Our group agreed that you had to read about 25% of the book before it got interesting. Many put it down before that as they found the first portion of the story plodding and boring. Members who stayed the course enjoyed the book. All found Kingsolver to be an excellent writer.

So very smart, thought provoking, relevant to present day.

I had a difficult time with this novel. I did not like Kingsolver’s voice as narrator at the outset, which made my mind wander as I “listened.” That really has little to do with the novel, except that it is part of the reason I don’t give it that final 5th star, because, ultimately, I loved this book.

Kingsolver tells the story of William Harrison Shepherd, a young man caught in the gaps (the lacunae) between two countries, two parents, two cultures, two lives (public and private). The novel unfolds as a series of diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings, spanning the period from 1929 to 1954. Never quite at ease with his place in the world, Shepherd is an astute observer, who carefully considers what he witnesses and forms his own opinions. But he is not a man of action; he goes along for the ride, letting history unfold around him and never quite understanding how it has derailed his meager hopes. When he fails to play the media’s game, he finds himself the object of increasingly outlandish stories; and, eventually, accusations taken as truths will destroy him. The lacuna that is most important here is the space between truth and a falsehood perceived as truth.

I love how Kingsolver’s luscious writing paints the landscape and time period. I could just about taste the sugary pan dulce or savory chalupas; was nearly deafened by the howler monkeys, the din of the marketplace or the shouts of demonstrators and riot police; I relished in the colors of the tropics and felt subdued by the grey of a mountain winter.

I listened to the audio book, narrated by Kingsolver. I did eventually grow to appreciate the author’s narration, though I really had a difficult time with her performance at the outset. I thought she was too “careful” with her words; it lacked emotion and “life.” But she really shone, in my opinion, when she voiced Frida Kahlo and, especially later in the novel, Violet Brown. I think I am going to have to read this one again – this time in a text format.