I don’t know how it’s happened, but until now, I’ve never read any of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels. The first I discovered, Flight Behavior.

She takes the majority of the first chapter describing a character and her life. It feels like breaking all the writing rules. We’re not in the middle of action or change. We get a long description of Dellarobia, the main character. It goes on and on and on. And, while I’m feeling confused about what’s happening or not happening, I’m suddenly drawn into this story and the character’s life. And, then, I realize we have been in a moment of change through all of this description and once we arrive at the view from the top of the mountain, I’m in and hooked. I care and want to know more.

From that opening to the end, the brilliant writing of this amazing author had me entranced, even while exploring people in the world I would normally not be interested in at all. Just fucking brilliant.

I’m not sure which novel I’ll tackle next, but I think 2019 is going to be about Kingsolver for me.