Barbara Kingsolver's UNSHELTERED - Unfettered Cleverness of New Ideas Past and Present

Barbara Kingsolver (b Amer. 1955) writes novels that contain themes concerning social justice, environmental protection, religious zealots and freethought.  UNSHELTERED contends with the adamant, sacrosanct opposition to Darwinism in the US in the years following the Civil War and tackles the current environmental destruction of our planet.  The storylines in late 19th C and 21st C are brought together under one roof.  Thatcher Greenwood is a science professor who is met with bombastic enmity for broaching evolution theories.  He lives with his new bride, Rose, her sister & mother in a small NJ town in a house barely standing alongside his crumbling marriage.  In present day, our world is about to implode due to greed & negligence of the planet.  Willa & her family are currently living in the same location (perhaps, same house) far worse for the wear.  Willa's home has been condemned.  Her last prayer is if she can prove the home has historic significance they might receive grant funding for restoration before its demolition.  The too clever connection & coincidences are too much to withstand.  Thatcher befriends his neighbor Mary Treat (b Amer. 1830-1923) a predominant botanist, entomologist and collaborative correspondent to Charles Darwin.  Thatcher finds a kindred spirit with Mary amidst a brutal, closed minded town that would sooner tar & feather him rather than concede scientific evidence that question religious beliefs in God's almighty creation.  The most intriguing part of Kingsolver's novel is Mary Treat and the dawning curiosities of scientific reasoning amidst overwhelming public vehemence. "Presumptions of a lifetime are perilous things to overturn."  Unfortunately, Kingsolver is overly clever in constructing her novel.  The parallel plots segue from Willa's family dysfunctional drama back in time to Thatcher's life.  Willa's husband is also a professor whose remained untenured and detached from the dire situations within his own hearth.  Willa is caring for her son's newborn & her flailing  racist father-in-law.   Willa's daughter Tig is a dynamo pragmatist who proselytizes til the walls come tumbling down on the crucial need to conserve & protect our environment.  Kingsolver should've taken a lesson from Occam's Razor whose theory she refers & gone with a simpler format. Instead she throws in too many convoluted tangents.  Willa's name was no random choice as Willa Cather is oft quoted, "Unsheltered I live in daylight."  Kingsolver's prose and meaningful issues were undermined by a sodden foundation.