Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
If you like historical fiction, you will LOVE this book. So many significant events mention in the diaries. I really loved this book. Best of Kingsolver for sure.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I almost abandoned this one because I found it difficult to get into, but because I love Barbara Kingsolver, I pressed on, and I’m glad I did. It’s wild how the themes of this book, which is set in the 1930s-1950s, feel extremely relevant today. As Kingsolver says in a Q&A at the end of the book, “We [in the United States] seem to have an aversion to national self-criticism in general. We began as a nation of rabble-rousers, bent on change. But now, patriotism is often severely defined as accepting our country to be a perfect finished product.”
This book covers a lot of ground, and was thoroughly enjoyable. I can find no flaws in it. Some might say it's overlong, but it never lags. The main character, Harrison Shepherd, is born in the U.S. in 1916 to an American father and Mexican mother. He travels to Mexico with his mother when he is twelve, and spends many years there. He becomes employed by the household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo as a cook and stenographer. Leon Trotsky is also a member of the household during this period. Excellent writing, characters, historical/political detail, settings, and plot development.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a book of two distinct parts. The first in thirties Mexico and the second in forties America.
Our protagonist is a writer, the first time Barbara Kingsolver has written about a writer, so maybe there are some autobiographical insights into how she approaches the writing process.
“Accumulating words is a charlatan’s career. How important is anything that could burn in ash in a few minutes?”
Harrison William Shepherd, our writer-protagonist, was born in America but taken to Mexico at the age of 12 by his Mexican mother. In Mexico he befriends the hacienda’s cook and learns how to mix dough, a useful skill when later Diego Rivera wants someone to mix plaster for him: “It’s like making dough for pan dulce”. Diego Rivera is the Mexican muralist and husband of Frida Kahlo. Shepherd becomes a member of Rivera’s household as a cook and typist. Later an exiled Trotsky joins the group. Trotsky rues the revolution in Russia had been taken over by Stalin. Stalin has been methodically purging Russia of Trotsky’s friends and family. The charges against such persons were strange and diverse from derailing to trains to poisoning Stalin’s hair cream.
“Stalin uses hair cream?” asks Shepherd.
“Careful lad, ” said Lev (Trotsky). “That knowledge alone could get you the firing squad.”
In 1940, when Trotsky is assassinated, Shepherd leaves Mexico, at the age of 24, he returns to the United States and settles in Asheville, North Carloina. He is not drafted for psychological reasons, he spends the war in the civil service looking after the nation’s art works. After the War, he becomes a reclusive, author of swashbuckling Mexican historical novels (“Vassals of Majesty,” “Pilgrims of Chapultepec” titles chosen by his publisher not himself). Viola Brown his stenographer observes “People love to read of sins and errors, just not their own,” she remarks. “You were wise to put your characters far from here.”
The book is a collection of diary entries, letters and newspaper articles, ending with a transcript of the hearings of the protagonist facing the House of Un-American Activities. His words and associations are twisted to make it seem this apolitical writer is a rabid communist intent on overthrowing the US government. Echoing the treatment Trotsky had at the hands of the Stalinist propaganda machine.
The protagonist is gay but chooses to live a single life. “People contort themselves around the terror of being alone, making any compromise against that. It’s a great freedom to give up on love, and get on with everything else.” he tells Frida Kahlo in a letter.
The lacuna of the title has many meanings, there is a submerged cave entrance he likes to explore, on the Mexican coast, waiting for the tides to be just right. There is also the lacuna between the truth and what is reported, both in the Stalinist press concerning Trotsky and in the American press over those accused of being communists.
Our protagonist is a writer, the first time Barbara Kingsolver has written about a writer, so maybe there are some autobiographical insights into how she approaches the writing process.
“Accumulating words is a charlatan’s career. How important is anything that could burn in ash in a few minutes?”
Harrison William Shepherd, our writer-protagonist, was born in America but taken to Mexico at the age of 12 by his Mexican mother. In Mexico he befriends the hacienda’s cook and learns how to mix dough, a useful skill when later Diego Rivera wants someone to mix plaster for him: “It’s like making dough for pan dulce”. Diego Rivera is the Mexican muralist and husband of Frida Kahlo. Shepherd becomes a member of Rivera’s household as a cook and typist. Later an exiled Trotsky joins the group. Trotsky rues the revolution in Russia had been taken over by Stalin. Stalin has been methodically purging Russia of Trotsky’s friends and family. The charges against such persons were strange and diverse from derailing to trains to poisoning Stalin’s hair cream.
“Stalin uses hair cream?” asks Shepherd.
“Careful lad, ” said Lev (Trotsky). “That knowledge alone could get you the firing squad.”
In 1940, when Trotsky is assassinated, Shepherd leaves Mexico, at the age of 24, he returns to the United States and settles in Asheville, North Carloina. He is not drafted for psychological reasons, he spends the war in the civil service looking after the nation’s art works. After the War, he becomes a reclusive, author of swashbuckling Mexican historical novels (“Vassals of Majesty,” “Pilgrims of Chapultepec” titles chosen by his publisher not himself). Viola Brown his stenographer observes “People love to read of sins and errors, just not their own,” she remarks. “You were wise to put your characters far from here.”
The book is a collection of diary entries, letters and newspaper articles, ending with a transcript of the hearings of the protagonist facing the House of Un-American Activities. His words and associations are twisted to make it seem this apolitical writer is a rabid communist intent on overthrowing the US government. Echoing the treatment Trotsky had at the hands of the Stalinist propaganda machine.
The protagonist is gay but chooses to live a single life. “People contort themselves around the terror of being alone, making any compromise against that. It’s a great freedom to give up on love, and get on with everything else.” he tells Frida Kahlo in a letter.
The lacuna of the title has many meanings, there is a submerged cave entrance he likes to explore, on the Mexican coast, waiting for the tides to be just right. There is also the lacuna between the truth and what is reported, both in the Stalinist press concerning Trotsky and in the American press over those accused of being communists.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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
I am utterly stunned.
This is an ambitious historical fiction project that I did not see coming. Kingsolver effortlessly ties her protagonist, HW Shepherd, into the throes of World War II through McCarthyism. She evokes artistic and political questions which are ever so present today though the book is coming up on its 20th birthday.
I will admit that it did not begin as I usually expect a Kingsolver novel to (it didn’t help that I started it during a period that gave me whiplash) and thus took a little time to get into. But once I was in, I was in.
A book to cherish
This is an ambitious historical fiction project that I did not see coming. Kingsolver effortlessly ties her protagonist, HW Shepherd, into the throes of World War II through McCarthyism. She evokes artistic and political questions which are ever so present today though the book is coming up on its 20th birthday.
I will admit that it did not begin as I usually expect a Kingsolver novel to (it didn’t help that I started it during a period that gave me whiplash) and thus took a little time to get into. But once I was in, I was in.
A book to cherish