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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
The first half of Lacuna was a first rate food book. I was hungry every time I read it and dreamt of dulce empanadas (or is it empanadas dulce?) I know very little about Mexico, Trotsky, and the Riveras and it was fun to read about them with such vivid imagery. The book was a little long at times - it took quite a while to get to the McCarthy hearings for example - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really liked the way the ending unfolded. Couldn't help smiling and I thought about it when I woke up this morning.
I've been reading this book since November -- just can't seem to get into it despite the fact that I love Barbara Kingsolver.
A well thought-out plot that takes us through serious historical events in twentieth-century Mexico and the United States. We follow the fictional protagonist, Harrison Shepherd, from the time he is a boy of eight or nine in Mexico, to his early 30s in the post-WWII US. Shepherd gets to work for, and then becomes very close to, some of the most interesting and influential artists and thinkers in the first part of that century: Leo Tolstoy, Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo. These connections, in part, will cause him to be later persecuted during the Red Scare, in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The Lacuna teaches or, at least, reminds us of some major political events that seem to have been absent from school history books, such as Tolstoy's exile and assassination in Mexico, his persecution by Stalin, and the US support of the latter at that time; the 1932 Bonus March in Washington DC and the massacre of the marchers by the police and the Army; and the persecution of so many accused of being "Communists" under McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover.
Kingsolver ably depicts the wide-spread fear and the extreme injustices committed by the US government against anyone deemed undesirable: intellectuals, artists, homosexuals, Blacks, immigrants--in sum, anyone who didn't or seemed not to conform. For this reason, *The Lacuna* is shockingly current, given the recent emergence of dictatorial governments across the globe and the threat the extreme right represents in the US today.
The Lacuna teaches or, at least, reminds us of some major political events that seem to have been absent from school history books, such as Tolstoy's exile and assassination in Mexico, his persecution by Stalin, and the US support of the latter at that time; the 1932 Bonus March in Washington DC and the massacre of the marchers by the police and the Army; and the persecution of so many accused of being "Communists" under McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover.
Kingsolver ably depicts the wide-spread fear and the extreme injustices committed by the US government against anyone deemed undesirable: intellectuals, artists, homosexuals, Blacks, immigrants--in sum, anyone who didn't or seemed not to conform. For this reason, *The Lacuna* is shockingly current, given the recent emergence of dictatorial governments across the globe and the threat the extreme right represents in the US today.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Kingsolver's books always seem to flow well and are beautifully written. There was much to enjoy in this book, although I felt my attention flagging at the end. Still, I liked getting to know Harrison Shepherd and enjoyed the author's versions of Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Yet another really good book from Barbara Kingsolver. She takes topic that I normally wouldn't read novels about and makes them great. Finishing this Kingsolver book, like the other two of hers I have read, was bittersweet. I was excited to find out how the story ended, but sad the book was over - I wanted to stay in the world and with the characters she had created for just a little longer.
Best book I've read in a long time. A first-class protagonist (Harrison Shepherd), remarkable side characters (Trotsky, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera among the most prominent) and a really engaging and touching story that has pace, depth and that's full of imagination from start to finish. Loved it. I must read the Poisonwood Bible - now!