Flight Behaviour



     Author                            Barbara Kingsolver

     Country                          United States

     Genre                             Realistic Fiction

     Publication Date            2012

     Pages                              436






An interesting contemporary read is how I would describe this book.

Through this book, Barbara builds the story of Dellarobia - a farm wife, mother of two who finds herself giving up her aspirations when she accidentally gets pregnant at the age of seventeen. Now, many years hence, trapped in a bored, loveless marriage with a husband who refuses to stand up for her or for himself against his overbearing and judgemental mom, Dellarobia desperately seeks reprieve. She wants to find a larger meaning to her existence and the sudden appearance of the magical butterflies on the family farmland provide her this reprieve. She ends up getting a job with the scientist who works on this and is amazed at how much she was losing out in life by not stepping beyond her home to explore the world outside. One thing leads to the other till Dellaboria finds the courage to stand up for herself and do what is best for her.

Interspersed with the story of Dellaboria is the story of the magical butterflies which is due to a possible climate change. The scientists view on global warming and the refusal of the soceity to believe that it bodes any ill are an interesting backdrop to the story.

In conclusion, I would say that is is an interesting read where Dellaboria's character is built as a classic case of a woman who loses herself and her innate desires in the demanding world of marriage and motherhood. And her struggle to get out of it is a lesson to many who find themselves in her position.

While the story is compelling and relevant to our times, unfortunately, for me the book did not build as much an emotional connect as I had expected. Its one of those situations where its hard to exactly verbalise what was missing. Guess thats why books are as much about feelings as they are about cognizance and I wouldnt be inaacurate in saying that while this book had everything to make it an emotionally moving story, for me, it didnt go beyond being just an 'interesting read'.

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