The Bean Trees #1

I'm surprisingly happy with the Bean Trees so far. At first I didn't think i would have much interest at all, but Kingsolver has so far done a great job with the protagonist, Taylor, with her being in firm control of the novel. This is one of the first books I have read so far where there is a strong female character that doesn't take anything from anyone and it willing to voice her opinion regardless of what others think. One scene that was particularly interesting was when Taylor was near the roadside bar, and had an argument with someone who offered to fix her car but was giving her a bad deal. In this situation she really showed some resilience, and did not simply give in to a male character. Also, simply the fact that she got out of her awful town and had enough confidence in herself to go out on her own shows her own resiliency. Overall, it is so far a very good and interesting book.