Six Degrees of Separation: The Poisonwood Bible

The 6 Degrees of Separation meme is a monthly meme hosted at booksaremyfavoriteandbest, that explores the ways in which a chosen book can be linked to six other books.

The May 2018 book is: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

I absolutely loved The Poisonwood Bible when I read it, and really need to revisit it again soon. Also, how has this novel not been made into a movie or miniseries yet?!!

My chain this month covers everything from ants, hands, feminist dystopians, daughters, and marriage plots.

 

There is a memorable section of Kingsolver’s novel in which a large swarm of dangerous, carnivorous army ants invade the village and force the scattered Price family to flee towards the river. Ants also make a memorable appearance in another thick tome:

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

In this case, red ants swarm the Buendía house towards the end of the novel, causing irreparable damage and loss. It will be difficult to look at a line of ants in quite the same light after this…

Moving on to:

 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 

Extreme loudness and closeness sounds to me like the opposite of a lengthy period of (relatively) quiet solitude. These two books also happen to sit in close proximity to one another on my bookshelf; although I still haven’t read Jonathan Safran Foer’s moving novel about 9/11.

Another book on my TBR that features a hand on its cover is:

 

The Power by Naomi Alderman

I look forward to reading this buzzed about dystopian novel in which young women discover they possess an electrical physical power that can cause horrific pain and death.

I’m also interested in reading:

 

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed

This is another thought-provoking feminist dystopian novel published in 2017. It’s described as Never Let Me Go crossed with The Giver, and is set in an isolated island community in which women are only valued for their ability to bear children.

A novel with a similar title, but a vastly different plot is:

 

Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton

I adored this 1950’s Persephone novel about an eccentric family of five daughters who live a life of seclusion in the English countryside. So as not to upset their emotionally fragile mother, these young women have little interaction with the outside world; avoiding formal schooling, parties, and meeting young men. However, the recent marriage of the eldest Harvey sister causes a domino effect of change.

A contemporary novel that is incredibly reminiscent of Guard Your Daughters (though far inferior to IMHO) is:

 

The Marrying Game by Kate Saunders

They are so similar in fact, that I can’t imagine Kate Saunders was not familiar with Diana Tutton’s work. The Marrying Game is about an eccentric impoverished aristocratic family  who is desperate to save their familial English estate. The four Hasty sisters determine that the best way to do this is for some of them to marry into money, and quickly.

I read this several years before I picked up Guard Your Daughters, and while I enjoyed the beginning sections and loved the modern spin on the more traditional marriage plot novel, the book totally fell apart at the midway point and I would not recommend it. (I hate to end on a low point, but I guess all the links can’t be winners!)

 

Where did your #6degrees lead this month? 

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