Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Great book! I really liked this book. It's fairly long (over 500 pages) so it took me a few weeks to read it, but once I got going I was fully immersed in this tale of Harrison Shepherd. Shepherd was born in America in 1916 to a Mexican mother. His mother decides to go back to Mexico when he is 13 and takes him with her.

Shepherd ends up working for Diego Rivera the famous Mexican muralist. His life becomes intertwined with Diego and Frida Kahlo, Diego's wife. It was interesting to read a fictionalized version of Diego and Frida, but from the biography that I read about Frida I think Kingsolver was very accurate in her portrayal.

Shepherd also becomes acquainted with Lev Trotsky and is ultimately put on trial for his affiliation with the Trotsky. He's accused of being a communist just by association. It's rather appalling that this actually happened in the US in the late 40s and 50s.

I love Kingsolver's writing style. I enjoyed this book much more than "The Poisonwood Bible" which is touted as one of her best. I think "The Lacuna" trumps PB by a landslide.

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