UNSHELTERED by Barbara Kingsolver

UNSHELTERED

by

Barbara Kingsolver

            In Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver, we are introduced to Willa, a journalist, and her husband Iano, a college professor. They have moved to an inherited, historic home in Vineland, N.J. and live there with, at various times, four generations: their kids, Zeke and Tig (Antigone), their grandson, and Iano’s father. Willa is a freelance journalist without work, Iona is unable to find a tenured position, and the house is literally falling down around them; they cannot afford the repairs or the escalating health care costs of their extended family.

We also learn about Thatcher, a science teacher who had lived in the historic house in the nineteen century with his wife, Rose, and her mother and younger sister. They, too, have difficulty maintaining the crumbling historic home. Thatcher befriends their neighbor, Mary Treat, a scientist who is conducting numerous experiments, as well as corresponding with Darwin and other great scientists of her time. Meanwhile, Thatcher, who loves science and simply wants to share that love, encounters difficulty with the Creationists running the school and the town.

            Unsheltered moves back and forth between these nineteenth century and twenty-first century residents of the house. Mary and Thatcher were ahead of their time. But, Willa and Iano portray a new reality. They are overeducated, overqualified, and underemployed. They are unable to “make it” – i.e., they are unable to cover their basic needs for shelter and medical care. Despite their years of hard work and “doing everything right,” they have not accrued the security needed and expected at their stage of life. As Tig tells her mother:

[Y]ou prepped for the wrong future. It’s not just you. Everybody your age is, like, crouching inside this box made out of what they already believe. You think it’s a fallout shelter or something but it’s a piece of shitbox, Mom. It’s cardboard, drowning in the rain, going all floppy. And you’re saying, “This is all there is, it will hold up fine. This box will keep me safe!”

Unsheltered, p. 308.

Kingsolver presents a harsh reality, but, unfortunately, it is a reality that more well-educated people of Willa’s generation are facing. You can do everything right – do everything the way that you are “supposed” to – and still not attain the elusive security that is needed later in life.

There is a change occurring in our society. Once again, Kingsolver has uncovered the nub of the matter in this poignant, wonderful work.

            This latest Kingsolver work is so well written. Although the chapters are long, I thought it very cool how the end of the last line of each chapter is the title of the next chapter. In typical Kingsolver fashion, Unsheltered is melodic and insightful.

Unsheltered is one of the best books of 2018. Highly recommended.