"The Lacuna"

Reading "The Lacuna" (Harper, 2009), by Barbara Kingsolver, was for me like climbing a steep mountain: long (over 500 pages), arduous, breathtaking (in both senses of the word), and worth the effort. (Not that I have climbed any mountains lately, but it seems like an apropos if not very original metaphor.) I initially resisted reading this novel, but since it was chosen for my next Reading Group meeting, highly recommended by one member, I tackled it. It took me almost a month to read, and I read a few other (shorter and less arduous) books during this time. I started reading it in large print, got tired of that (see my 5/31/10 post on large print), continued in regular print, and finished the book on CD (read very effectively by the author herself) during two recent car trips. The main character is Harrison Shepherd, a young man born in the U.S. of a Mexican mother and American father and raised in Mexico, a classic bicultural person, so common in the 20th century. In the 1930s, he works for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and then for Trotsky in exile, before returning to the U.S. and becoming the author of bestselling novels about ancient Mexican history. He tries to live a quiet life in Asheville, NC, but is blindsided by the anticommunist McCarthy era, which targets him for having associated with Communists and accuses him of being anti-American, using distorted and completely false "evidence." This is ironic, as he is actually very pro-American, and tragic, because it destroys his life and career. Kingsolver's portrayal of the viciousness and mindlessness of this witchhunt era is powerful and frightening, especially in view of some present-day echoes of this mentality. Kingsolver's writing has always been admirable not only for its literary quality but also for engaging with important social/political events and issues; "The Poisonwood Bible," for one outstanding example, is unforgettable. There are other rewards of this book, including the evocative portrayals of the main character, his assistant Violet Brown, Kahlo, and Trotsky; lovely and detailed descriptions of the various locales; and the way the author gives readers a vivid sense of history, both ancient and recent.