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cstinch 's review for:
The Lacuna
by Barbara Kingsolver
The book wasn’t what I expected, but I did enjoy it. The novel spans several decades and intertwines itself with major, real-life people (Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in particular) and historical events in the U.S. and Mexico that cast an interesting spell over the novel. I’d actually only read up on Frida Kahlo a few weeks before (I’d seen her picture everywhere but had little idea of why she was famous) and so it was interesting that immediately afterward I picked up this book and was introduced to her in a mostly fictional way.
The prose is beautiful and Kingsolver paints an enchanting portrait of Mexico that comes alive on the page. From a craft perspective, I felt that the narrative itself was… disjointed? Hard to connect to? It’s a story about a man who speaks about himself rarely, and the idea is that he reveals himself through the things he witnesses and sees in other people. He’s a quiet character. And yet… I felt I knew too little of him, this man who connects every event in the text. I felt more intellectually compelled than emotionally. But this is a minor point in a very engaging, worthwhile, complicated but rewarding read.
The prose is beautiful and Kingsolver paints an enchanting portrait of Mexico that comes alive on the page. From a craft perspective, I felt that the narrative itself was… disjointed? Hard to connect to? It’s a story about a man who speaks about himself rarely, and the idea is that he reveals himself through the things he witnesses and sees in other people. He’s a quiet character. And yet… I felt I knew too little of him, this man who connects every event in the text. I felt more intellectually compelled than emotionally. But this is a minor point in a very engaging, worthwhile, complicated but rewarding read.