Book Review: The Lacuna

The Lacuna: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver (New York: Harper Collins, 2009. 507pp)

Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955) is an American novelist and essayist. Her best known works are The Poisonwood Bible, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. All of her published books have been on The New York Times bestseller list, and she has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner award.

Expectations

Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible has often been described as a book club classic. Ten years later, Barbara Kingsolver has released The Lacuna. As a piece of historical fiction, I expected something behemoth, something filled with wonder, something akin to the masterpiece that is The Poisonwood Bible. The Lacuna came close, but it left something behind for me. Perhaps my expectations were too high based on Kingsolver’s past.

A Nobody in the Presence of Somebodies

Photo by Fisita

The Lacuna documents the journey of a young boy, Harrison William Shepherd from 1929 to 1951. When we first meet him at twelve years of age, he’s living on a hacienda with his over-dramatic mother who is a gold-digger, to say the least. Ever on the prowl for a richer husband, she is never content. His father is American, and is the dull-witted type we’ve come to know in sitcoms like The Simpsons or Family Guy.

Harrison is an accidental onlooker to some important history—he runs into Frida Kahlo at a market, and returns home with her to help her with his baking skills. Frida’s husband is the famed muralist, Diego Rivera, and their marriage is somewhat volatile. Soon, Harrison becomes a baker and typist for the household, leaving his own capricious home behind.

“It was like mixing the flour for pan dulce: how could it be so different? The powder they called cal has the same fine grind, floating up in white clouds around the boys when they dumped bags of it into the mixing buckets. Their eyelashes and the backs of their hands were white, and the edges of their nostrils, from breathing it. They were dumping powder into water, not the other way around” (71).

Using his baking skills, Harrison begins mixing plaster for Diego Rivera’s murals. Soon after  establishing himself as a plaster mixer, who joins the household? None other than communist Leon Trotsky. If you know your history, Trotsky finds an untimely end by one of Stalin’s agents. Harrison witnesses the murder. Throughout all the history-in-the-making scenarios of which Harrison is a part, he keeps a journal. His journal (you guessed it) becomes the novel, The Lacuna, which he tries to publish as an adult later in the book.

Disappointment

Photo by Luiz Fernando

Now comes the point where my disappointment surfaces. I completely understand Kingsolver’s motive in wanting a fictional “onlooker” to be the narrator and “writer” of the novel. However, the experiences of a fictional, shy, boring-as-watching-paint-dry, loner child are hard to merge with the experiences of famed artists and communist leaders. 

Should the novel have utilized the famous artists as main characters, perhaps even narrators, I would have found much more enjoyment in the novel. Harrison is frankly too dull to tell the tale. Moreover, juxtaposed against such vibrant, larger-than-life characters of history past, he fades into the background.

Though it would be easy to completely toss Harrison into the literary garbage can, he does supply some wonderful thoughts on connecting history. Through his eyes, we see richly imagined history in an epoch where circumstances and people were viewed in black and white. Kahlo was known to be unstable bi-sexual, and her husband a womanizer. As Harrison says, 

“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” (360).

The point Kingsolver is trying to make is that the most unimportant people do affect history. Harrison Shepherd assuredly did make an impact (albeit fictitious) in the lives of the painters and communist leader. However, I have to agree with Harrison; he is unimportant and boring. He didn’t stand close to the blade from my perspective. 

While The Lacuna does recount some important history with larger than life people, perhaps the vessel telling the story could have had a bit more of a commanding presence. Harrison falls into the shadows. 

If you enjoy historical fiction, I still highly recommend this novel as it is illuminating to say the least. But, if you like compelling main characters, perhaps it’s best to try something else.

Verdict: 3 out of 5
What do you think? Does Harrison really fall into the background? Did you enjoy the history present within the novel? Share your thoughts below.
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Posted by: Andrew Jacobson

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Book Review: Catching Fire

Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2009. 391 pp)

Suzanne Collins began her writing career in children’s television. While working for Nickelodeon, Collins wrote for many shows, chief among them Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. Eventually, Collins moved to children’s literature writing a five-part series, The Underland Chronicles. Her Hunger Games trilogy, however, has received high acclaim, and the first book has been adapted into a major motion picture. Collins lives in Connecticut with her family. 

*Spoiler Alert for Book One in Effect Throughout this Review*

Book Two

The Hunger Games and its subsequent Catching Fire is the latest craze among teens. The Hunger Games is even being taught at my school, where, to both my delight and chagrin students are now reading during my classes (not the appropriate time to do so). I, too, have fallen in love with the phenomena, as I find the plot exhilarating. However, the main character, Katniss, annoys me to no end.

Katniss, now the victor of the most recent Hunger Games, wishes to forget the gore she encountered. Understandably distraught, she now has to perform a publicity tour throughout the districts, beginning in district eleven and concluding at her own district twelve.

“If it were up to me, I would try to forget the Hunger Games entirely. Never speak of them. Pretend they were nothing but a bad dream. But the Victory Tour makes that impossible. Strategically placed almost midway between the annual Games, it is the Capitol’s way of keeping the horror fresh and immediate. Not only are we in the districts forced to remember the iron grip of the Capitol’s power each year, we are forced to celebrate it. And this year, I am one of the stars of the show. I will have to travel from district to district, to stand before the cheering crowds who secretly loathe me, to look down into the faces of the families whose children I have killed...” (3-4).

Katniss is a believable character, to Collins’ merit. However, my problem has always been (and this is a personal view) she is just a little too whiny. Katniss never willingly seems to kill people in the Hunger Games as a survival instinct. Rather, she only killed her competitors when someone else was in danger, when someone else’s life was on the line. I believe, realistically, she would be much more brutal, as the instinct to survive is stronger than what Katniss portrays. Moreover, the crowds, viewing this spectacle on the television, would undoubtedly side with Katniss as the merciful competitor, as she didn’t kill willingly, only doing so as a last resort. The crowd wouldn’t look down on her and loathe her as Katniss seems to believe.

Repercussions and Self-Loathing

Nonetheless, Katniss feels the repercussions from her activities during the last Hunger Games, especially in regard to winning with Peeta, her fake love interest during the games. 

“The full impact of what he’s saying hits me. I will never have a life with Gale, even if I want to. I will never be allowed to live alone. I will have to be forever in love with Peeta. The Capitol will insist on it. I’ll have a few years maybe, because I’m still only sixteen, to stay with my mother and Prim...if I want to keep those I love alive and stay alive myself [,] I’ll have to marry Peeta" (44).

Continuing on her path of self-loathing and depression, Katniss takes her victory at the games incredibly hard.

“I’m selfish. I’m a coward. I’m the kind of girl who, when she might actually be of use, would run to stay alive and leave those who couldn’t follow to suffer and die...No wonder I won the Games. No decent person ever does” (117).

I understand killing is hard, killing would obviously cause self-doubt, repercussions, and some serious depression. But, I think that Katniss is simply too whiny...too much of a teenager for some readers to root for. Her inner monologues become far too annoying after some time, much like listening to a drop of water leaking from the faucet.

Still Compelling

Despite my annoyances, I still find the plot of Catching Fire to be compelling, and in my mind, that’s what saves the trilogy. Suzanne Collins certainly knows how to grip the reader’s attention, she places plot twists conveniently at the end of each chapter to keep the reader wondering “what happens next?” Even though the book is flawed, I still think Catching Fire is worth a read, especially if you enjoyed the movie or the previous book.

Verdict: 3 out of 5


What do you think? Do you find Katniss to be a believable and compelling character? What about the plot? Share your thoughts below.
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Posted by: Andrew Jacobson

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