Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Light Xmas Relief - The Lacuna - Book Review

Just finished it. The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver. Engrossing read.

Set in the 1930's to 1950's. From Mexico to the USA. From Reds under the Bed, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky, to the Un-America Activities Committee. And about writing and the power and comfort of words.....

Anyway. Here's me standing by the Pyramid of the Sun. Teotihuacan. Just outside Mexico City...

This is a square in the part of Mexico City where Frida Kahlo, Rivera, and - for a time - Trotsky lived. Coyoacan.

We went as a family...


This is inside the Trotsky Museum. And here's that book review I was promising (I've copied it from the "goodreads" website):


"....In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.
Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.
Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.
With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.


The street outside the Museo Frida Kahlo (deliberate spelling mistake on the Mexico street sign...?)


And here's my daughter Emily - inside the Museum courtyard. Emily the Strange. Where Frida Kahlo lived. The blue walls are special.
I recommend "The Lacuna". You may have heard of another Kingsolver novel: The Poisonwood Bible.

I also recommend a visit to Mexico City.

No comments:

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Light Xmas Relief - The Lacuna - Book Review

Just finished it. The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver. Engrossing read.

Set in the 1930's to 1950's. From Mexico to the USA. From Reds under the Bed, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky, to the Un-America Activities Committee. And about writing and the power and comfort of words.....

Anyway. Here's me standing by the Pyramid of the Sun. Teotihuacan. Just outside Mexico City...

This is a square in the part of Mexico City where Frida Kahlo, Rivera, and - for a time - Trotsky lived. Coyoacan.

We went as a family...


This is inside the Trotsky Museum. And here's that book review I was promising (I've copied it from the "goodreads" website):


"....In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.
Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.
Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.
With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.


The street outside the Museo Frida Kahlo (deliberate spelling mistake on the Mexico street sign...?)


And here's my daughter Emily - inside the Museum courtyard. Emily the Strange. Where Frida Kahlo lived. The blue walls are special.
I recommend "The Lacuna". You may have heard of another Kingsolver novel: The Poisonwood Bible.

I also recommend a visit to Mexico City.

No comments: