The Lacuna tells the story of Harrison Shepherd, a young man who was born in the USA but then grows up in Mexico with his socialite mother. Shepherd first works as a cook and then as a typist for Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo, and their esteemed guest Lev Trotsky. The story then follows Shepherd as he writes novels and his relationship with his stenographer Violet Brown.
This was my first encounter with Kingsolver, and I enjoyed it a great deal. I loved the intergation of the ‘real’ characters, especially Frieda Kahlo. Obviously a lot of research went into the book, but not once did I feel that information was ‘dumped’ for the sake of it, it all fitted in with the story. The novel embraces the themes of art, Communism, writing and identity. As a minor criticism I found it a little slow in the third quarter, but it picked up again towards the end.
4 out of 5.
Edit/Delete Message
No comments:
Post a Comment