Faber & Faber

In September we ran a competition to give three lucky reading groups the opportunity to read The Lacuna, the long-awaited new novel from Barbara Kingsolver. Her most famous novel, The Poisonwood Bible, was voted Britain’s favourite reading group book in a 2005 Penguin/Orange survey, and the challenge for the winners was to see how well the new book stands up to her celebrated modern classic.

The three winning groups came from Doncaster in South Yorkshire, Canterbury in Kent and Nailsea in Somerset, and they all read and reviewed the book for us. Here’s a selection of their comments.

Ladies Who Read, Canterbury, Kent:

Circumstantial evidence, taken out of context, can make an innocent person appear subversive and Harrison Shepherd, the main character, becomes the next victim of McCarthyism. This is what McCarthyism did in the 1940s and 50s. Unproven political statements and media hysteria lead to loss of civil liberties and basic freedoms. 'Public protection' offers governments easy surveillance and public control. Replace the words communist/communism with al-Qaeda/Muslim and we are in 2009.

The ingredients of this challenging and scholarly novel are: Mexican history, geography, culture and food; US communism; WWI veterans mown down in Washington DC; Russian political history; art;  loneliness; and loyalty. We compared this book to conducting an orchestra or spinning a line of plates:  there is not a duff note nor broken plate because, as ever, the author’s research is phenomenal, the message is worrying but it is tempered with beautiful descriptive writing.

All the members of Ladies Who Read agreed that you don’t read Barbara Kingsolver books for an easy life. Sit back with a glass of wine ... No, that’s not what our reading group does with a BK book: we keep notes and concentrate because she fills the lacuna of our knowledge.

Nailsea Library, North Somerset:

This book was a challenging read, but absorbing and worth the effort. The background of Mexico in the 30s was unfamiliar to us, but fascinating. The author’s vivid descriptions brought the scene alive, and the inclusion of famous characters such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Trotsky has led us to want to find out more about them. 

We knew rather more about the House of Un-American Activities Committee, particularly with regard to Hollywood, but had not appreciated the wider effects of the anti-communist hysteria amongst ordinary people. The shocking scenes of General MacArthur subduing the veterans in Washington in 1932 also made a deep impression. And yet the book is not solemn - Harrison is an ironic observer of the people and situations he meets, and there is quite a lot of humour. 

Marilyn - The language is almost poetic, the story totally absorbing. I found it impossible to skip read any part of this book - I wanted to savour every part of the story and language. The main characters are wonderfully drawn through Harrison’s eyes. They feel both human and likeable, even characters we know were difficult. I especially loved Harrison’s relationship with Frida (his correspondence with her and the joking banter in it), and his relationship with his secretary Mrs Brown.

Sandra - I loved how we came full circle with The Lacuna - how close was Shepherd’s perception of life to the real truth? The escape through the hole in the cave gave me hope that that Shepherd at last found strength, peace and love in Mexico. Introducing Violet Brown as his stenographer to be the ultimate storyteller just made it for me!

Dorothy - I did not find it an easy read, and find the diary format requires a lot of concentration, but once I got into the story I really enjoyed it. I read with interest the story of Harrison’s early life, solitude, wherever he can find it in the maelstrom of his mother’s whirling lifestyle. His entries about his mother’s amours (Mr Produce the Cash, PT Cash for short) are delightful.

Brenda - Life in the artists’ house is interesting, with informative descriptions of their everyday life.  Shepherd paints a good picture of life on the edge of communism at the beginning of the 1930s. I enjoyed his relationship with Violet Brown, and felt she brought some normality to his somewhat naïve and sheltered life.

Sue - I loved the descriptions of the sights and smells of Mexico - Harrison’s first sight of Frida the Azteca princess at the market, the pyramids, the details of the cooking, and the work on the murals. His relationship with Violet Brown, although always very proper, was very important to both of them; though she was shocked when his final letter said they had shared a great love. She provided steadiness in his life, compared with his flighty mother and his tempestuous artist friends.

Joan - What a treat, the long-awaited new novel from a favourite author. And it was well worth waiting for. Beautifully written, ingeniously constructed, it grabs your attention from the start and maintains it through its considerable length. There is a rich cast of highly-individualised characters, from the author’s feckless mother to the revolutionary Trotsky, and an abundance of vividly realised and sometimes humorous cameos. The descriptions and use of imagery are a real pleasure. But beyond this the strength of the novel lies in the author’s capacity to portray both individuals and their private concerns and the large social and political forces which swirl around them and shape their lives. All in all a remarkable book which I immediately wanted to re-read and have been recommending to my friends.

Daphne - Once again Barbara Kingsolver has written a long story that keeps its interest to the end. There are many characters and events to complicate the plot, but she never loses her way and neither does the reader. I found the chapters about the war and the anti-communist measures particularly interesting as seen from the American point of view. Fancy finding Charlie Chaplin threatening!

Doncaster Libraries, South Yorkshire:

Pat - This is undoubtedly a very intelligently written book, I have read books of a similar calibre that were Whitbread/Booker/Orange etc prize winners. However, I found the content and the length of it too challenging to sustain my interest all of the time.

I preferred the first half of the book set mostly in Mexico as I thought the pace was quicker. There were parallels to the latter chapters in the manifestation of the people by the press putting their own slant on events.

There was a different angle on the Stalinist regime which saw Trotsky as a victim, rather than the murderer and traitor he was portrayed as in Russia ... I enjoyed the narrator’s involvement with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, two historically important figures of the 20th century, as they assisted in the repatriation of Trotsky.

The author suffered a similar though not so bloodthirsty fate at the hands of the press. From being lionised for his work, he fell foul of the Un-American Activities Commission and was turned into as figure of hate and derision, showing the fickleness of the sheep mentality. Thus, rather a solitary and sensitive person was brought to trial, the course of which provided some untypical flashes of humour. The characters were sympathetically drawn and one felt involved with them.

Maggie - Don’t think I would have finished the book if it hadn’t been for the readers group, however, having finished it I’m glad I did.

I was impressed with the way the narrative in the note books ‘grew up’ with William, starting as a teenager and finishing in adulthood. [He was] A solitary, antisocial boy who confided in his note books and developed a way with words. He observed the minutiae of life in the village, amongst servants etc and later in the Rivera household.

June - I enjoyed Harrison’s style of journal writing as a boy in Isla Pixol. His whole personality melded from his lonely childhood. Grasping for any sort of affection from the cook, and disappointed when he was ignored at the festival. Later made aware he was viewed as more than a servant. He quickly learnt to observe and be quiet, sensitive to others emotions.

Some of the writing was like innuendos and you had to fill in the rest. I wasn’t always sure what I read was what was written. It only became clear to me later when Harrison had a homosexual relationship at military school, and then is aching for Van, that was sort of hinted at, later Tom Cuddy. Loved the bohemian atmosphere of the ‘arty-farty’s’ the intensity of the politics, Tyrant-worker.

I don’t think it was a political book, it was about a very intellectual man who observed life from the lower classes through the rich, and rightly in my opinion, appeared to be saying the lower classes, workers etc get a raw deal in life, and the politicians and media can dictate what you do and how you feel. They can suppress anyone or thing just for being different, un-American, etc ...

A book within a book. Violet Brown, trimming the beginnings and the end, so everyone should know here was a good man not to be remembered for the things wrote about him in a time of tyranny in America. When I read a book as good as this, I feel angry at myself for not having the intelligence or eloquence to express how much I enjoyed it.

See also: Get Free Books for your Reading Group