The Lacuna: A Novel (P.S.)
by Barbara Kingsolver
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Book Summary Information
Author: Barbara KingsolverEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-07-20
ISBN: 0060852585
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780060852580
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Lacuna: A Novel (P.S.)
Book Review: An Outstanding Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
My bookclub best read in at least a year. A brilliant and highly original concept. Kingsolver said that it took seven years to write and it shows. The amount of research required to build this novel is prodigious. I did some fact checking and she indeed used obscure but real events and characters to write this novel - the technique of using the fictional protagonist, Harrison Shepherd, and his archivist and stenographer or, as he calls her, his amanuensis, Violet Brown, is the kind of originality and creativeness that makes this story. Especially, as the first half of the novel consists of Shepherd's personal journal entries published posthumously. I am not going to go any further into the plot as it will spoil it for those of you still engrossed.
The writing itself and the use of language is really brilliant and perceptive - some examples:
Page 360
"What we end up calling history is a kind of knife, slicing down through time. A few people are hard enough to bend its edge. But most won't even stand close to the blade. I'm one of those. We don't bend anything."
A metaphor on Page 479
Universal declaration on the rights of the howlers:
Article 1. All human beings are endowed with the god-given right to make firewood from the fallen tree. Article 2. Any tree will do. If it is tall, it should be cut down. the quality of wood is no matter, the tree asked for it by growing tall. A decent public will cheer to see it toppled. Article 3. Rules of normal kindness do not extend to the celebrated person. Article 4. All persons may hope to become celebrated. Article 5. It is more important to speak than to think. The only danger is silence. Article 6. A howler must choose one course or the other: lie routinely, or do so only on important occasions, to be more convincing.
Although the time line of events is from the late 1920's to the mid 1950's there are real parallels to the present: the echo chamber media, the outright lies being told to the public by the commentariat, the fear being generated by the public as a result. Wars being fought to preserve power - the parallels continue to the present day.
Some critics did not like the book because of Harrison Shepherd's apparent passivity. I completely disagree - in fact, I doubt that those critics completed reading the book. Shepherd is a very kind, decent human being who accidently finds himself as a witness to history. He is deeply affected by these events and those towering figures with whom he contacts. The historical novels that he writes are meant to show his readers that much of written history has little relationship to actual events - just as The Lacuna does.
Summary of The Lacuna: A Novel (P.S.)
In this powerfully imagined, provocative novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is the poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as well as an unforgettable portrait of the artist?and of art itself.
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