The Lacuna

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Critics

• THE LACUNA by Barbara Kingsolver

  Review by Lynn Harnett (DEC 10, 2009) Harrison Shepherd’s odyssey through three tumultuous decades of the 20th century begins in a lonely boyhood between two worlds – America and Mexico. It continues through the Depression and World War II, and culmi ... (read full critics)

  mostlyfiction published on Thu, 30 Sep 2010

• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

  Barbara Kingsolver's first novel in nine years takes a huge risk in venturing into copiously charted territory. It moves from the muralists and surrealists of the 1930s in the aftermath of the Mexican revolution to the McCarthyite witch-hunt of artis ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

6 Reviews

• 

  Truly awesome - exciting, moving, instructive, sublime writing. best read since Jacob de Zoet. I can't believe I let it sit on a shelf for over a year!

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  LFrig said on Sep 1, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  Barbara Kingsolver is a great writer but I did struggle a bit with this novel. I enjoyed the first half of the book set in Mexico, lost the plot somewhere in the middle to the last quarter where it picked up and I found it interesting again. Although the work is fiction, I enjoyed the art part rev ... (continue)

  Barbara Kingsolver is a great writer but I did struggle a bit with this novel. I enjoyed the first half of the book set in Mexico, lost the plot somewhere in the middle to the last quarter where it picked up and I found it interesting again. Although the work is fiction, I enjoyed the art part revolving around Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Mexico. I also liked the letters to Kahlo that featured through the latter half of the book.
  The political aspect of the book was compelling, we all hear about Communism but the portrayal of the persecution of Harrison Shepherd really makes for a big brother society. To be persecuted and framed just for knowing a Communist even if not politically involved, shows the very nature of the political arena and can be identified today.

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  Booketta said on May 3, 2011 about the Leather Bound edition | Add your feedback

• 

  I LOVE THIS BOOK. I couldn't stop talking and thinking about it, for months after reading. What a fantastic ending. So intelligent, but such a pageturner. Wonderful.

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  cina said on Mar 18, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  Bohemian in Mexico...and Trotsky liked rabbits...

  Barbara Kingsolver is one of my go-to writers (especially the Poisonwood bible and Prodigal Summer) - you know you are likely to be headed into a long but satisfying story that you won't want to put down (perfect fireplace and down quilt book). Lacuna attracted me because it is partially the story o ... (continue)

  Barbara Kingsolver is one of my go-to writers (especially the Poisonwood bible and Prodigal Summer) - you know you are likely to be headed into a long but satisfying story that you won't want to put down (perfect fireplace and down quilt book). Lacuna attracted me because it is partially the story of Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo - two amazing Mexican painters who had a Taylor/Burton kind of romantic life. Lacuna is their story but only peripherally - it is actually the story of a young man who worked for them and Trotsky as a stenographer and then became a fiction writer in the States during the cold war and the McCarthy terror. Kingsolver has a wonderful eye for what it was like to be "different" at a time when different was considered bad or even criminal. Once the story leaves Mexico it is less exciting, but still a good read...

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  Gail Paris said on Feb 7, 2011 about the Leather Bound edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Quite long and the blurb on the back is a little misleading as it only covers about 1/3 of the book, a lot more happens before and after this. Still a good read though, an exciting period of Mexican and American history with a lot of relevance to today. I wanted more of Frida and didn't want Violet ... (continue)

  Quite long and the blurb on the back is a little misleading as it only covers about 1/3 of the book, a lot more happens before and after this. Still a good read though, an exciting period of Mexican and American history with a lot of relevance to today. I wanted more of Frida and didn't want Violet to spell out the ending for me.

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  Lunarossa said on Jan 23, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  Astonishing...

  This long awaited new novel from Kingsolver must be one of the best fiction texts of the last couple of years. Covering the life of a writer living in revolutionary Mexico in the 20s and 30s, and then the toxic McCarthy US years of the 50s, this book is excellent part-history part-fiction, with asto ... (continue)

  This long awaited new novel from Kingsolver must be one of the best fiction texts of the last couple of years. Covering the life of a writer living in revolutionary Mexico in the 20s and 30s, and then the toxic McCarthy US years of the 50s, this book is excellent part-history part-fiction, with astonishing language and pace. Unlike the other book I read recently ('The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet'), 'Lacuna' doesn't finish all of a sudden...Yikes! Here, the energy gently dissipates...much like life really.

  Brilliant. Read it.

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  Ian Hodgson said on Aug 27, 2010 about the Leather Bound edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Others 670 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0571252664
• ISBN-13: 9780571252664
• Pub date: Jan 01, 2010
• Also available as: Leather Bound and eBook

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