The Lacuna (2010)
Who wrote it?
Barbara Kingsolver (1955- ; active 1988- ), born Annapolis, Maryland, US. She grew up in Kentucky, briefly living in what’s now the Democratic Republic of Congo with her family, before studying at DePauw University, Indiana on a music scholarship. She moved to Arizona where she earned a master’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology.
She began her writing career in the 80s, first as a science-focused journalist before branching out into fiction, initially as a hobby. Her first novel, The Bean Trees, was published in 1988, followed by Animal Dreams (1990) and Pigs in Heaven (1993; a sequel to her debut). The Poisonwood Bible (1998) is probably her best known work, a huge commercial and critical success that was shortlisted for the Pulitzer. She has since published five further novels, most recently 2022’s Demon Copperhead, as well as poetry, essays and non-fiction.
In 2000, she established the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, which is intended to support writers whose unpublished works support positive social change. In the 90s she was a founding member of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band made up of published writers including Stephen King, Amy Tan and Matt Groening.
What's it about?
The Lacuna focuses on the life of the fictional author Harrison Shepherd, beginning with his childhood in Mexico in the 1930s and taking us through to the 1950s., interacting with significant moments and characters of historical significance along the way. We learn early on that he has kept diaries for much of his life, albeit with some important gaps (one of the lacunae that the title alludes to) and while the narrative is largely told through his diaries, it is mediated by a curatorial presence, the initially mysterious “VB”, and also punctuated by press clippings both real and invented.
The novel begins by focusing on Harrison’s childhood living on an island, listening to “howler” birds in the trees and developing an interest in diving. He moves around a lot during his childhood, mainly at the whims of his vivacious mother, ultimately spending a long period in Mexico City, where he finds himself in the employ of famed muralist Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo, ultimately as a cook. Eventually he takes on existing responsibilities as a stenographer and kind of secretary, notably when Leon Trotsky is hiding out in the Rivera/Kahlo household. In this period he also moves briefly to the States to live with his father and study - a period during which it is implied that he discovers his sexuality and has a brief same-sex dalliance, as well as witnessing riots taking place during the Depression.
He moves to the US, initially accompanying some of Kahlo’s paintings to Washington DC and later moves to Asheville, NC, where he develops a successful career as a writer of historical novels set in Mexico, employing the straight-laced Violet Brown (the now less mysterious “VB”) as his secretary and confidant of sorts. He largely avoids the impact of World War Two, as he is deemed unfit for service due to suspicions about his sexuality, and instead works in the preservation of art during the war, while developing his career.
Other historical events impact him more directly, though, most notably the McCarthyist Communist witch-hunts, which lead to his investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee, ultimately leading to the collapse of his writing career and the glimmer of a relationship he has with a fellow arts worker. He returns to Mexico with Violet, where he disappears while diving and is presumed dead, though a letter from Kahlo to Violet implies he may have survived.
What I liked
I think I’ve mentioned before that I love ‘historical sweep’ novels that follow one character through a fairly extensive slice of history, so this one was right in my wheelhouse from that perspective.
There’s something admirably bonkers about its ambition in bringing to life these great historical figures, essentially as background actors in a story about an invented main character. Kahlo! Trotsky! It’s all rather fun.
On that note, it is up there with the most enjoyable prize-winners. It’s just a really entertaining, page-turner of a novel. (I’ve seen a couple of reviews describing it as ‘difficult’ which I have to admit really baffled me…)
It really transports you to the different locations and periods it covers. Its Mexico City is enticingly real in its vibrancy and assault on the senses. Similarly, the claustrophobia of the closing web of anti-Communism on Harrison is frighteningly real.
Structurally it’s interesting, without being overly complex. I enjoyed the initial mystery of who VB was, and also the varied structure of Harrison’s diaries (from aborted autobiography to childhood veracity, via the titular lacuna and then more cagey writings in later periods as the risk of writing becomes apparent).
I’m no expert in any of the historical figures, but they’re all given brilliantly entertaining larger than life treatment. Kahlo especially is a delight every time she appears, and the later part of the novel suffers a little from her absence.
Lots to muse on, still sadly very relevant, about the way art is threatened in repressive societies - particularly the total absence of nuance. Harrison being condemned by the words of his fictional characters felt horribly plausible, even in 2023.
A beautifully ambiguous conclusion - always a fan of that sort of thing!
What I didn’t like
On occasion it definitely felt over-engineered. Harrison is carried along by a series of major coincidences that bring him into direct contact with some of the major historical figures and events of the era, in a way that never quite feels entirely believable If you apply a degree of suspension of disbelief, it’s very much something you can happily ignore, but in totality it does feel a little contrived.
I wondered if the focus on Harrison’s sexuality was a little under-played? Though I guess that’s perhaps one of the many points of the title. Much of the novel is in the words of Harrison, who went out of his way to avoid discussion of it, and the remainder is in Violet’s hands, who we assume would never have dreamt of commenting. Interesting to ponder, anyway.
As mentioned above, the novel loses a bit of its initial flair and spark when Harrison leaves Mexico (and Frida) behind. What happens in the second half is interesting in a different way, but never quite as punchy as the early sections.
Food & drink pairings
Various Mexican bread products, all baked to perfection using the volcano method
Fun facts
Wolf Hall was by some distance the favourite to win this year’s Prize, having already won the previous year’s Booker and sold about a billion trillion copies (*statistic unverified). By now though it should surely have been obvious that the Women’s Prize organisers would do pretty much anything to avoid to be seen to be simply duplicating the Booker result. I actually slightly preferred this to Mantel’s opus, though both are great. So in that sense, win-win anyway.
Kingsolver seems very particular about how she is depicted by the media and online. She launched a website purely to tell her own side of her life story. Which is quite a nice read to be fair. Apologies if my intro got anything wrong, Barbara!
Vanquished Foes
Rosie Alison (The Very Thought of You)
Attica Locke (Black Water Rising)
Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall)
Lorrie Moore (A Gate at the Stairs)
Monique Roffey (The White Woman on the Green Bicycle)
Obviously Wolf Hall took home 2009’s Booker Prize (and probably didn’t do it’s chances of winning this one any good as a result…). I’ve not read any of the others. The much-disliked (apart from by your author, who enjoyed it - with caveats) The Finkler Question won the 2010 Booker.
Context
In 2010:
Greece is bailed out by the IMF and eurozone
Attempted suicide of a street vendor triggers Tunisian Revolution and wider Arab Spring (into 2011)
Iceland volcanic eruption disrupts air traffic across Europe
One of the deadliest earthquakes on record hits Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince
First in a sequence of earthquakes rocking Christchurch, New Zealand, causing massive damage
Dilma Rousseff is elected first female president of Brazil
Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest after 21 years
Germany makes final reparation payment for World War I
Numerous Wikileaks episodes, notably those concerning the Iraq war
Kasubi Tombs in Uganda destroyed by fire
Polish president Lech Kaczynski killed in a plane crash
Official opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai
South Africa World Cup, won by Spain
Germany's Sebastian Vettel becomes youngest F1 champion
Launch of Instagram
Formation of British boyband One Direction on The X Factor TV show
Jonathan Franzen, Freedom
Bret Easton Ellis, Imperial Bedrooms
Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
The Social Network
The King's Speech
Inception
Despicable Me
Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Robyn, Body Talk
Janelle Monae, The ArchAndroid
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Life Lessons
Writing is both essential and dangerous
Learning to make good dough is the secret to a successful life
I really fancy eating some Mexican food right now…
Score
9
A really, really fun read. I would recommend it to anyone. A few minor quibbles stop me from giving it a slightly higher score, but overall this is definitely one of my faves to date.
Ranking to date:
Property (2003) - Valerie Martin - 9.5
The Idea of Perfection (2001) - Kate Grenville - 9
Half of a Yellow Sun (2007) - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 9
The Lacuna (2010) - Barbara Kingsolver - 9
When I Lived in Modern Times (2000) - Linda Grant - 9
Larry’s Party (1998) - Carol Shields - 8.5
Bel Canto (2002) - Ann Patchett - 8.5
Small Island (2004) - Andrea Levy - 8.5
A Crime in the Neighbourhood (1999) - Suzanne Berne - 8.5
On Beauty (2006) - Zadie Smith - 8
A Spell of Winter (1996) - Helen Dunmore - 8
The Road Home (2008) - Rose Tremain - 7.5
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2005) - Lionel Shriver - 7.5
Home (2009) - Marilynne Robinson - 7
Fugitive Pieces (1997) - Anne Michaels - 6.5
Next up
The next Women’s Prize book I’ll get onto is 2011’s winner The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht.
