She is stopped in her tracks by a valley blazing “with its own internal flame.” As she gazes in frightened awe, words of Scripture come to mind. They’ve been together since she got pregnant at the age of 17, derailing her plans to attend college and escape their small Tennessee town.Īnd then Dellarobia’s life is upended, not by a tryst but by an insect.
Her children are constantly snatching things from her hands: her hairbrush, the TV remote, “the soft middle part of her sandwich.” Her husband, Cub, has become oblivious to Dellarobia’s sharp, flame-haired beauty. Those boots are practically the only thing Dellarobia can call her own. Yet we must also deal with the pinching boots of everyday life. Postapocalyptic times, and their singular preoccupation with survival, look easy compared with this journey to the end game. How do we live, Kingsolver asks, and with what consequences, as we hurtle toward the abyss in these times of epic planetary transformation? And make no mistake about it, the stakes are that high. It’s the wettest fall on record in southern Appalachia, and she has to be hiking in pointed-toe calfskin on a steep, muddy trail to a deserted cabin for an illicit rendezvous.Īll sorts of “crazy wanting,” both prosaic and earth-shattering, are shot through the intricate tapestry of Barbara Kingsolver’s majestic and brave new novel, “Flight Behavior.” Her subject is both intimate and enormous, centered on one woman, one family, one small town no one has ever heard of - until Dellarobia stumbles into a life-altering journey of conscience. Her boots, bought secondhand, “so beautiful she’d nearly cried when she found them,” are killing her. She’s frantic with desire, frantic with passion, also frantic for a cigarette. Dellarobia Turnbow is about to fling herself into a love affair that will wreak havoc on her placid life, and she’s worried about what she’s wearing.
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