difficulty certainly contributed to this, but I don't think it's the only factor. Something in Kingsolver's style just had that "light" feeling about it.

The bottom line is that I liked it. It was fun and quick, although everything seemed to work out just little too smoothly. But there's nothing wrong with a happy ending every once in a while. Some of the supporting characters could probably have been more thoroughly fleshed out, but that flaw didn't bother me as much as it usually does. Apparently there's a sequel, but I tend to have mixed feelings about sequels to books that I really liked, so we'll have to see whether or not I read it. Even if I do decide to read it, it won't be immediately. I'm just ready for something a little weightier.

Since finishing The Bean Trees, I've had nothing to read, so I've been trying to catch up on my New Yorkers. I'll be heading to the library tomorrow, however, so soon I will have something new to write about. Maybe it will be our next book club selection, Egalia's Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg. I don't really know much about it, but I hope it's better than the last book club book!