Book Review: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Let me preface this review by saying I've read all of Kingsolver's novels.  I absolutely adored PRODIGAL SUMMER and THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, but was kind of meh about the others.  The topic of THE LACUNA - an American boy growing up in Mexico and experiencing Mexican history - sounded at least as ambitious as POISONWOOD and I always enjoy books that can give me a history lesson in an entertaining way (which this one does).

Lacuna is defined as an empty space or a missing part. (It's the name of the company in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND that erases people's unhappy memories).  And there are lots of lacuna references in this novel.  It's the underwater cave where Harrison goes diving as a teen, and returns to as an adult.  It refers to the missing diaries or "holes" in Harrison's story, and the gap between what is true and what is assumed. And, in my opinion, it also refers to Harrison, who never makes a strong impression or is really very present in the novel even though he is the main character.

In the beginning portion of the novel, it's Harrison's mother Salome who steals the show.  At mass, "Salome walked to the head of the line, accepting the host on her tongue as if this were a bakery line and she had plenty of other errands." (p 23).  Even the kitchen boy Leandro is more memorable than Harrison in this section. In the second third the focus is on Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Lev Trotsky and the third, Harrison's stenographer Violet.  Is it a stylistic choice for Harrison to fade so completely into the background of his own story?  Could be.  But my lack of connection with him made my whole reading experience tend towards the meh end of the Kingsolver spectrum, despite the lush descriptions and the skillful inclusion of history.

THE LACUNA is now available in paperback.  Find out more about it at the author's website.

This review is part of a TLC book tour.  Visit the other stops for more opinions on Kingsolver's work.

Book Club Report: Atticus by Ron Hansen

I finally found a book club to join! I had no part in picking the book - a literary fiction/mystery novel published in 1997 - but I did enjoy the resulting discussion (a week ago Thursday) very much.

Short summary:

When Colorado rancher Atticus hears that his wayward son Cody has been found dead in Mexico, an apparent suicide, he travels to the scene to do his own investigations. What he finds makes him suspect that Cody was murdered.

The group verdict:

Most of the group wasn't that impressed with this one. The main criticism was the abrupt change in tone that occurs midway through the book. I personally thought the narrative was solid if a tad unexciting up to the big reveal that changes everything. And then it did get pretty strange!

A few in the group really liked the parallels with the bibical story of The Prodigal Son and everyone seemed to respect Atticus as a character. He's the reserved cowboy type, but his actions belie a deep love for his son.

The supporting characters felt very sketchy, and nobody could really figure out Cody's girlfriend Renata's motivations. We had a long discussion about why people leave their native countries and came up with four main reasons: a job, love, to find themselves or to escape from something. Renata didn't seem to fit in any of these categories.

It wasn't the most exciting book to read and not everyone finished, but it did lead to a fun discussion, so I would deem it a moderate success.

Up next:

The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos. It is billed as a haunting story of three cops - one good, one bad, one broken - and the murder that reunites them in a showdown decades in the making.

Guest Book Review: Who by Fire by Diana Spechler

Reviewed by Presenting Lenore guest reviewer Jen Reichert

Ash and Bits have been irreversibly changed in childhood by the kidnapping of their little sister, Alena. Thirteen years later, Ash still blames himself for Alena’s abduction and looks for a new life as an Orthodox Jew in Isreal. Bits took a much different direction, and has become a real wild child. Until one day when their mother phones to say that Alena’s remains are finally discovered. Trying to reach Ash to no avail, Bits jumps on a plane to travel half way across the world in attempt to bring her brother home, to ensure that the family is together one last time.

After reading the back cover, I thought I would only be captivated by the somewhat mysterious lifestyles of Orthodox Judaism. Parallel to learning about the Orthodox Yeshivas, I was delighted to see the author give the female characters in the book a raw, disturbing and truthful portrayal of women seeking relationships to numb their pain. It was also refreshing to have enough information about Alena’s disappearance, yet spared of any gory details.

The book made me think about not being swift to judge other’s behaviors. Sometimes what motivates us is too deep and hurtful to explain, we just try to start anew. I would recommend this book, for not only did I read something about a fascinating culture, but also about genuine human behavior.

Book Review: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Now that school shootings are sadly almost commonplace, it is a topic that seems to come up quite a bit in literature as well. In the past few years I’ve read fiction told from a judge/mother of victim’s point of view where the shooter was mercilessly bullied (Jodi Piccoult’s 19 Minutes), a black comedy in which the shooter’s best friend is demonized by the press and stalked by a greasy opportunist cameraman named Lally (DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little), one in which the main character is accused of threatening to shoot up the school (Joyce Carol Oates’ Big Mouth and Ugly Girl) and one in which the first section is narrated by a shooter’s victim from the great beyond (Douglas Coupland’s Hey Nostradamus). We Need to Talk About Kevin is a series of letters written by Eva, the mother of school shooter Kevin to her estranged husband.

Lionel Shriver impressed me greatly with “The Post Birthday World” so I knew I wanted to read something else by her. And I was hooked by this knockout second sentence: “But since we’ve been separated, I may most miss coming home to deliver the narrative curiosities of my day, the way a cat might lay mice at your feet: the small, humble offerings that couples proffer after foraging in separate backyards.”

I don’t want to go too much into plot, except to say that I went in with a minimum knowledge (son shoots up school and mother and father are somehow not together anymore so mother writes letters to him about the son) – and I was continually surprised by the narrative. The novel has been criticized as being “overly literary” (yes there are “big words”) and “implausible” (if truth is stranger than fiction, is this fiction stranger than truth?) but you can’t say it’s predictable.

Many also criticize Eva, saying she’s cold and unsympathetic toward Kevin. I actually quite liked her. She’s articulate, well-travelled and a successful businesswoman. And Kevin (to hear her tell it) is a psychopath from the moment he is born - “disgruntled”, “inert” and with a head that “lolled away in distaste” when offered her breast. And it doesn’t get better from there. He terrorizes fellow children, can’t be punished because nothing interests him, and is antagonistic towards his mother his whole childhood. Oh, and he kills a bunch of his fellow classmates at 15 because he thinks they are annoying.

The story explores the questions: How do you love such a child? Can you even help such a child? Whose fault is it when a child engages in such a violent act despite a normal upbringing? Certainly none of these are easy questions to answer. This would be a great pick for a book club discussion.