Belonging in The Empty Places

Many years ago, don't really know when it was, I came across the book "The Bean Trees" written by Barbara Kingsolver first published in 1988 by Harper Perennial. I found it in a used bookstore, I can't remember now if a friend had told me about the book or if it was just one that looked interesting. Anyway I read it and loved it. I read it again in high school for a book report and I loved it all over again. Through the years I continued to read it and love it. I ended up having to sell it for one reason or another and just recently found it and bought it once more. Also as a used book. I don't think that I will ever have a new copy of this book. I think that a new copy will take away something from it for me. Anyway I am going to review that book now. The used copy that I have was published in 1989 with the ISBN 9780060915544.

It is the story of Marietta Greer a young woman living in a small town in Kentucky with her single mother. Marietta has two goals in life: get away from the nowhere town and to avoid pregnancy. After graduating high school and working for a couple of years at the local hospital she buys a '55 Volkswagon bug with no windows and no backseat. But it's her ticket out of there and she uses it the first chance she gets baby free. She starts heading west and decides to change her name and figures that she will let the gas tank decide. The first time it ran out she would name herself after that town. When she finally runs out in Taylorville, Illinois she becomes Tayolr Greer. A change that she quickly grows into but when her car gives out once more in Ohio, somewhere in the middle of the Cherokee Nation she recives a gift that changes her in a way that takes a little longer to get used to. She is given a baby girl by a strange woman when she stops to eat. The woman just puts the little girl in her car and walks away. So begins the story of Taylor and her adopted daughter Turtle.

Together they make their way to Tuscon, Arizona and Jesus is Lord Used Tires. Where Taylor meets Mattie a wise strong willed woman who becomes a friend and mentor to Taylor. And in short order Taylor meets Lou Ann who is a hypocondriac weak willed woman who becomes an unikely sister to her. Turtle, so named because of the grip she keeps on any part of Taylor she can get ahold of, begins to heal and awaken under the care of Taylor. For two misfits from different parts of the country Taylor and Turtle make a strange and loving home in Tuscon with Lou Ann and her new baby and Mattie and her house full of people looking for a fresh start. Through the ups and downs, the close calls and the lucky breaks Taylor learns that just because she never wanted a baby doesn't mean she isn't a mother. 

This is a story that is bittersweet and beautiful and one that I think everyone should read. Barbara Kingsolver has a voice that never falters, never wavers from what it is trying to say. I love this book and I have loved it every time I have read it. I believe that I will continue to love it because it is such a beautiful tale one that makes you think and feel. It's a 3D story, with characters that you really feel for, really root for. I highly, highly recommend the book "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver. This is the tale of Turtle and Taylor finding a home not someplace but rather with each other. Take the journey that is to be found in these pages, it is one that will stick with you for years to come.