The Lacuna

Written by Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by Barbara Kingsolver

Born in the US and reared in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd is a liability to his social-climbing mother, Salome. When a violent incident sends him to North Carolina, he remakes himself in America's hopeful image. But political winds continue to throw him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach - the lacuna - between truth and public presumption.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Jul 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781407459943

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver was born in 1955 and grew up in rural Kentucky. She earned degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona, and has worked as a freelance writer and author since 1985. At various times she has lived in England, France, and the Canary Islands, and has worked in Europe, Africa, Asia, Mexico, and South America. She spent two decades in Tucson, Arizona, before moving to southwestern Virginia where she currently resides. Her books, in order of publication, are: The Bean Trees (1988), Homeland (1989), Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike (1989), Animal Dreams (1990), Another America (1992), Pigs in Heaven (1993), High Tide in Tucson (1995), The Poisonwood Bible (1998), Prodigal Summer (2000), Small Wonder (2002), Last Stand: America’s Virgin Lands, with photographer Annie Griffiths (2002), Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (2007), The Lacuna (2009), Flight Behavior (2012), Unsheltered (2018), How To Fly (In 10,000 Easy Lessons) (2020), Demon Copperhead (2022), and coauthored with Lily Kingsolver, Coyote's Wild Home (2023). She served as editor for Best American Short Stories 2001.  Kingsolver was named one the most important writers of the 20th Century by Writers Digest, and in 2023 won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Demon Copperhead. In 2000 she received the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages and have been adopted into the core curriculum in high schools and colleges throughout the nation. Critical acclaim for her work includes multiple awards from the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association, a James Beard award, two-time Oprah Book Club selection, and the national book award of South Africa, among others. She was awarded Britain's prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) for both Demon Copperhead and The Lacuna, making Kingsolver the first author in the history of the prize to win it twice. In 2011, Kingsolver was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has two daughters, Camille (born in 1987) and Lily (1996). She and her husband, Steven Hopp, live on a farm in southern Appalachia where they raise an extensive vegetable garden and Icelandic sheep. 

Reviews for The Lacuna

[melopher_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Barbara Kingsolver is an amazing writer. Even when the summary of the book doesn't sound enticing to me, even when I'm not hooked until halfway through the book, even when the characters aren't people I can identify with, I am won over by the time the novel is through.It may start out with a simple statement that strikes my fancy: (from p. 17) His mother had let him carry two valises: one for books, one for clothes. The clothes were a waste, outgrown instantly. He should have filled both with books.It may be the way words are put together that catch my notice: (from p. 53) Luckily the Spaniards wrote buckets about the Azteca civilization before they blew it to buttons and used its stones for their churches.It may be a statement one of the characters makes that makes me stop and reflect: (from p. 197) A story is like a painting, Soli. It doesn't have to look like what you see out the window.It may be the theme that starts with the title and is carried throughout the story: (from p. 218) The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.The Lacuna is the story of Harrison Shepherd, who was born in America to an American father and moved to Mexico with his Mexican mother, and is trying to find his place in the world. Like any person you meet, you get to know Harrison a little at a time, in bits and pieces. With him you get to meet Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and through them Lev Trotsky--the leader of the Bolshevik rebellion--and experience the McCarthy hearings. Harrison is not entirely Mexican, nor entirely American. He is understood by neither his mother nor his father, yet he finds a place to belong, a way to survive regardless of where he is.While the book isn't gripping until around the midpoint (for me) it isn't boring or difficult to read either. It is a book to be read for its language and message, for the journey the characters make and the palpable descriptions. Not to be read in a hurry, but when you can spend some time seeing the colors and smelling the smells that will fill the room and linger on in your mind if you give them the chance.

[candacevan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I began reading "The Lacuna" because it was recommended to me, and some of the best books I've read have come from word-of-mouth recommendations. I should probably be embarrassed that I had no idea who Barbara Kingsolver was -- I'd never read anything by her before.

There is trust that an author builds with his or her readers. The more works by author that we have read and enjoyed — the more times we've had our trust rewarded — the more likely we are to give an authoer the benefit of the doubt.

In this case the problem was that, being completely unfamiliar with Kingsolver, I had no basis for trust. This made it hard for me to get into the book.

It's not that the book wasn't well written or that the characters weren't memorable or engaging -- it's just that I started out thinking that I was reading a charming story about the relationship between a man-hungary, narcissistic mother and her indulgent son living in Mexico. But then the scene changed and we were at a miltary school in the US. And then the scene shifted again and we were back in Mexico with the son now working as a plaster mixer and then cook and then secretary.

All of a sudden, there's Frida Kahlo and Diego Riveras and lots of talk about the Communist movment, and then, boom, there's Leon Trotsky, and we're working our way up to his assassination.

From there we go back to the US where our protagonist, now in his 20s, settles in a Southern town and acts as though he's at the end of his life. He becomes a famous writer with phenomenal ease. He's gay, but he seems to have the libido of a dead duck....

It wasn't until the end of the book that it all began to come together for me. When it did, it became a book that I would label as "important," as well as satisfying.

Hopefully, the next time I pick up something by Kingsolver, I'll be smart enough to give her the benefit of the doubt.

[Sandra Zuks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Narrated expertly from the author. Interesting, expansive narrative dealing with place, fake news, Cold War America, and the spaces that appear in life.

[readerspeak_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ambitious and slow are how I describe Kingsolver's newest book. The reader meets Harrison Shepherd early in his life when he lives in Mexico with his mother, a mistress to men who keep her shut away. Shepherd is a foreigner (American), a loner, terribly shy and yet needs to record life as it happens around him. His diaries and letters are the means to tell his story.Circumstances lead him to meet and work for Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Lev Trotsky. These minor characters are fully realized and memorable, and the closest Shepherd comes to friends until he meets Violet Brown who will become his personal typing assistant when his own writing makes him famous. Her warmth, vigor, and rural charm added heart to the otherwise measured story.I've read nearly all of Kingsolver's work, and I did like this one, but not enough to get excited about it. I would recommend it to those who like historical fiction, who are interested in art and modern American history.

[twopairsofglasses · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mix mother love, Frida Kahlo, Trotsky, Mexico, and censorship during the McCarthy era. An amazing book.

[sbsolter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately I did not enjoy The Lacuna nearly as much as some of Barbara Kingsolver's other novels. It took me over a month to read it, which is much longer than typical for me (even for a book of this length). For the first half or so, I just wasn't really into it. I didn't feel any strong desire to pick it up and keep reading. In the second half, I became more engaged but it was still somewhat slow reading.

The novel tells the story of a man born in the early 1900s in the United States of Mexican and American parentage, who spends much of his youth in Mexican and eventually becomes employed by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and later by Leon Trotsky. Eventually he moves back to the US and becomes a writer, and the end of the novel takes place during the McCarthy era. The story is told in the form of the protagonist's personal journals and letters. At the beginning when he is young, the journals are all in a distant and third person voice, and I think this was part of why I didn't feel that engaged at the beginning. It didn't draw me in because it was so detached. Later when he is older his journals are more personal and it was easier to feel involved with the characters.

Even though I did not find it the most engaging book ever, I can appreciate that it is impeccably written. Kingsolver is a clear master of words and plot. She writes in a variety of convincing styles and tones and the plot is well-constructed and has an excellent, poignant ending that it sad but not unbearably so. I enjoyed her use of language and humor, and did find myself laughing aloud many times as I read.

This is a novel with a grand scope, much more along the lines of The Poisonwood Bible than Prodigal Summer, and I think it may be the case that I simply like her smaller-scoped works better. I am still glad I read it, and overall I do recommend it if it sounds at all interesting to you.

[donna828 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Words do matter! Kingsolver has created a memorable character in Harrison Shepherd who must write in order to find meaning in a bewildering world. The seldom-used word "lacuna" is used as a metaphor throughout the 500+ pages of this historical novel for a life riddled with sorrow and loss. "The most important part of a story is the piece of it you don't know" is a refrain that accompanies Harrison from his early writings through his success as an author of books about Mexico.Harrison fell in love with the exotic sounds and sights of this storybook country as an impressionable young man with an absent mother. He discovers a natural lacuna at the edge of the sea with its cave-like opening that swallows things like a lonely boy searching for treasure in a country not his own. He meticulously observes and records his surroundings in the notebooks that are so much a part of him. Of particular interest was the painter recording the colorful history of Mexico in images that "pull you right up the walls." Soon he is mixing the plaster for the murals of Diego Rivera just the way he learned to mix dough in the kitchen of a kindly cook. Harrison and Mrs. Rivera, the flamboyant Frida Kahlo, become lifelong friends and confidants. His ever-present notebook chronicles her colorful manner of speech and appearance along with his role as cook and secretary to the exiled visitor, Lev Trotsky. All is well until that fateful day in August of 1940 when tragedy strikes and he is forced once again to return to his native U.S. to begin life anew.Back home at age 24, Harrison's passion for writing consumes his life. He hires Violet Brown, who was "sensible as pancake flour" and was the counterbalance to Frida Kahlo, to be his stenographer. Not only was Mrs. Brown an efficient secretary, but she served as a buffer between a world going haywire and the reclusive employer who tries to fill the empty spaces in his life with words.This meld of fact and fiction proves to be a short course in art, the Russian Revolution, WWII, and McCarthyism told exclusively through Harrison's journals, letters, and newspaper accounts. The Lacuna is an ambitious, demanding, thought-provoking book filled with awesome descriptions of Mexico and the North Carolina mountains. I'm glad I bought this book so I can get a Kingsolver "fix" just in case it takes another nine years before she writes another one.

[juva_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Shepherd Harrison moves to Mexico with his mother when he is a young boy. After his parents split up, his mother moved onto the plantation of a wealthy Mexican man she met when he was working as an ambassador in America. Of course she hoped he would marry her, but this dream never quite materialized. Young Shepherd grew up swimming in the ocean, helping the cook in the kitchen and keeping a diligent log of his days in a small notebook. Later, his skills at mixing bread dough would serve him well mixing up plaster for the internationally famous mural painter Diego Rivera. Eventually, he would move from plaster apprentice to cook to secretary to Lev Trotsky after he came to live with the Riveras. In the wake of assassination attempts and conspiracies, he moved to America again and took up residence in North Carolina. He lived quietly there throughout the war, having been denied service because of his sexuality. Eventually, young Harrison started writing novels set in Mexico's storied past which enjoyed wide positive reception. And that's when things started to go wrong for him. The FBI began contacting him about anti-American activities. His character is publicly destroyed and his writing income quickly dries up. Boxed into a corner, he goes back to Mexico and fakes his death to escape further persecution. Meanwhile, his faithful stenographer preserves his lifetime of journals to eventually publish in an exonerating memoir.This is a beautiful story about a thoughtful young man who appreciates beauty and has the soul of a poet. This novel is lovely and evocative of a time in history and has a lush setting. A pleasure to read and contemplate.

[castlelass · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ambitious historical fiction that begins on an island off the coast of Mexico in 1929. Protagonist Harrison Shepherd is thirteen years old lives with his Mexican mother, Salome, and her paramour, Enrique. Salome left Harrison’s American father in Virginia and traveled to Mexico to live a lavish lifestyle with Enrique. Left mostly to himself, Harrison learns to cook and helps in the kitchen. When the romance grows stale, Salome takes Harrison to Mexico City to live with another of her lovers.

The novel is complex in its narrative structure. The early chapters are told in third person by an omniscient narrator, but the reader learns, via an archivist’s entry, that these chapters were written by Harrison Shepherd years later, after he had become a notable author. At that point, the structure shifts to a series of diary entries, written by Harrison. The archivist gradually reveals herself, and we learn her relationship to Harrison Shepherd and what happened to him.

These two narrators, the protagonist and archivist, become witnesses to a thirty-year span of US and Mexican history. The storyline covers the Great Depression, the lives of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, exiled Marxist Leon Trotsky, election of Harry Truman, the House Un-American Activities Committee, and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s campaign against alleged Communists. Harrison Shepherd is one of the alleged Communists due to his former employment with Kahlo, Rivera, and Trotsky.

This book helps the reader understand the impact of historical events on people of the time. The downside to this telling is that it is a bit fragmented, consisting of letters, an archivist’s notes, news articles, and court transcripts. Even though this approach is intentional and fits with the title, the reader may occasionally feel like too much is left in the gap between what is known and unknown. These gaps (lacunae) are places in which Harrison experiences a crisis, either in identity or a disruptive occurrence.

Harrison foreshadows the difficulties he will face while exploring underwater caves in his youth: “Today the lacuna appeared, a little below the surface. It’s near the center of the cliff below a knob where a hummock of grass grows out. It should be easy to find again but best to look early, with sun just up and the tide low. Inside the tunnel it was very cold and dark again. But a blue light showed up faintly like a fogged window, farther back. It must be the other end, no devil back there but a place to come up on the other side, a passage. But too far to swim, and too frightening.”

It is a sweeping epic replete with social commentary and historic relevance. I loved the parts set in Mexico. There is a bit of a lull in the middle before ramping up to the protagonist facing questionable accusations. I think it is quite an accomplished novel and the ending is particularly well-done.

4.5

[librarycin · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have no summary: Washington, Mexico, servants?, politics, something about the Soviet Union, communism, Trotsky, something with art? I have never given 1 star before. This would have been my 3rd ever (I think – maybe 2nd) DNF if I wasn’t reading it for a challenge. As I do with books I’m not liking, I ended up skimming, hoping something would catch my attention, but it didn’t happen. Sadly, this is an author I usually like.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have no particular interest in any of the subjects presented in this novel, but the story was so compelling that I could not put it down. Brava.

[eosch1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Did not like it. I could never quite root for or fully understand Harrison, and the diary style just didn't do it for me. Also, I found the whole he met artist Frida Khalo (who becomes a lifelong friend) and worked for Lev Trotsky a bit contrived. Just wasn't for me.

[bardbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wishing for more ... always, always an excellent read.

[librolindsay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In these short minutes after reading the first book that kept calling me back after months of quite the literary lull, I am drained and perhaps a little weepy. What can I say. I love Barbara Kingsolver, which is no news to anyone who knows me. And I now love Harrison Shepherd. This is heartbreak I feel when reading The Glass Menagerie. Whatever it is, I know it when it flushes through my bones and strings them together. And makes me have no idea how to adequately, concisely, and coherently say what I want to say. Here are some chunks of thought.

As I get older, I become less and less inclined to read synopses on the jackets/back covers of books before I read the book itself, and all I really knew about this one was that it somehow involved the whole Kahlo-Rivera-Trotsky lusty and political menage a trois. As much as I love Kingsolver, I was holding my breath, crossing my fingers that wasn't too lofty a goal to pull off, even for her. I was able to let go...her portrayal seemed so effortless and...normal(?) to me. These are three distinct figures, no doubt about that, and BK makes sure the reader knows it, but at the same time she portrayed them in a way that I could easily separate my prior notions of them to their roles in this novel. Primarily because, really, it's all about Harrison. We learn about the world as he learns through the people he cherishes (which might be the whole world). By the second half of the book, those three are nearly forgotten (only that the tragedy has everything to do with his connection to them). This really was two books.

"'Soli, let me tell you. The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.'"

Frida says this to Harrison midway through the novel, but it's been true since the beginning and remains true through the very end. Silence and hearsay--that's all there seems to be. It's the most confounding and comforting sentiment, roiling my brain for the past several days, for all the good and harm it does to the characters in this novel and the world in which we live. Where should trust be placed and what/who is worth believing? How can you tell? Shit. I don't know.

And why do humans feel compelled to continuously strive to find a source to direct their hatred? Fear, yes, I know...I feel so naive, but it's just so hard to wrap my head around it sometimes and it makes me nauseous. The HUAC hearings and the culture that it grew out of and that grew out of it have always pushed a button in me moreso than many other, more grievous crimes perpetrated in this world, and I'm not entirely sure why. This only makes me realize further that I live in a safe little bubble, or that even the safest of little bubbles can be burst.

I came to love Harrison like a brother or son. This was the strongest attachment I've felt to any one character I've read in a long time. I wanted to be his protectorate. His naivete sometimes got to be too infuriating (at first I wondered if this was a flaw in the writing, but then I forgot to remember that this was just a story). And there was just no good answer to his isolation. The way he found such courage in Lev's struggle, but could hardly deal when he was vilified himself. He was just one of those people...you know how you might be living your life with maybe not everything, but enough, and things are OK for you, but there's someone--a friend, a family member, could even be someone you know that you're not even necessarily close to--but in your gut you can feel them to be really GOOD people and you just want something GOOD to work out for them at least once in their life? That's how I feel about Harrison. I hope he was able to find it.

My head is pounding, and I've got to dream about what I can read next. Until next time, amen.

[mcorbink · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Complex book. The beginning was slow for me, there are many spanish words intermingled, as the story begins in Mexico. Most spanish words are explained, but not all. As our protagonist, a young boy in the beginning (Mexico) matures, he is involved with so many interesting people through work that he has learned to do, cooking mostly. He is a writer by nature. Once in the U.S., (he has citizenship in both countries, Mexican mother and American Dad) he is a young man looking for work and eventually begins writing novels which are well received in the states. It is a complex story as the relationships are deep and meaningful, the story intertwines Mexican and U.S. politics and so much more. You will not be disappointed.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Harrison Shepherd is a character that gives Kingsolver the opportunity to write about Kahlo, Rivera and Trotsky in the 30s, and the Red Scare in the US in the late 40s. It's a melancholy story of a man and the history he is a part of.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a really enjoyable read, even if it was a bulk 670 pages. Harrison Shepherd is a perpetual outsider. By birth, of an American father and Mexican mother, he is always the outsider in whichever country he chooses to live. He is an outsider, in his times, by sexual inclination. He is forced to be an outsider by those he has met and is perceived views - whether true or not. It makes for a narrative that is never settled and comfortable, there is always that feeling of being off balance or out of kilter with something, a bit like stroking a cat the wrong way. It's not always overt, but it is always there. The book tells the story of his life, with inserts and annotations by his secretary, Violet Brown. It features his diaries and letters, and is not always coherent or consistent in its telling of events. Seeing the world through Harrison's eyes, you feel that there are times when he is missing something. He seems quite innocent and not always able to consider the possible implications or consequences of events. In the latter part of the book, he is gradually drawn more and more tightly in the coils of the witch hunt for communists that swept the US after WW2. It s as incomprehensible to Harrison as it is to me, but that doesn't stop him being swept away by something far larger and uglier than he is. The ending is ambiguous, which feels right and fits the tone of the rest of Harrison's life.

[rdra1962 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Historical fiction about Mexico, Trotsky, McCarthy, and more, really well written. It read very slowly, and is a big book, but very little was expendable!

[ajlewis2_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audio version which was narrated by the author. I’m quite sure that my experience of the book was richer than it would have been if I had read it in print. Kingsolver knows her characters and she is able to express them through her voice. But even without this, the writing is pure magic! Every character is so vivid and I cared to know each bit I heard them say or do. The story takes place beginning in Mexico in the early 1900s and the scene is wonderfully set. Kingsolver is so good at giving meaningful information in ways that can be playful, fun, and also powerful.

The story is about an American boy raised in Mexico by a mother who is mostly interested in herself. He comes to know some famous historical people who have an impact on him. One of these is Trotsky. Others are artists. The boy is interested in writing at an early age. The story progresses into post-World War II in America including Hoover and McCarthy chasing the threats of communist conspiracies. So there is quite a bit of history included, but not at the expense of the story. Besides caring so much about the main character, I loved V.B. who is his secretary in the later years. That character is so great to listen to, but I think that the way she expresses herself will shine through from the printed page as well.

I highly recommend this delightful and meaningful book.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An easy read, the pages flew by. The story shifts from Mexico to Washington, D.C. and then finally Asheville, North Carolina, in different eras, a good trip through them.

[kmajort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fabulous! Always pleased with Kingsolver, this novel had me reaching for histories in the McCarthyism era.
Amazing how a label can be embraced in one year then reviled and persecuted a few years hence.
Highly recommended.
The audio is read by the author, a big help with the Hispanic linguistics.

[japaul22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Barbara Kingsolver is one of those authors that I avoided for a long time because of the very snobby idea that an author that popular couldn't be very good, i.e. very literary. I'm so glad I took a chance because I've loved all of the books I've read by her. She is gifted at creating characters you care about and using interesting settings. That makes her easy to read and popular, but her books are not at all common, light, or simple.In The Lacuna, she delves into a young man named Harrison Shepherd through his diaries which are compiled by V.B. (later we learn this is Violet Brown). Shepherd is the son of an American father and Mexican mother. At age 12, his mother leaves his father and takes him with her to Mexico, where they live in a string of locations following her boyfriend of the moment. When he strikes out on his own, he ends up as cook, aide, and eventually friend to Diego Rivera, the famous muralist, and Frida Kahlo, the famous painter. He and Frida have a close relationship and it resurfaces throughout the novel, even after he leaves Mexico. He moves back to America, to Asheville, N.C., after a traumatic incident involving Trotsky (yes, Trotsky) and begins writing historical fiction novels. His ties with the Communists during his time in Mexico come back to haunt him as the McCarthy Era begins.Normally I don't give that much of a plot summary, but the history really shapes Shepherd's life in this book. Somehow even with all the famous characters and true history drama, Kingsolver usually manages to keep the focus on Harrison Shepherd and his internal life. The symbolism in the book is subtle and deep and the characterizations are very believable.I thought at times that the history overwhelmed the main character just a little bit, but I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mexico, 1929. In the beginning American-born Harrison Shepard is a simple young boy just barely holding onto his Mexican mother's apron strings as she drags him through one failed relationship to another in her never-ending quest for all-adoring lover. He is without friends or proper parenting. His closest companions are housekeepers and servant boys. As Harrison matures he he finds work as a plaster-mixer/cook in artist Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo's home. He befriends political figures like Lev Trotsky. He is now in a world where packing a machine gun along with food and a blanket for a picnic is nothing out of the ordinary. He writes everything down. From there, this coming of age tale turns political. America, 1941. Harrison finds his way to Asheville, North Carolina and goes on to be a successful author. Polio and Communism are the growing paranoias of the times. Harrison's personality, unchanged since childhood, and his involvement with Rivera and Trotsky put him on a dangerous path of presumption and suspicion. This is a tale of loyalty and love; a portrait of a quiet, unassuming man just trying to make it in the world.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Audio book performed by the author.
4****

Kingsolver tells the story of William Harrison Shepherd, a young man caught in the gaps (the lacunae) between two countries, two parents, two cultures, two lives (public and private). The novel unfolds as a series of diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings, spanning the period from 1929 to 1954. Never quite at ease with his place in the world, Shepherd is an astute observer, who carefully considers what he witnesses and forms his own opinions. But he is not a man of action; he goes along for the ride, letting history unfold around him and never quite understanding how it has derailed his meager hopes. When he fails to play the media’s game, he finds himself the object of increasingly outlandish stories; and, eventually, accusations taken as truths will destroy him. The lacuna that is most important here is the space between truth and a falsehood perceived as truth.

I love how Kingsolver’s luscious writing paints the landscape and time period. I could just about taste the sugary pan dulce or savory chalupas; was nearly deafened by the howler monkeys, the din of the marketplace or the shouts of demonstrators and riot police; I relished in the colors of the tropics and felt subdued by the grey of a mountain winter.

I did eventually grow to appreciate Kingsolver's narration, though I really had a difficult time with her performance at the outset. I thought she was too “careful” with her words; it lacked emotion and “life.” But she really shone, in my opinion, when she voiced Frida Kahlo and, especially later in the novel, Violet Brown. I think I am going to have to read this one again – this time in a text format.

[tonstant.weader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kingsolver tells the story of a young boy growing up in Mexico in the households of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky. The story focuses on the personal more than the political, though the overall themes are certainly commentary on the suppression of dissent and the forced orthodoxy of political expression in the last decade in America.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After the failure of his parents' marriage, Harrison Shepard's mother takes him to her native Mexico. Harrison is mostly left to his own devices while his mother spends her time dancing, smoking, drinking, and chasing men. The acquisition of a notebook leads to a life-long habit of journaling. A young cook becomes a father figure for Harrison, who becomes his assistant in the kitchen. When Harrison and his mother move to Mexico City, he becomes the cook for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. When their household grows to include the Russian Trotsky and his entourage, Harrison adds translating and secretarial duties to his cooking duties. After Trotsky's assassination, Harrison eventually lands in Asheville, North Carolina, where he becomes a successful novelist. However, his past association with communists make him a target for Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee.I loved the first ¾ of the book, especially the parts set in Mexico. The last quarter of the book fell flat. I was fascinated by the structure. The combination of journal entries, copies of letters, and newspaper clippings gives it a feel similar to reading through a box of loose family papers. The structure was problematic in the ebook version I read. I kept wanting to refer back to earlier parts of the book, but because there are no chapters, the only reference points in the table of contents are the part headings, with each part consisting of more than 100 pages. Many readers will prefer reading a print copy for this reason.I read this despite my general aversion to reading fictionalized accounts of real people and events. I don't want my knowledge of history clouded by fiction. I don't know a whole lot about Trotsky, and I feel like I need to read a biography to put him in proper perspective. Kingsolver portrays him in this book as a kind of grandfatherly, professorial, genteel man. I'm sure there were more facets to his character, including some darker traits.

[al9g · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"The Lacuna" is the story of a young man who is searching for himself, seeking his identity which is lost amid divorce and dislocation. Shuffled back and forth between his mother in Mexico and his father in the U.S., young Shepherd isn't sure if he is Mexican or American or both. He finds his true home and family with the artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and Soviet Leon Trotsky. When he finally relocates permanently to America and settles down as a writer his identity is again called into question. At the height of McCarthyism, he is branded a Communist. The story is told through letters and journal entries with commentary inserted from his secretary. Consequently, for me, it read a bit slowly, dragging in places. It was a fascinating read and a wonderful character study - well worth reading, but the use of the journal/letters as the storytelling device was a bit tedious for me. The book picks up steam as it moves into the latter part of Shepherd's life and the bits and pieces of the tale that involved the artists was well researched. Overall it is well written and engaging, despite some slow stretches.

[michael_lilly-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Historical novel that includes Diego Rivera, Freda Kahlo, Leon Trotsky, Joe McCarthy, and the House Unamerican Activities Committee. What more could you want for drama?

[klburnside · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me a really long time to get into this book. If it wasn't written by Barbara Kingsolver I don't think I would have continued reading. To me, the first half of the book was long and drawn out set up for the second half of the book. During this time, the narrarator is living in Mexico where he works in the household of the artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and thus becomes acquainted with the Soviet exile Lev Trotsky. There were a few interesting parts in this section of the book, but it was mostly just mundane and I kept waiting for it to end.

I just never felt attatched to any of the characters at this point. I didn't get a strong sense of who any of them were, or care much what happened to any of them. I have always loved Kingsolver's characters, so I was really disappointed by this.

I really enjoyed much of the second half of the book, especially conversations that Harrison Shepherd has with Violet Brown and Arthur Gold about the political and social climate of the United States and the anti-Communist fervor. I've never really read much about this period of American history, and I don't know how accurately Kingsolver captured it, but I loved the points about how most people really didn't know what Communism was, they only knew what anti-Communism was. The book illustrates well how easily people become afraid and suspicious of their neighbors when only a few years before they had rallied as a country and made many sacrifices to support the war efforts.

When I heard Kingsolver speak about this book, she said that was really the crux of the book for her. The time in American history when people came together and were sacrificing so much for the war effort to the time when it became un-American to question government policies or express any sentiments that America still had work to do as a country. I really liked the parts of the book that dealt with this theme and I just wish it had gotten to that point quicker.

[engpunk77 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had the privilege of listening to Kingsolver read this aloud as well as reading the print...I love her. Her voice and her style of narration, her perfectly articulated words and sounds all captivated me instantly. Hearing V.B.'s voice as Kingsolver intended it is what made me want to just hug Violet Brown. The characters were so lovable (even though I'd never want to hang out with Harrison or Violet in real life, but Trotsky definitely).

I have heard people say that this book had a political agenda. I have to disagree. I believe that this novel, although centered around politics, is about humans, while politics never seem to be. This novel did not turn me into a socialist, a communist, an anti-communist, or a hater of capitalism, but it did make me want to embrace all kinds of people. It made me yearn to learn more about and to listen to people I don't know, and especially those that I think "I know about." Because I don't really. The best part about someone is that which you don't know. Thinking about that recurring message in the novel has impacted me. For reals.

This novel showed me about:

McCarthyism: how could we force people to value our government over theirs by silencing, condemning, and violating all of the personal freedoms that make our country so great?
The Bonus Army: How did I learn about this terrible event in high school (I had to have, right?) without remembering it? It's seared into my consciousness now...
Having your words used against you
Being a writer
Being a private person
Trotsky & Stalin
Stupid American slang from the 20's-50's.
Being gay when hardly anyone around you thinks that is okay
Censorship & other oppressive behavior
Artists, especially Frida & Diego
A lot of ancient Mexican history
Integrity

My favorites (I'm being vague so as not to spoil the plot)

a) when a character protested a violating probe by invoking our personal rights guaranteed to Americans, and the agent responded with something to the effect of, "No American talks like that; that's how I know you're a communist." HA! I don't think this is true anymore, and I'm hoping that we'll be a little less inclined to McCarthyism-type witch hunting in the future.

b) The metaphorical images in the first chapter and what they came to symbolize

c) The strong women (Frida & VB)

d) Lev

e) The subtlety

f) The statement that a rule of the media is to fill the silence, keep talking, whether it's true or not. Sounds familiar.

g) Barbara Kingsolver's voices when she reads aloud.

h) The ending.


I have to thank my local library for pushing me to read this by selecting it for book club. I would have really missed out on some opportunity to grow as a person had I not dived into the lacuna.