The Lacuna: A Novel (P.S.)

In addition to enjoying Kingsolver books in the past, I was drawn in by the Mexico(I'm studying spanish) and the Asheville (I live near there)connection. This was an impressive weaving of historical events, some of them I knew, some I did not. I thought she did a superb job of conveying the place between common individuals and the historical events swirling around them. I also think she does a fine job of depicting the way the media influences the general public. These issues are applicable today.

The method of using journal entries, newspaper articles and letters to move the story along created a different tone. For me, it was more than entertainment--it was thought provoking. I have no hesitation in recommending it with great enthusiasm.

Kingsolver proves to be masterful as she weaves not only beautiful historical descriptions, but also integrates in this volume the poetic nature of the characters. The Lacuna has all of the detail one expects from Kingsolver as well as a literary flair that is more pronounced - again, it fits the characters and storyline impeccably.

Ms Kingsolver writes of how our government can, through misguided policy, alter history and, in this book, destroy the life of one person. Her characters are so defined whether they are Diego Rivera, his wife, Frida Kahlo, Leon Trotsky, or the not so famous narrator become totally alive. Her language is cutting, at times, downright funny, and her research, ranging from Aztec history, the depression of the 30's, to the McCarthy era in the US is amazing. I read the book and in two months time, reread it, learning and enjoying it even more. I think it is a book I shall read again and again, smiling and crying my way through.

As a fan of Barbara Kingsolver, I was looking forward to reading her first new novel in nine years. It helped that I heard Ms. Kingsolver describe her work on NPR, Forum. She laid out the research that she did to develop her story. I learned details of the interference of the Mexican and American government in the fight between Stalin and Trotsky. Kingsolver made me think of only being marginal or tangential to the communist movement still did not offer protection during the McCarthy era. The author peppered her story with details of the times. We learned of Thomas Wolfe and his life in Asheville. We can imagine the cloak and dagger existence of homosexuals in communities in the fifties---their marginality. Lacuna lets us explore issues of today, individualism. the role of the State in our lives, sexual freedom and the pain of divorce or separation-saved-by-someone-who-cares, as they existed in another epoch.

Kingsolver told Michael Kraskny on Forum that she was satisfied with her novel. Her style and her technique emphasize details fromn different points of view. The novel becomes three-dimensional because she offers the details from different points of view. Kingsolver weaves in and out of one Mexican-American life, revealing explanations to our questions as she goes.

And what a story. I want to require the reading to my Hispanics whose usual diet of Mexican-American-Hero Genre are hero, arrives poor, usally illegally, and either studies hard and makes good, or blows it and sees the light. Here we have the Hispanic of privilege wrestles with fate on many levels. I love this book. It might even be my favorite of the Kingsolver books, Well, would that be disloyal to Turtle?

As recommended by another reader, I watched "Frida" before reading the book. I now intend to watch it again. The writing is excellent and the descriptions of Mexico through the ages were vivid. A fascinating tale with many perspectives of US, Mexican and even Russian culture and politics. I could not put it down.

I had come across this book by chance - lucky me. It was fun to read it, covering many of my personal criteria of why I would find a book enjoyable.
1. I like B. Kingsolver's style of writing - taking her time in describing without ever dragging on or giving away too much too early and therefore taking away the guess work.
2. She uses a colorful language
3. The story was interesting and touching - I like stories where I can somewhere feel with a/the figure at play. It gave me plenty of opportunity to contemplate since it has a historical backbone.
I can happily recommend this book to everyone who looks for more in a book than a shallow story.

I have read most of Barbara Kingsolver's books, and consider this the best and most complex and deep. It deals with being human and standing up for yourself. Being smart and taking c are of yourself and your loved ones, while living. Your life and dreaming about how to give the world something important. My gratitude for having the chance to read this book and now,I can read the rest o f her books. Thanks Kathy, my dear cousin for giving me "The Bean Tree"'!

I have LOVED Barbara Kingsolver in some of her other books...the Poisonwood Bible I couldn't put down. But this book...I think I am still on page 35 trying to get drawn in. So disappointed that this book isn't catching me. This is the time where I have to remember, "Just because they wrote 1 or 2 books that I loved doesn't mean I should spend money on books that I am unsure of...even though I have loved the author in the past." If I ever get through this book, I will give a better overall review on how the actual book was. So far, it's not catching me.

In spite of the length of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am very familiar with the art and a big Kingsolver fan. I loved the added ending. I was in tears and then hope came shining through. I would recommend this book to any serious reader.

i struggled at first, with the book. decided to listen to the audio read by bk herself. i am in awe. i adore this book. i have read all bk's books and this one is different, however, just as well-written/spoken beautifully. I do not completely understand the criticism. Dare to compare? I think not. This is a book of process, evolution. Once again, listen to it being read by the author. You will not be disappointed, even with the format, as seems to be a source of such confusion/dislike. whatever... lm

This book is an incredible journey through two countries and decades of unrest. Seldom do I read anything that is so compelling that I lose track of time. Read it on my Kindle and glad I did...I took it everywhere during the four days it took to finish it. I'd have to describe it as a political novel but that doesn't cover the scope of the story. BTW: I'm a conservative Republican and this book is anything but. Hard to believe how much this book covered and how well it was done.

This is a lovely book - good story, fascinating historical perspective and characters about whom you come to care deeply. Barbara Kingsolver writes so beautifully, she defies description. I know that I personally, having finished a ghastly novel I was forced to read because of a friend, turned immediately to the Kingsolver on my nightstand to cleanse my soul of the memory of terrible violence done to the written word.

While this novel lacked suspense (you already know what is going to happen to Trotsky), it was an intriguing re-creation of the era. Also, since I have traveled in Mexico, I found the parts of the novel set there fascinating. The combination of characters was unusual as well.

It's the first novel I have read by Kingsolver. I am now curious about her other books, so overall, this was a positive experience.

I know the history involved here. I also realize most writers are in love with their own words on paper (or Kindle, as the case may be). But I found myself saying, "Get on with the story!"

The book grabbed me in the beginning. The lacuna appeared to be a metaphor for the young narrator's life and what is to come as he matures. But it all fell apart with Kingsolver's uncanny ability to write paragraph after paragraph that have nothing to do with anything happening in the storyline. My mind started to wander and I finally just gave up. It's rare that I get this far into a book and stop reading it but I couldn't continue with this one.

This unusual book will hold your attention from start to finish. The writing is superb, and the narrator's character so beautifully drawn. Along the way, you will learn a good deal of Mexican, American, and world history. The only shortcoming, for me at least, was the use of Spanish words for which I did not know the meaning. I'm reading on my Kindle--almost through. Perhaps there will be a vocabulary list at the end!

Not up t the usual Barbara Kingsolver that I read in the past. The storyline was a bit disjointed and took a long time to get interesting for me. The historical info was interesting and some of it factual intertwined with fiction

I would have liked an introduction about the historical settings. Each time it seemed I was nearly done, the story moved to a new era and setting, which made the book seem inordinately long. Otherwise,I really did appreciate the insight into subjects rarely covered in histories.

Barbara Kingsolver is a master of voice. Though she must have her own powerful voice, it can be heard here only as an absence; an instance of the book's guiding figure, a lacuna.

I hope to encounter the author herself shortly in her nonfiction, but the voices which come through this fictional work are crafted from other, imagined contexts but one slightest step removed from "actual" history. Each one is informed so fully that it would be hard to believe that Kingsolver herself was not there, actually, in fact, for their creation not as characters in a novel, but as actual lives transcribed without interpretation at all. This is the conceit she uses to create in her readers' minds this novel's protagonist.

These words - the ones we read - were salvaged from the burn barrel along with their historical frame, by the novel's purported transcriptionist, VB; which I read as VerBatim, as mnemonic for my porous memory. VB's voice is what we might call hillbilly mountain English, a dialect in fact preserved from the time of Shakespeare, in the time-capsule of out-of-touch.

As has the whole of American English by comparison with its roots, this mountain talk has taken on a stark literalness which would have been foreign to its other larger handed-down voice, that of the Bard himself. Our faithful compiler of words shares a marvel with each reader that such figures as faithfulness and nearness to actual fact and amanuensis standing in for author should permeate the book so thoroughly that there is nary a phrase which cannot be heard to resonate with each and every other part of the entire book.

It reads like a Chinese poem, I'd say, each word placed in a context which is enriched by each other, to form a hologram, not the sort of which this particular novel is ostensibly built - a set of handwritten notebooks -, but the laser-generated high tech sort, where each smallest bit contains the whole, and the fuller read fills out only the context for what had ever been present in its absence all along.

The book itself - the novel about a novelist - is written in a time when otherwise intelligent people speak seriously of such things as information velocity; something thought to overwhelm argument and sense. This is meant to be the overall trajectory of reading, to where context is constucted at a rate to exceed what might fulfill it; enabled by technologies which will themselves fill in the spaces of desire before it can even know itself.

Kingsolver overall takes on the hardest of tasks, inventing a character just one step removed from the largest personages of history. This context then creates a man who only might have been, and who in the end, in the novel's actuality, never was; a close observer of those events in our own history which most inform what we might have been but aren't, ourselves.

Kingsolver herself must have mastered that much of not just history but voice and time and place to put herself, amanuensis of the author in the book, himself amanuensis to Trotsky, the man himself, life lived in the shadow of death's near certainty, and then the author's amanuensis, and then you and I, mere readers and livers of historical actual fact.

This is a book to treasure, as a hidden passage to life still lived.

Comments on ‘The Lacuna’ by Barbara Kingsolver

(Dorothea Shefer-Vanson)

(August 2013)

The beginning is a little bit difficult, nothing is clearly defined, characters are cryptic and elliptical, but Kingsolver’s excellent writing holds the reader’s interest and after a while the subjects become clearer.

As one reads on, the book becomes increasingly gripping. The author tackles several themes, and each one adds another layer to the depiction of different times and places in the first half of the twentieth century.

The beginning, with the account of a boy, his mother, and the life they lead in Mexico,presents difficulties in deciphering who and what the characters are. The relations are fraught and not akin to anything in this particular reader’s ken. The period of the main character’s boyhood is depicted with sensitivity and insight, and serves as the basis for the man we come to know later in life.

The history, culture and politics of Mexico in the early part of the twentieth century are depicted vividly. Kingsolver has a great ability to describe the atmosphere of a place, making the reader see, feel, hear and smell the sights and sounds. One really can sense what it is like to be there.

The depiction of the lives and characters of Diego Riviera, Frida Kahlo and Lev Trotsky, and their various entourages is fascinating, and gives the reader a genuine insight into what those personages may well have been like. The author acknowledges her sources in the prologue, but she has evidently gone far beyond mere historical description, bringing those three individuals to life once again on the pages of her book.

But as if that isn’t enough, Kingsolver goes on with the tale, depicting what it was like to be living in the USA at the time of the investigations of the Un-American Activities Committee under (?). That is also done in great detail, introducing the reader to the intricacies of the way the system that damaged the lives of many worked. This part of the book also contains a penetrating analysis of the way the media, but particularly the press, distorts information for its own purposes.

The device of using two narrators is somewhat contrived, but works, mainly because of Kingsolver’s unique ability to portray the differing voices of her characters. Each one has a very different way of speaking/writing/thinking, becoming believable characters and springing off the page to become individuals who have a convincing existence in their own right.

I found the book fascinating and feel that I have learned a great deal about subjects of which I was fairly ignorant before, and have been entertained and distracted in the process. Plenty of food for thought here, served up in a well-written and palatable form.

"The Lacuna" presents the story of a (fictional) author, Harrison Shepherd, from his boyhood in Mexico through his life and career in the United States through about 1950. Most of the narrative is presented in the form of Shepherd's personal diaries and correspondence. Shepherd experiences firsthand numerous events and settings of historical significance: post-revolutionary Mexico, the "Bonus Army" in Washington, Leon Trotsky's exile in Mexico, "Red Scare" in the United States, and in the process rubs elbows with some real historical figures - Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo, Trotsky, Richard Nixon, etc. I was tempted at first to draw a parallel between this book and "Forrest Gump", but this book really stands on its own. The story starts off fairly slowly, with the day to day life of Shepherd as a boy, living with his mother in Mexico; it feels like it meanders for a bit (much like life for a teenager without much direction...) and then settles into a more conventional arc following Shepherd's return to Mexico and his employ with Trotsky in exile.

Most of all, Kingsolver has created some memorable characters. Shepherd is a singular wit, little formal education but very well read, and simultaneously wise and naive, sarcastic and idealistic. The minor characters - Shepherd's mother, Violet Brown, and others, are also well developed. She draws interesting personalities for the historical figures - Frida Kahlo in particular. I'm curious to know whether these personalities are drawn based on research, diaries, memoirs, etc or whether Kingsolver just imagines them. Either way, you get a different feel for the characters, and for the history, than you get from reading a Wikipedia entry (which I did for Kahlo, whom I had never heard of previously). Each character has a distinct pattern of speech, and these characters really jump off the page and inhabit the reader's imagination.

The settings are also described in vivid detail - Mexico most of all. With the caveat that I've spent all of 3 hours in Mexico, I feel like Kingsolver has created a wonderful portrait of this incredibly complex and vibrant culture, with its mixture of European and Native American, modern and ancient influences all woven together - something we Americans might miss when we stereotype Mexico as tacos and burritos, and Mexicans as the people who mow our lawns, pick our crops, and wash our dishes, and our most intimate experience with Mexico might be a trip to Tijuana or Cancun.

As for the historical content - I do feel like the Red Scare and McCarthyism and so forth have been thoroughly demolished previously, as has the interment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and numerous other warts in American history. I don't think Kingsolver adds anything particularly new to the critique of this, although perhaps it is still necessary to tell these stories, as we still have with us modern-day apologists for McCarthy, and the same tendencies to label and vilify "the enemy" are with us still. I had mixed feelings about the portrayal of Trotsky as a noble, kindly, grandfatherly figure. The description of his relationship to Stalin and Lenin is greatly abridged here; Trotsky is to say the least a controversial figure; but I'll leave it at that. I had to remind myself, regardless of Kingsolver's own politics, first and foremost she is presenting a portrait based on the young Shepherd's personal interactions with Trotsky, and as such you get a very different picture than you might get from a history book or a biography that focuses on the sweeping events of history. Rather it is the perspective of the naive Shepherd who knows Trotsky primarily as a man who loves his wife and grandchildren and gets excited about feeding the chickens or going hiking. So too about the other historical events; the point of this novel is not to present events in perfect historical detail (whatever that means), or to reveal new research, but to present history from the point of view of an individual, a small and insignificant bystander caught up in big events. The real stories of these bystanders are mostly lost at this point, but Kingsolver here imagines a very compelling vision.

This review is based on the unabridged audio book version of this work. It was read by the author. I loved Kingsolver's previous novels and after such a long wait since her last work, I was really looking forward to this new release. I was disappointed.
I have truly mixed feelings about this novel: there is some beautiful writing and there are sections that made me want to quit. First off, this is a novel - a work of fiction. The author states this at the outset. However, it is placed in historical context: the stage alternates between Mexico and the United States in the backdrop of the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution, WWII and the anticommunist fervor that enveloped the U.S. afterward. Many a great literary mind has succeeded in creating great historical novels by using the stage of history to develop their characters and their stories. Kingsolver, on the other hand, uses the characters to promote her view of historical events and vent her emotions in the process. I do believe she was crying during the reading of certain passages. Very emotional and effective but many a time, proselytizing (and boring).

The story follows American-Mexican boy Harrison Shepherd from his early puberty in Mexico to his mid-thirties in Asheville, North Carolina. The boy and man created by BK is a very sensitive, introverted person, who has the gifts of words, kindness, compassion, insight and wisdom. What's not to love, right? However, he is so awkward, you never really connect with him. The story unfolds through a series of diary entries (the approach worked better in The Poisonwood Bible). The reader is treated to the most intimate thoughts of the protagonist since his days as a boy relocated abroad by his divorced Mexican mother, afraid of jungle night sounds, to his learning to hold his breath in the ocean and discovering the underwater world, becoming a cook apprentice, progressing to a plaster mixer (for Diego Rivera, no less), his befriending Frida Kahlo, becoming personal secretary for exiled Lev Trotsky, early adulthood, his move to the US, rise to fame as an author of fiction (coincidentally, his novels also take place in historical context - the fall of the Maya and Aztec empires) and fall to disgrace when the US Government investigates him as a communist for his early life associations to Rivera and Trotsky. The press reviles him and provides fodder for the hearings (no surprises here). The diaries are written by the protagonist but the story is delivered to the reader by Violet Brown, a widow Shepherd hired as a stenographer once he became published. She is his most ardent defender and some of the most beautiful passages (and reading) of this audio book spring from the exchanges between these two.

Let me reiterate: beautiful writing and exquisite passages abound in this novel. There are also many instances in which the preaching is repetitive to the point of making one want to scream "give it up!"

Last, and this is a small peeve, BK uses quite a bit of Spanish, particularly in the sections that take place in Mexico. I don't understand why a novel in English must have a random spattering of words in another language. Is it to create an atmosphere of authenticity or do authors want to show off their (self-perceived) knowledge of the language? If the former, it does so only for people who are not fluent in the language and in that case, the non-native speaker is forced to ignore the word or look it up. Spanish is very prone to have different meanings for a word according to dialect so for a non-fluent speaker, the meaning of the sentence can be lost. I am positive that such was the case in this instance: I am fluent in Spanish - it is my native tongue. Some of the Spanish words were used incorrectly for the context of the sentence. And, although the reader (remember, Kingsolver herself) makes a valiant effort, her pronunciation is, well, quite accented. Her command of English is masterful - she should use it. Spanish peeve aside, her reading/performance of the work is very good. I could almost 'see' Violet when she spoke.

This book provides a young writer's perspective of Aztec history, life in Mexico during the 1930s and 1940s, the personalities of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, the communist party after the Russian Revolution, and the effects of the McCarthyism in the United States. The format of the book using letters and newspaper articles made it difficult to follow at times.

I read it a few years ago, wanting something like the poisonwood bible, it miss the mark. But I often thought of the story
so I reread it this summer. I really enjoy it, time has changed my interests in the past and this hits close to home. Remembering my family stories about those times living in Pennsylvania and comparing them to the politics of the world day and how we get by.

I wanted to start right back at the beginning once I came to the last page. I longed to return to the characters who became so real and dear to me. Harrison Shepherd, The main character is as real as the historical figures his life journey is entwined with. I marked pages that were so luminous in their descriptions that I returned to marvel at them again. I loved the way Kingsolver constructed this epic novel, through letters and diary entries....dating back from Harrison's boyhood and through his life, as it unfolds against true historical events. Masterfully written, a true treasure.

An amazing slice of history and fiction: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo (who really came alive, out of history), Trotsky & revolution; WWI and WWII, with glimpses of lesser-known events and American shame: Japanese interment and the anti-communist witch hunts, yellow journalism and examination of the U.S. propaganda machine and manipulation throughout. Fascinating.

Barbara Kingsolver delivers a potent read that kept me deeply pondering even while living in an apartment in Rome, sitting in a hospital emergency room waiting for my travel companions broken leg to be set in a cast, two transcontinental air lights, and an over night train ride from Paris to Nice. That was no small feat given all the distraction. The only disconcerting problem was a well known BK tendency toward overkill, no less a problem in this book. When does the anger of the writer begin to bleed into the telling of the story? When does the axe no longer need grinding? Perhaps its release during an election year is at the root of her obvious diatribe. Even so, this was one of the most imaginative stories I've ever read and stands right along the Poisonwood Bible as one of my all time best reads.

I've read every book published by Barbara Kingsolver, so obviously I am a huge fan of her work. The Lucana was the most challenging read of them all! If it had been any other author, I would have put the book down after 50 pages and not picked it up again. But because it was a "Kingsolver" I pushed on. Finally after about 200 pages I decided to do some research on Trotsky and the Rivera's and found that part of my struggle was that I was uneducated about the history and the events of the time. Once I had some backgroud, the reading became more interesting and enjoyable. I was totally hooked during the last half of the book. While I would give Kingsolver herself 5 stars any day - I cannot bring myself to give The Lucana any higher than 3 stars based on the difficulty of getting through the writing style and the character developement of the first third of the book. BUT, when her next book comes out, I'll be first in line!

After having read The Poisonwood Bible, I have been waiting for Kingsolver to write another "top of my list" book.
Well, this is it.
It is a smooth read through the lives of people that not only touched me emotionally, but gave me an inside look at
history, and new views of the trauma and drama of life at that time.
Exciting, absorbing, and so well written.
I loved every word, and every moment of this read.

I have read most of Kingsolver's works, already a big fan and have even met her.
Can't say enough about her ability to develop her characters who are always faithfully depicted against an accurate historical background.
This book made me laugh out loud, weep and become angry. I personally, never had all these emotions evoked by one book.
Its hard not to become attached to her characters.

This is a fictional history of importance in that the story of Leon Trotsky has been so poorly understood in the West and lost in Russia, the country he hoped to save from the cobbler's son. The other element of the novel deals with history equally important to Americans: the Second World War. The primary weakness of the novel is the linkage of the two. The artist has, however, made a noble attempt and the book should be read for the light it sheds on us.

This is my third Barbara Kingsolver book and as usual, she leaves me wanting more! I love the main character in this book, Harrison. The book is a series of journal writings compiled into one work of literature by a character known as V.B. I was so curious to know who this person was, and I was not disappointed when V.B. made their appearance later on in the book.

Kingsolver intertwines themes of growing up, finding yourself, immigration, and important historical events all together with her character of Harrison. Great book, never a boring moment.

Kingsolver always teaches me so much--in this case history on a level that I did not know--as well as her unsurpassed mastery of the craft of great fiction writing. I particularly loved the rich Mexican content in this one. I could hear the screeching monkeys, taste the 'sabroso' cuisine and imagine all the settings. Well done!

against Kingsolver's other works very well. Excellent, thoughtful read on the failure of men to speak rather than listen, which seems as current a topic as any. Really enjoyed the dynamic structure of the story as seen through letters and journal entries. Would recommend.

This is an excellent book. It is very well-written. Even though it is a novel, she uses actual newspaper clippings in the story and retells actual events. I was inspired to research various things about Mexican and American history as well as historical figures based on what I read in this novel and I therefore learned a lot in the process. She ingeniously ties everything together in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and didn't want it to end.

Absorbing, rich, marvelous story told by interesting voices. From the controversial artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to communism, Trotsky and history of Mexico's Mayans, homosexuality, McCarthyism and the American witch hunt for Communists in the 1950's. Wonderful book about courage, principles and the responsibility we all have for each other and the society and culture we live in.

I have not read Barbara Kimgsolver before because I thought she tended to write more toward science fiction. To my delight, not so, this is historical fiction. Extremely well written. Beginning is slow to get into but once past that, excellent historical details and an unexpected ending.

I scimmed quickly through all of the reviews on this novel, the good, the bad and those in between. What I didn't see and perhaps I missed it, were any comments on the writing style, Ms Kingsolver's use of subtle understated humor. If it is only me who finds her "one liners" funny and they were not intended to be so, I offer my sincere apologies to Ms Kingsolver but I found some of the lines in this novel to be priceless.

Mix the humor with history and some darned good story telling and the result is this wonderful piece of literature.

EXCELLENT !

Keep up the good work Ms Kingsolver.....make us smile, make us cry, entertain us with words but most importantly, encourage us to THINK .

Just finished the book last night, with a mixture of great emotions at the conclusion. Barbara Kingsolver develops her characters so well, that you felt you knew them to the bone. Don't dare read the afterward until you have read the entire piece. Although I had a feeling how this one might end, I was surprised in a good way as to how it was all wrapped up.
This was my second book written by Kingsolver, the first being Poisonwood Bible. And as much as I loved Poisonwood, this far surpasses it. Details of the experiences of the main character were dropped in as a string along the way and wrapped up beautifully.

Barbara Kingsolver always takes her time to put stories together and once you finish it you are glad you did. She is a brilliant story teller. I have read The Bean Trees and the Poisionwood Bible, all great reasons to keep reading her books. I gave this book 3 stars because sometimes the book seemed disjointed and a bit confusing especially parts when she introduces VB without any background in the beginning. All in all be patient, the book and the characters come together quite nicely.

A very interesting and different story about varied subjects. Water, art and two very famous artists along with Mexico and America and the differences in living in those countries. I really enjoyed following the life of Harrison and thought this book was very well-written. It also let me look into the lives of two artists and those around them at that time. I so wanted Harrison to end up with a happy-ever-after life that I thought he deserved. I would read this again any time.