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Flight Behavior
Flight Behavior
Flight Behavior
Audiobook16 hours

Flight Behavior

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

New York Times Bestseller

"An intricate story that entwines considerations of faith and faithlessness, inquiry, denial, fear and survival in gorgeously conceived metaphor. Kingsolver has constructed a deeply affecting microcosm of a phenomenon that is manifesting in many different tragic ways, in communities and ecosystems all around the globe.” — Seattle Times

A truly stunning and unforgettable work from the extraordinary New York Times bestselling author of The Lacuna (winner of the Orange Prize), The Poisonwood Bible (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize), and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Flight Behavior is a brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths. Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world. Flight Behavior represents contemporary American fiction at its finest.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateNov 6, 2012
ISBN9780062124319
Flight Behavior
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 Flight Behavior

Rating: 3.918717290082028 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,341 ratings141 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    While this book is important to read, I don't think it is one of her best. One of the reasons I love Kingsolver is her ability to write a story of relationships that is interesting as well as tell a scientific process and keep us interested.

    The science was the most interesting part of the book. The story of Dellarobia's family was lackluster for me. It almost seems as if she tried to tackle too many important topics at once.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    All relationship involves a given level of anxiety. Often we manage the anxiety either through over-functioning and pursuing or through under-functioning and distancing. Both actions are reactive to the anxiety in the relationship, rather than self-defining, and undermine our attempts to understand who we and the other person actually are. We can't change other people, but we can set boundaries and limits as to how much negative behavior we will tolerate as well as minimums concerning intimacy. Often we create emotional triangles (family systems theory) with third parties in order to avoid facing the anxiety. It is better to have separate relationships with individuals rather than to get caught up in triangles.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Boring domestic and farm details interspersed with preachy, pedantic science. It was just ok for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver; (2 1/2*)The summary for Flight Behavior and the first part of the story made me look forward to an unusual and interesting read. I was disappointed when the unusual turned out to be the mundane life of Dellarobia Turnbow and her impoverished family. However the book did hold my interest only because of the information regarding the life cycle and migratory habits of the Monarch butterfly. Other than that the book became boring very quickly.I have read more than one book on this subject matter that was much better written and far more interesting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was expecting a screed on climate change and instead--though climate change figures prominently--got a real novel with flesh and blood characters. "She could see in his eyes that he had gained some drift of her expansive unhappiness. Although from her labored attempts to explain things yesterday, he'd probably picked up only one narrow band of the spectrum: that he disappointed her. He'd spent the day building lambing jugs, expressing himself with a hammer in an empty barn." Reminds me that Kingsolver is a really good writer. She captures a slice of American life with unpretentious perceptiveness. "In one transcendent moment...she saw the pointlessness of clinging to that life raft, the hooray-we-are-saved conviction of having already come through the stupid parts, to arrive at the current enlightenment...There is no life raft; you're just freaking swimming all the time." Amen.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wonderfully crafted story that helps you see things from new or just slightly obtuse angles, typical of Ms. Kingsolver. We all need to read this story.
    Narration is quite lovely, except for the voice of Ovid, whose appallingly cringe-worthy depiction of an accent detracted from the importance of his words. Fortunately, the character writing made it impossible not to forgive and love him all the more. Still bad enough to lose the audiobook that fifth star.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    [[Barbara Kingsolver]] is one of my favorite authors and she definitely didn't disappoint with [Flight Behavior]. This is a multi-faceted book which provides a great human story about a bright young woman who grew up with few opportunities (father dying young, mother struggling, poor schools), got pregnant and married in high school and, when we meet her 11 years later is struggling to find her way with a sweet but unambitious husband, 2 children, difficult in-laws, little income and a not so bright future. She discovers that a huge colony (millions) of Monarch butterflies are over-winterig on the family farm and the repercussions of that affect the lives of the entire area. It also provides Kingsolver a medium to include a good bit of information about the life of Monarch and the effects of global climate change on them. The main characters in the book, including the butterflies, are very real and I found myself caring very much about what was happening to them. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Discusses relationship, the roles people take within them, triangles and the importance of maintaining one’s self. Talks about ‘over-functioning and under-functioning people and how their roles effect 1-2-1 relationships and impacts on triangles. You can get lots out of this book to help you deal with relationships whether it be with family, friends or partners.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It took me quite a long time to get around to reading Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, which is unlike me, I adore her work, and this one is no exception. Kingsolver ‘s prose is so beautiful, I am almost convinced she could make any topic intriguing. Her characters, as usual are superb, relatable for good and bad, and above all characters I wanted to learn more about as the book progressed. While I have yet to read other reviews, I was surprised to see the rather low scores, perhaps others did not like a story written around the topic of climate change and flight patterns of monarch butterflies, I do not know. What I am certain of is the fact that Kingsolver was able to draw me in by the close of the first page, which honestly is no small feat. There is just something about Kingsolver’s writing that casts a spell over me, now do not get my wrong, this is not as good as The Poisonwood Bible; which if you are reading this review and have yet to read that book by Kingsolver, run out and get the book, afterward, settle in with a cup of tea and enjoy Flight Behavior. I do recommend Flight Behavior to fans of Kingsolver’s, anyone looking for beautifully written books with wonderfully drawn out characters, and especially to book discussion groups as there is quite a bit to discuss.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Protagonist Dellarobia Turnbow, an unhappily married mother of two, lives on her in-laws’ property in the Appalachian rural community of Feathertown, Tennessee. A colony of monarch butterflies has migrated to their property, resulting in an online sensation and eco-tourism. A scientist arrives to study the butterflies and enlists Dellarobia’s help. Her father-in-law wants to sell the timber where the butterflies are wintering.

    This is an alternative fiction where monarch butterflies have gotten their signals crossed, and instead of wintering in Mexico (as they actually do), they have, instead, migrated to Tennessee. It is climate fiction, where the main conflict is between the patriarch, Bear Turnbow, who wants to sell the woodlands to a logging company and Dellarobia who wants to protect and study the butterflies. Bear’s wife, Hester, wants to protect them for religious reasons. It is also a story of an unhappy marriage. Dellarobia and husband, Cub Turnbow, got married as teens when she became pregnant. She had been hoping to go to college.

    I very much enjoyed the science-related content, and there is a sizeable amount related to global warming, environmental impact of clear-cutting, migration, entomology, and species extinction. It contains descriptions of farming, particularly related to raising sheep, and the everyday life of a family. There is also a lot of political conflict in this novel, with characters representing climate change deniers in conflict against environmentalists. Education plays a key role in the plot.

    The primary drawback is that the science content is presented in lengthy sections of dialogue between the scientist and the protagonist or the protagonist and her children. If done only once or twice, it would be fine, but these types of teaching moments occur throughout. The characters are well-formed, and Kingsolver has a way with words, particularly her descriptions of the natural world. Personally, I prefer a more subtle approach, but overall, I found it well worth reading.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    At 600 pages long, this book could have been reduced by at least a third. However, it was an interesting 3 and a half star read for me. Set in an isolated town in Tennessee, the story follows a bright woman, Dellarobia (yes) who feels trapped in a soulless marriage and unfulfilling life. An amazing discovery near her home ignites her interest in climate change and encourages her to question her life choices.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    adult fiction; small town drama meets big science. Would make a more meaningful highschool read than, say, the Bean Trees, and very timely considering the subject. It's been a while since I read Kingsolver and while not disappointed, I wasn't knocked off my feet either.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Yay yay yay yay!!! A new BK!!! I. Cannot. Wait!!!!!

    ********

    Well, dang. It took me 6 years to get around to reading it, if only to maintain continuity with reading ALL of BK's books in succession...I have an ARC of Unsheltered waiting on my shelves after having met her at Book Expo this year. Kingsolver was MY AUTHOR in my 20s, which was the last time I read anything of hers, devouring Lacuna upon its publication. So...it's been nearly a decade since I read BK, and I have such nostalgia for the time and place of reading her other work, and I also have such a roller coaster of feelings after diving into her work again after a lengthy hiatus...so let's get down to it.

    What I liked? As usual, I love how BK's science background influences her work. It was interesting/terrifying to understand how little has changed (and certainly not for the better). And we're in the T$&@p administration now...so many twists and turns there... I enjoyed it for the overall look at climate change and the various opinions and arguments happening among the characters. I probably could relate better to the adulting issues going on now at 36 than I could have if I read it right when it came out, and I was satisfied by the ending.

    But...but...it was SO LONG. I don't think it needed to be close to 500 pages (and almost 17 hours on audio...a number far above my general cut-off limit for audiobooks). There were so many times I considered bailing--something I don't normally have a problem doing, but this is BK and I felt an obligation to power through. It was frequently redundant...I realized after trying to read-read it that it was going to take me forever, so I switched to audio, which was my saving grace since I could knit and listen...do anything else and listen...tune out sometimes, yes, and not miss a whole lot because it was redundant. Which brings me to the audio. On one hand I loved it because Kingsolver read it herself, and I loved hearing the mountain folk lilt. But Ovid's voice. Oh my. Another reason I would have stopped if it were any other author, and I still almost did. I cringed my way through her Caribbean accent and would like to just pretend that never happened. Which THEN got me thinking about some of BK's previous work and that she just might have a possible proclivity towards fetishizing people of color, specifically men. I'm going to be thinking on this more. It bums me the heck out, but at this point I'm getting used to the fall of our mighty literature leaders.

    In the end, I liked it enough. I'm not giving up on BK, but I might be more critical. I am delighted by how we change with books and authors as we age, even when it doesn't turn out for the better. And I'm happy to take a break this weekend.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Dellarobia is a young mother of two children who is starting to feel trapped in her life, living in a low-income community that is by-and-large poorly educated and unworldly. Her husband and her in-laws fit that mold nicely but Dellarobia finds herself wanting more. When the mountains behind their family farm start becoming a hibernating place for thousands of monarch butterflies, Dellarobia and her family get thrust into the media spotlight and meet new people who come out to see the monarchs, including a crew of scientist-researchers.This book had a bit of a slow start, and I wasn't really feeling a story about stereotypical Bible-thumping rural Southerners and a main character whose entire personality initially seemed to be merely that she was sick of everyone else. However, once the butterflies are discovered, the story picks up and changes course, including a huge amount of character growth for Dellarobia and more character depth for those around her. The moral about climate change is pretty heavy handed, but that is the point of the book so it makes sense. All of the information that Kingsolver provides about monarchs clicks with what I know about them, so she clearly did her research. The only bit of fiction there is that she has their winter roosting place changed due to the extreme climate change put forth in the book. The ending is a bit ambiguous, I guess more for some readers than others as I saw a lot more debate about it online than I would have thought.For the audiobook, Kingsolver herself is the reader and while I was initially a bit skeptical because authors reading their own fiction doesn't always work out great, she did an excellent job of voicing all the characters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The dialogue and characters are decent, but the intentions of the author are a bit too obvious to seriously engage with. 
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “The last generation’s worst fears become the next one's B-grade entertainment.”“For scientists, reality is not optional.”Dellarobia Turnbow is stuck in a marital rut, on a mountain in Appalachia, saddled with two young children, living paycheck to paycheck. On a walk one day, she thinks she sees a “lake of fire”, which turns out to be huge mass of Monarch Butterflies, that have failed to migrate. This strange phenomenon, begins to change Dellarobia's life forever.I love Kingsolver's storytelling and prose-style. Everything flows so easy and once again, she is in perfect form in this novel. She also sends a strong message on climate change, mapping out many dire warnings but since this was written eight years ago, it seems like we have made few advances, in that regard. Sighs...As a bonus I learned a whole lot about Monarchs. Fascinating insects.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I can see how her discussions about climate change could come off as a little preachy to some, but they were not sensationalized. Beautiful prose, well-developed characters ... I love Barbara Kingsolver.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Tired of living on a failing farm and suffering oppressive poverty, bored housewife Dellarobia Turnbow, on the the way to meet a potential lover, is detoured by a miraculous event on the Appalachian mountainside: monarch butterflies have not migrated south for the winter this year. Is this a miraculous message from God, or a spectacular sign of climate change? Entomology expert, Ovid Byron, certainly believes it is the latter. He ropes in Dellarobia to help him decode the mystery of the monarch butterflies. that ignites a media and religious firestorm that changes her life forever.Kingsolver has the ability to tell great stories while simultaneously making readers aware of major societal issues. Flight Behavior might be my favorite Kingsolver book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Audiobook read by the author Dellarobia Turnbow is ten years into a marriage that has never satisfied her. Unsure how to deal with her restlessness she flirts with a younger man, a telephone lineman, and suggests a tryst in a hunter’s blind deep in the woods behind her home. But as she climbs to this ill-thought-out meeting, she encounters a strange sight that literally stops her in her tracks. The only way she can describe it is “a lake of fire.”Kingsolver has crafted a story of one woman’s awakening, and simultaneously a warning about climate change. I found the story compelling from both perspectives. I know many people criticize Kingsolver for being preachy, but I did not find her message overbearing. Dellarobia is a fascinating character. She’s intelligent but lacks education, having gotten pregnant and married right out of high school. Her community is small and somewhat restrictive. People are mostly struggling to survive in deep Appalachia. They do not have time to ponder philosophy or global impact. And they are quick to judge anyone who tries to break out of the mold. Focus is on family and church. Dellarobia and her husband live on his parents’ land, in a house just a stone’s throw from his mother and father. Yet they have limited say in their own future. It’s no wonder she’s feeling suffocated and unfulfilled. But when her in-laws discover the amazing sight on the mountain things begin to change. Dellarobia becomes the focus of media attention and her image goes viral. She begins helping the scientists who comes to study the phenomenon and this opens her eyes to new possibilities. While the book begins with a self-described rash act, I found Dellarobia to be much more cautious than that initial impression. I liked the way she thought about, questioned, researched, and considered her life, her family, her relationships and her future. I liked that she begins to make some hard decisions that are first about her own survival, and ultimately about her family as well. Certainly there are references to religion (just google “lake of fire” and the bible). And Kingsolver is questioning how people can believe something in the face of contradictory evidence – in this case about climate change. I know many people criticize Kingsolver for being preachy, but I did not find her message overbearing in this book. It certainly gave me plenty to think about. I did find the ending somewhat abrupt and would love to have some discussion about it with one of my F2F book clubs. Unfortunately for me, this book has not yet made it to the reading list for any of them … yet.Kingsolver narrates the audiobook herself, and she does a fine job. She makes no effort to give the characters significantly different voices, though she does attempt a vaguely “Caribbean” accent for Ovid.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Page turner - climate change science and a fictitious event of monarch butterflies overwintering in the Appalachians instead of a town in Mexico. Dellarobia is an intense character ... the ending dramatic.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another book by Kingsolver that I really loved. This is her newest and it meshes the fictional plight of a monarch butterfly population with the challenges of a family living in rural Tennessee. The book centers around climate change and how it has effected the butterflies, causing them to winter in Tennessee when their normal mountain top in Mexico changes too much to sustain them. A scientist and his team arrive on the property of the Turnbow's where the parents Hester and Bear own the land and their adult child, Cub, and his wife Dellarobia live in a separate house with their two children. Kingsolver's books work for me because there is always an interesting context (as in climate change here) but she keeps her characters at the heart of the novel and never loses sight of them in favor of preaching about a cause. Dellarobia is the heart of this novel and she is a beautifully written character - intelligent and funny (the kind of observant, quick, and occasional wit that you want in a best friend) but also fallible. I loved the character interactions in this book and also loved that the children were part of the story. I feel like children are seldom realistically drawn in a novel and these were done very well, including how Dellarobia felt about them.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Dellarobia is a little too gorgeous and smart to be believed, but it's an engrossing story bringing out discussions of environment and class. On a day that she's ready to get caught philandering and upend her world, she is deterred by the miracle of a butterfly migration gone awry. It's not terribly far into the future and climate change threatens to upend everyone's world.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver is set in Appalachian Tennessee in present day. It's protagonist is the perfect character for those of us who loved the "I always knew I was different" characters as children, only all grown up. The conflict is gobsmacking: a natural anomaly (gorgeous imagery btw) is interpreted by the church as a miracle, but by science as a harbinger of disaster. Ugh, the heartbreak in beauty and the way change transforms through destruction. Good stuff!!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Transcendent. A novel about biology, ecology, geology, psychology and even “family life” science. But not just. Never just. Enchanting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I think this is one of Kingsolver's top 3 books. You don't think there is going to be as much as there was in this book but there's even more. She deftly discusses the actual science, how scientists interact with the public, public reaction to viral events, small-town dynamics, family and secrets. All of the characters are full and complex and real. I loved this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I am a huge Kingsolver fan, and I am sensitive to the message of this novel. I loved the story line of a woman in a marriage she feels trapped in and her awakening to the fact that she has options.I loved how we get to know people in this small Appalachian town. I did not enjoy the endless encyclopedic information about the Monarch Butterfly and it's migratory patterns and the effect Global Warming is having on this particular species as well as the rest of the planet. I felt that if I was not sensitive to this topic I would not have read the book, or at least would have stopped reading it, and so, as she was preaching to the choir, the author did not have to use the heavy hammer. I did not need a loooong chapter on shopping in a second hand store to get the "reuse it" message, a few paragraphs would suffice.

    This felt like another instance where an author is so successful that editors dare not suggest or order cuts (talking to you John Irving!) that would make a novel more concise and less rambling, and, to me, boring.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a good, well written book for which I was not the best audience. Good characters, well plotted if a bit on message, this miracle/disaster story takes place in rural Tennessee when Dellarobia, a young wife and mother, is jolted from the path of what may be a huge mistake by a vision of fire, which turns out later to be a misplaced migration of Monarch butterflies. At stake is to live within family and community with few choices, and fewer good ones.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Dellarobia Turnbow is stuck in her life. She is heading off to a cabin to an illicit liaison with a young man when she sees something that will overturn her life - it seems that the entire hillside is aflame. So begins this book that is an examination of a small life that encounters something much larger than itself and the struggles that ensue. It is also a book about global warming and the challenges facing us as a species, but by being told at a very intimate level it becomes both less and more overwhelming at the same time. This manages to not turn into a lecture, which is a feat in itself, and yet allows all its characters space to develop. From Hester, the farm matriarch, to Dellarobia and her son, Preston, they all grow and unfold and discover something of themselves and the world around them. Set in small town America, it highlights how badly off the poorest in society are and how differently the same things are viewed form the other side of the unseen divide. On so many levels, there is an us and them mentality, money, education, science, life has become very tribal. It's as unsettling as the global warming issue that is the background against which this is played out. The scene where the environmentalist is talking to Dellarobia about things people can do to reduce their impact is telling, and not a little dispiriting. I enjoyed it and have the author on the list to revisit again.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Kingsolver is always a socially-conscious novelist, and here her concern is climate change and the human causes of and responses to it. But she is also a master at creating fully developed characters who evolve in brilliantly described landscapes.Dellarobia Turnbow is climbing a mountain to a lover's tryst, escaping her narrow, mundane life married to a sheep farmer, caring for two small children when she happens upon an extraordinary sight: The flame now appeared to lift from individual treetops in showers of orange sparks, exploding the way a pine log does in a campfire when it's poked. The sparks spiraled upward in swirls like funnel clouds. Twisters of brightness against gray sky. In broad daylight with no comprehension, she watched. From the tops of the funnels the sparks lifted high and sailed out undirected above the dark forest....She was on her own here, staring at glowing trees. Fascination curled itself around her fright. This was no forest fire. She was pressed by a quiet elation of escape and knowing better and seeing straight through to the back of herself, in solitude. She couldn't remember when she'd had such room for being. This was not just another fake thing in her life's cheap chain of events, leading up to this day of sneaking around in someone's thrown-away boots. Here that ended. Unearthly beauty had appeared to her, a vision of glory to stop her in the road. For her alone these orange boughs lifted, these long shadows became a brightness rising. It looked like the inside of joy, if a person could see that. A valley of lights, an ethereal wind. It had to mean something. What Dellarobbia happened upon was a colony of monarch butterflies, millions of them, displaced and come to winter in the dicey climate of southern Appalachia. When her discovery becomes public, the life of her family, her community and the entomologist who has spent his career studying monarch behavior are irrevocably changed.A wondrous book by a novelist at the height of her powers.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book was way too boring for me. I would skip pages at a time, and didn't miss much of the story line at all. This book could have been half the pages.