finally, i finished reading the "poisonwood bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. mind you, i took a year to complete reading it. it's a very ambitious novel, told by an ambitious author (she took 30 years to complete the novel) and i am ambitious enough to read it. one thing can describe it all, and that one word is MARVELOUS.

the novel tells a story of an evangelical Baptist minister who takes his family to the Belgian Congo in the late 1950s and how the family survives despite the tragedies that befall them. it also narrates the Congolese's constant struggles to be independent and how the big powers (America, France, and Belgium and UN) stall their pitiful attempts to save their own interests.

Poisonwood Bible is a moving piece and totally engrossing. this novel is the reason why i spent hours at a time to find out about Belgian Congo, French Congo, Zaire, and even Zimbabwe. this novel opens my eyes on why the African nations are behaving the way they are, and why they are wary of foreigners. i understand more about the Africans by reading this book , more than i ever thought i could be.

read this book, guys, get this book any way you can. or you can borrow the novel from PTAR 1 if you're a UiTM student. it sits nicely at one of the shelves on the third floor of the library.