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Unsheltered


A timely novel that explores the human capacity for resiliency and compassion.
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Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

Created: 10/29/18

Replies: 9

Posted Oct. 29, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
NancyPH

Join Date: 02/09/17

Posts: 14

Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

Shelter is a word with new immediacy. During a disaster, victims are now often instructed to "shelter in place". I find that injunction odd-- it assumes the safety of one's current place. I think Kingsolver is saying there is no safe shelter. We are all unsheltered.


Posted Oct. 29, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
cynthiad

Join Date: 11/25/12

Posts: 34

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

Unsheltered is more than just structures.. Kingsolver saw the shelters "shake" in not only the roof over our heads, but people/family, nature, employment and familiar beliefs.


Posted Oct. 29, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
janeb

Join Date: 10/09/18

Posts: 49

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

Clearly the house throughout time was more concept of house than a dependable shelter. Funny in a way, that older is not better or the wood beams harder with age. But, with that concept, new ideas leave their thinkers “unsheltered” so Thatcher Greenwood and Mrs. Treat would be unsheltered for that reason and Tig for her brave push to have control of her life as she chooses to live it. “Unsheltered” seems to allow for more growth, more creativity, more freedom.


Posted Oct. 29, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
SusanC.

Join Date: 03/25/13

Posts: 46

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

I think that both generations that lived in this house had feelings of being "unsheltered" or unmoored would be another term I would use. Again, while I didn't love this book, some of the characters were interesting to me. The old woman who lived next door in the late 1800's was truly one of my favorite characters - I loved that she was "corresponding with Darwin."


Posted Oct. 29, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
JLPen77

Join Date: 02/05/16

Posts: 362

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

Similar to others here, I see "unsheltered"--and the decrepit house -- as pointing us to the massive changes that have been going on for some time, but we're now experiencing the negative impacts and the pressure to respond: global warming, but also the global economy, rising inequality in the US, new waves of immigration everywhere, likely to increase with climate change, and which challenge some people's sense of "how things are supposed to be," the way they used to be... Like the characters in who live in the house, we too feel threatened and unprotected by these changes -- and with good reason. Interesting that the house in the novel has been weakened by hasty prior attempts to "remake" it, without a solid foundation -- in a way, it also stands for our nation. (I'm thinking of Lincoln's quote, "A house divided against itself cannot stand.") Fortunately Tig points out a way we can respond with more hope.


Posted Nov. 01, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lloster

Join Date: 04/23/11

Posts: 12

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

Perhaps the condition of feeling "unsheltered" is the only way individuals or a community or culture can embrace change. None of the characters in this novel were secure or safe. Thatcher and Mary Treat needed to become unmodified (love that term) from the dogma of their day in order to embrace new scientific discoveries and fight for those new and frightening ideas. Both lost their families and the shelter of the communities. Willa and Iano could not move forward with changes in their lives until they were losing the shelter of their home, and their careers. Seek was forced to look for new career options when he lost the shelter, however shaky of his marriage.


Posted Nov. 01, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
JLPen77

Join Date: 02/05/16

Posts: 362

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

I also think the author is warning us that we are all unsheltered on planet earth, if we don't make big changes while we still can.


Posted Nov. 03, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
judyg

Join Date: 04/20/11

Posts: 72

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

Kingsolver talks about this throughout the book. I believe she sees being "unsheltered" as the answer to many of the problems facing all of us today. She sums this up metaphorically through Tig's dialogue with Willa on page 417.


Posted Nov. 13, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ednag

Join Date: 06/24/18

Posts: 2

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

I feel like we are all somewhat “unsheltered “ in this current political climate. There is little civility
and compassion in our national dialogue. Where is a national leader to give us some “shelter from the storm.” The Unshelled encompasses both politics and climate change.


Posted Nov. 14, 2018 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
RebeccaF

Join Date: 08/24/14

Posts: 45

RE: Who or what does Kingsolver feel is unsheltered?

I happened to see Kingsolver speak on Monday evening and one thing she said was “Willa is the peanut butter trying to hold everything together” when her world falls apart; she's in the sandwich generation looking after elderly parents and children (+ a grandchild). With Willa we see most clearly that loss of the shelter of a job, house, and health care plan you can trust.


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