Book Club Review: The Lacuna

Wow.  There were some definite similarities between The Book of Salt and The Lacuna.  Cooks in the homes of intellectuals.  Heros of communism.  Diaries and art.

Harrison grows up in Mexico with his Mexican mother.  At a young age he learns to cook through the patience of his mother's beau's cook.  He uses that knowledge to secure a job mixing plaster with famous Mexican muralist and communist, Diego Rivera.  And, that leads to him cooking in the Rivera household.  Thus enters one of the great characters of the book, Frida Kahlo (Kingsolver in the back of the book says, "I didn't initially plan to write about Frida Kahlo, as I considered her too private and self-involved to add much to my story.  But she grew on me. I began to understand her not as a martyred icon but as a roguish, complicated person.  She began stealing scenes.").

The ousted Soviet communist leader Leon Trotsky comes to Mexico and moves into the Rivera household.  Harrison then becomes somewhat of a personal secretary to Trotsky.  After Trotsky's assassination,  Harrison moves to Asheville, North Carolina and begins his career as a writer.  He sets his stories in ancient Mexico and uses adventure to push forth his social commentary.

The structure of the book is unique and reads quickly.  Harrison has always been a writer and has kept diaries since his childhood.  The book is structured around his personal diaries, letters, news clippings, and the commentary of his longtime stenographer, Violet Brown.

While the story makes a lot of commentary about art and politics and especially the strict separation of art and politics in the United States, I found the most scathing commentary to be on news reporters.  At one point Harrison writes, "It is more important to speak than to think."  He also writes about the radio news shows, because there cannot be silence there are a lot of half formed opinions to fill the silence.  No well formed thoughts.  I wonder what he would say now with Twitter, Facebook, TV talk shows...blogs.  Literally no silence.

I really enjoyed this book and have already recommended it to a few people.