Leni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,...
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The interrelationships between change and traditions provide the structure and movement in Animal Dreams. The backdrop of ancient cultures whose importance reverberate in the presence provide the tension that make the change standout. Threads of personal change run throughout the book. Codi Noline moves from someone who runs away from her past and looks for someone else to give her direction to a person who discovers she belongs in her hometown and has found her own role in life. Her sister Hallie finds her life so changed by the immigrants that bed down at their shared apartment that she moves to Nicaragua. Loyd Peregrina finds that his values change as his relationship with Codi develops. Codi?s father has long ago remade himself to escape the taint of his family?s past and is changing once again as he descends into Alzheimer. The members of the Stitch and Bitch group of Codi?s hometown of Grace Arizona become empowered to become change agents in their community. The corporation that owns the mine is forced into change in reaction to the publicity that exposes their disregard for the community.
The other dominant changes occur to the land and drive the actions of the individuals either through their concern or their indifference to it. The land itself changes as it is acted upon by the community and the corporation. The earliest builders on the land consciously tried to fit their buildings into the natural landscape so as to be almost invisible but newer buildings did not. The mining companies had no respect for the land and the ecosystem and had been systematically changing and destroying it for years. Much the same kind of disregard is occurring in Nicaragua to both the land and the people. Hallie?s letters report how the insurgents destroy the land and they people with disregard to the consequences. Hallie on the other hand nurtures the land by providing the inhabitants with information on how to make their crops more productive without damaging the environment with pesticides.
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Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
mccann.janet, October 14, 2006
The interrelationships between change and traditions provide the structure and movement in Animal Dreams. The backdrop of ancient cultures whose importance reverberate in the presence provide the tension that make the change standout. Threads of personal change run throughout the book. Codi Noline moves from someone who runs away from her past and looks for someone else to give her direction to a person who discovers she belongs in her hometown and has found her own role in life. Her sister Hallie finds her life so changed by the immigrants that bed down at their shared apartment that she moves to Nicaragua. Loyd Peregrina finds that his values change as his relationship with Codi develops. Codi?s father has long ago remade himself to escape the taint of his family?s past and is changing once again as he descends into Alzheimer. The members of the Stitch and Bitch group of Codi?s hometown of Grace Arizona become empowered to become change agents in their community. The corporation that owns the mine is forced into change in reaction to the publicity that exposes their disregard for the community.The other dominant changes occur to the land and drive the actions of the individuals either through their concern or their indifference to it. The land itself changes as it is acted upon by the community and the corporation. The earliest builders on the land consciously tried to fit their buildings into the natural landscape so as to be almost invisible but newer buildings did not. The mining companies had no respect for the land and the ecosystem and had been systematically changing and destroying it for years. Much the same kind of disregard is occurring in Nicaragua to both the land and the people. Hallie?s letters report how the insurgents destroy the land and they people with disregard to the consequences. Hallie on the other hand nurtures the land by providing the inhabitants with information on how to make their crops more productive without damaging the environment with pesticides.
(14 of 20 readers found this comment helpful)