Words for Wednesday: The Lacuna

I am still reading Freedom so I will talk about a book I finished in the past and that I recommend.

I had always heard about this great book called The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and about a two years ago while on a trip home I saw it on sale at Barnes & Noble and bought it.  The book turned out to be absolutely fantastic and I got it for a bunch of people as a Christmas present.  It is the story of a missionary family in the Congo and what happens when the country falls apart and they are caught in the middle.  I might write about that another time, but right now I feel like enough has been written about it.  I think it was even made into a made for TV movie, but it needs to be a real movie.

This year while I was in London drooling in a bookstore, I stumbled upon a new book by Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna.  I hadn't heard anything about it but decided to buy it as it was BIG (when you only have so much money and can only buy so many books, it all comes down to what would give me the most bang for my buck).  And it turned out to be worth it.

The Lacuna is the fictional account of a cook working in the kitchen of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  The boy was born in America but moved to Mexico as a child with his mother who is escaping his father.  Thus, he conveniently speaks English and Spanish.  If you know the stories of Rivera and Kahlo (or if you have seen Frida) then you also know that he also comes into contact with Trotsky.

Other reviewers of the book were disappointed in it, saying that the main character wasn't exciting and that the book dragged on.  I feel that the character was relatable and, in his interaction with greatness, made the greatness relatable.  If I had only read about Frida, Rivera and Trotsky I would have imagined what they were like.  But I would never have imagined myself as being able to interact with them.  But, in seeing this ordinary person interacting with them I could imagine what it would be like to have been there.  I think in that sense the book was interesting and worth the read.

For me, the only downside to the book was the length.  I bought it for the length and yet I felt that there were a few parts where it could have ended naturally, but that it kept going.  The same thing happened in her other book, The Posionwood Bible.  Though that book is a must read, I felt that it could have ended slightly earlier than it did.  Still, that

However, the woman can write and both books caught my interest and kept my interest.  Both books presented me with worlds that I hadn't read about before or that I normally might not read about.