Well, after all of the messages I read and our discussion this week on The Bean Trees, I think that I have a little bit of a different view on it. I did not really like the book. I did not hate it or anything, but I can think of a ton of things I like better. I think one of the reasons I felt this way is because even though some people might say the story is "original," I felt like I knew exactly was going to happen, like I was one chapter ahead the whole time. I also felt like the characters were left a little undeveloped and that frustrated me. I don't expect an author to tell you everything, but I also don't like it when he/she leaves everything up to my imagination. I guess I just didn't feel like I got to know the chracters very well, which made it a little challenging to really think about their roles to eachother as "family" like we discussed in class.