On a trip to the Hoover Dam, young Turtle Greer sees a man fall into a hole in the restricted portion of the dam. Six year old Turtle is the only witness and her mom, Taylor, has a hard time getting anybody to believe the little girl.
Eventually, Lucky Buster's life is saved by rescuers who were summoned by Taylor's pleas. This "human interest" story is picked up by national media outlets. Taylor and Turtle appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
In Oklahoma, Annawake Fourkiller sees the show. She notices that Turtle is of Native American descent, while Taylor is white. When Taylor tells Oprah the story of Turtle's adoption, Annawake realizes the adoption may be void. She begins a search to locate Taylor and Turtle in Arizona. When Taylor realizes she may lose Turtle, she goes into hiding. They travel throughout the West trying to make a life together, while hiding from Annawake and the laws of the Cherokee Nation.
With this novel, Ms. Kingsolver asks the reader to take a side. She asks you to determine whether Turtle should remain with her adoptive mother or be returned to family in the Cherokee Nation so her heritage can be preserved.
To be honest with you, I didn't really care for Pigs in Heaven too much. However, I'd be the first to question my own opinion. I feel somewhat biased, since I just finished reading Ms. Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. Now that was a good book! Since I am reading Ms. Kingsolver's books out of order, maybe my expectations were too high.
I did have a couple of complaints regarding the story. Lucky Buster, the saved man, all but disappears in the second half of the book. Why was his character further developed at all?
I also found the story to be choppy. The first part focuses on Turtle and Taylor on the lam. Suspense builds as the reader wonders what will become of Turtle. The, the book shifts focus onto Taylor's mother, Alice. Though Alice's story is interesting, I couldn't help but feel that Turtle's story was being put on hold like a phone call.
Even though Pigs in Heaven isn't my favorite story of recent memory, I gave it three stars. If you are an avid reader, by all means pick up the book. Perhaps you will see something in it that I could not find.
