The Book - 2008
The Bean Trees, written by New York Times' bestselling author, Barbara Kingsolver, explores the theme of family. However, the families in the novel are not actually families in the nuclear sense. Rather, the families explored in this novel are ones who, albeit loving and caring in the traditional sense, are also the types of families who are “always there for you” even though they may not necessarily be related to one another biologically.
The novel begins in Pittman, Kentucky and follows the experiences and adventures of Missy Greer as she heads west to escape the poor rural community where she grew up. Unlike many of her peers, Missy has avoided high school pregnancy and has decided to embark on a fresh new start. In an attempt to create a new beginning, she has determined to change her name according to the first place her barely functioning Volkswagen Bug runs out of gas. She lands in Taylorville, Illinois. Now Taylor Greer, she continues her westward quest and meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl. In Tucson, Taylor finds friendship and support in a fellow Kentuckian single mother and discovers a newfound community with a woman who runs a safe house for political refugees. The novel’s themes of fear, flight, homelessness, and finding sanctuary within a community are present in Taylor’s struggle to find a place where she belongs, and the more urgent plight of how she can help two Central American refugees. These fellow travelers help one another create new lives and redefine the meanings of home and family.