Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Harrison Shepherd was born in the United States in 1916.  When he was 12 years old, his Mexican mother left his American father and took him to Mexico.  His mother buys him a notebook and tells him to write down what happened in Mexico, which starts a lifelong habit of keeping a diary.  He works for Diego Rivera, first as a plaster mixer and later as a cook, and befriends Rivera's wife, Frida Kahlo.  He also works for the exiled Leon Trotsky, and later moves to the United States.  I thoroughly enjoyed this historical novel; I found it very well written and got very caught up in the story, especially the later chapters after World War II covering the Red Scare and the House Un-American Activities Committee.  It was my fourth book for the I Want More Book Challenge (other books I've read by Barbara Kingsolver are The Poisonwood Bible and Prodigal Summer).  I rate it 5 out of 5.

3 comments:

laurie said...

i just finished this same book last month. it seemed to take me forever to read it but not because i was not interested. i agree that it is a wonderful read, a great escape into another time.

Kathy A. Johnson said...

Thanks for writing about this--I was interested to hear what you thought. I haven't read this book yet, but I want to. I love Barbara Kingsolver's writing. (My favorite has been Prodigal Summer so far.)

biobec said...

I enjoyed this book, too. It is a well crafted story line, has an interesting and informative setting, and the author's feelings come through in a charming way. My favorite Kingsolver book is a collection of essays named "High Tide in Tucson".