- Category: Books » Fiction & Literature » General
- Format: Hardcover Learn more about the Hardcover format using Tower WIKI.
- Publisher: Harper
- Number of Pages: 464
- ISBN: 0060852577
- WAPI (Tower ID): 113351779
- Release Date: November 3, 2009
- Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
- Tower.com Sales Rank: #12 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
- #4 in Fiction & Literature (See Top 100 Fiction & Literature Bestsellers)
- #1 in General (See Top 100 General Bestsellers)
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Product DescriptionRun a Quick Search on "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver to Browse Related Products:Browse more products related to "The Lacuna"Browse more products related to "Barbara Kingsolver"Review"Barbara Kingsolver's...novel, THE LACUNA, is the most mature and ambitious one she's written during her celebrated 20-year career, but it's also her most demanding....[The] central, though oddly faint, character is Harrison Shepherd, a popular writer of romantic adventure novels. Kingsolver neatly weaves this quiet, watchful man through tumultuous events that rocked two countries, and one of the most impressive feats of THE LACUNA is how convincingly she tracks his developing voice..." "A lavishly gifted writer, Kingsolver has not let success breed complacency. This novel, her first in nine years, feels prodigiously researched. Its confident pacing mines roughly a quarter-century in two countries, landing the hero in the midst of events that cast long shadows toward our own time....[Though she] resorts to lengthy expository dialogue....[w]hat saves these pages from pure artificiality is Kingsolver's wonderful ear for the quirks of human repartee. THE LACUNA is richly spiked with period language." "[B]reathtaking....THE LACUNA can be enjoyed sheerly for the music of its passages on nature, archaeology, food and friendship; or for its portraits of real and invented people; or for its harmonious choir of voices. But the fuller value of Kingsolver's novel lies in its call to conscience and connection." Publisher's noteIn 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. Harrison William Shepherd, a highly observant writer, is caught between two worlds--in Mexico, working for communists Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, and later in America, where he his caught up in the patriotism of World War II--in a gripping story about identity and the power of words by the best-selling author of The Poisonwood Bible. 600,000 first printing. Harrison William Shepherd, a highly observant writer, is caught between two worlds--in Mexico, working for communists Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, and later in America, where he his caught up in the patriotism of World War II--in a gripping story about identity and the power of words by the best-selling author of The Poisonwood Bible. 600,000 first printing. AnnotationAfter several works of non-fiction and poetry, Barbara Kingsolver (THE POISONWOOD BIBLE) returns from a nine-year hiatus to the novel form with THE LACUNA, a tale of cultural and political displacement in the first half of the 20th century. Harrison Shepherd is the son of an American father and a Mexican mother, who grows up in Mexico as a housekeeper in the famous artist household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. His exposure to the politics of Leon Trotsky turns him into a committed leftist--views that come back to haunt him when he moves back to the United States in the aftermath of World War II and must face the paranoia and witch-hunting of the McCarthy era. Kingsolver has crafted a rich and layered story, full of powerful political sentiment, that vividly evokes the tension and hopes of the Americas. If You Enjoy "The Lacuna (Hardcover)", May We Also Recommend:Customer Reviews for "The Lacuna (Hardcover)" by Barbara Kingsolver (Author)There are no customer reviews yet. 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