THE POISONWOOD BIBLE
Barbara Kingsolver
HarperCollins, 1998

The year is 1959. The place Africa. More specifically, the Belgian Congo. The country is facing political unrest as the indigenous Congolese fight for their independence from Belgium. But these details mean little to the folks living in the isolated village of Kilanga.

It is in this small village — only accessible by plane — that the tale of The Poisonwood Bible takes place. Stark white Americans invade the peaceful balance of the Congolese village, bearing Bibles, Betty Crocker cake mixes, and little else of use in this foreign land. "Our supplies from home seem to represent a bygone world," writes 15-year-old Leah, the missionary's daughter, in her diary.

How did these green Americans end up deep in the Congo? Patriarch Nathan Price, an evangelical Baptist preacher, felt inspired to cart his family and his religion across the Atlantic to set up a mission and lead the Congolese to salvation.

What ensues is a story of faith and family told through the eyes of Nathan's four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May, and wife Orleanna. Their arrival in Kilanga is just the beginning. The Poisonwood Bible follows the Price women 30 years from those first moments on African soil on a journey to their own kind of peace and salvation.

The Prices face more than tragedy and their experience shows just how ignorant even the most well-meaning North Americans can be. The Poisonwood Bible is engaging and is an ideal read for the few humid days left this lazy summer.

— Abigail Sevigny

You might also like The Bean Trees also by Barbara Kingsolver

POP

The Joshua Tree
U2
Island Records, 1987

If you hadn't heard of U2 before 1987, then you would have definitely heard of them after the release of their fifth studio album The Joshua Tree. This is the album that turned U2 into the global superstars we know them as today. After having mild success with the release of The Unforgettable Fire the band's followup album was much anticipated by both critics and fans. Three years in the making with producers Brian Eno (of Roxy Music) and Canuck Daniel Lanois, U2 learned to combine their multi-textured sound with the kind of melodies that fans could sing along to. Country and blues influences are heard throughout this album, but instead of being used as roots, they add texture to the music. Upon its release in March '87, The Joshua Tree went straight to the top of the charts. Songs like "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" gave U2 their first number one singles in the US. The Joshua Tree went on to win the 1987 Grammy award for album of the year, and is still the band's biggest selling album. The first three songs (which include "Where the Streets Have No Name", and the two mentioned earlier) are deservedly the most famous, but the other eight songs on the album are not to be overlooked. Since, U2 has gone on to make a lot of good music over the last two decades, but The Joshua Tree still stands as their masterpiece. It's inspiring and powerful, definitely worth a revisit.

— Phil Burns

You might also like Rattle and Hum by U2

FILM

Willy Wonka and
the Chocolate Factory
Dir Mel Stuart
Warner, 1971

If, like me, you've been dragged by your kids to see the new Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version of Roald Dahl's children's lit classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it's more than likely you left the cinema yearning to revisit Gene Wilder's Technicolor weirdness from this 1971 original. I know I was.

Don't get me wrong, I love Johnny. But his eyes don't pop in the same way Gene's did, and let's face it, the unremitting weirdness of the Oompa Loompas from the earlier film cannot be outdone. Speaking of unremitting weirdoes, Tim Burton as usual gets top marks for technical wizardry, which is leagues ahead of Mel Stuart's effort. But in my opinion Gene Wilder still takes the day.

Mr Wilder as Willy Wonka is by times menacing, by times whimsical, always deeply strange. Hence his appeal to kids, who love being scared out of their wits and incongruous adult behaviour. The whole story revolves around the confectioner Mr Wonka's top secret recipe for an everlasting gobstopper. Mr Wonka's all about secrecy (in fact the DSM-IV would probably classify him under "paranoid personality disorder").

For slightly mysterious reasons, he launches a contest in which five kids win a tour of the factory and one will win a lifetime supply of Wonka chocolate. Among them is underprivileged Charlie Bucket, who lives with his mum and dad and variety of bedridden grandparents. Judging by the unfortunate fates of our hero Charlie's companions, it seems Mr Wonka doesn't like kids that much; but by the end of the movie we realize that what he doesn't like is naughty, ill-mannered, ungrateful kids. Then again, who does? Despite its unorthodoxy, the film, like the factory itself, has "Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous."

— Toss Taylor

You might also like Beetlejuice

CALLING ALL DOCTORS!

Do you have a classic film, CD or book that you love? Would you be interested in sharing it with your colleagues? If so, send your rave review to [email protected] and we'll send you an NRM Cross pen if we publish it.