Helpful Score: 5
Sometimes I think Kingsolver is too political, or at least strongly socially opinionated, and doesn't give the opposite point of view enough respect. I happen to agree with her, more or less, politically, but I have felt that some of her characters were straw men. This book seems to address all my feelings head-on.
The red scare of 1950 and thereabouts is real. Except for her protagonist, the characters are real. Some of the included newspaper articles, which sound like they were written to illustrate how bad and mustache-twirly the reactionaries were, are real. I looked them up.
And the way the media engaged in character assassination against her protagonist - there are also real examples of that. For instance, Stalin's people attempted to assassinate Leon Trotsky in May of 1940, and the world newspapers decided Trostky had plotted the attack on himself, only because of the newspapers' sloppy reporting jobs contradicting each other. I've also known of similar lazy reporting that reinforced lies - my wife was part of a teachers' strike at Chicago City Colleges in 2004, when the newspapers dutifully reported the administration's party line that 80% of classes were still going on - as fact. I walked through Harold Washington's building mid-day and saw for myself that no classes whatsoever were going on - but that was too much for a reporter to do.
So yes, I know that can happen too. And it happens in the book. Twisting of facts, both innocently and not innocently, become incontrovertible and undeniable. So, Ms. Kingsolver, you win this round. As paper-thin as the villains seem to be, they are based on real life examples.
It's also a good study of the point in American history when we turned from a nation of questioners to a nation where questioning made people suspect you were "un-American."
Also, I love the title - a Lacuna, apparently, refers to a missing piece that is - what? - almost drawn or seen by the negative space around it. It's not seen at all itself. That was neat - there's a missing piece of the protagonist's life for us, and a different missing piece of the protagonist's life for the next main character, and I got to the end of the book and realized our hero's very face was a lacuna - we never get a physical description of it, and throughout the book he eschews photographs. Lots of patterns in the book, is what I'm saying. I'm sure there are plenty I missed.
Very good book.
The red scare of 1950 and thereabouts is real. Except for her protagonist, the characters are real. Some of the included newspaper articles, which sound like they were written to illustrate how bad and mustache-twirly the reactionaries were, are real. I looked them up.
And the way the media engaged in character assassination against her protagonist - there are also real examples of that. For instance, Stalin's people attempted to assassinate Leon Trotsky in May of 1940, and the world newspapers decided Trostky had plotted the attack on himself, only because of the newspapers' sloppy reporting jobs contradicting each other. I've also known of similar lazy reporting that reinforced lies - my wife was part of a teachers' strike at Chicago City Colleges in 2004, when the newspapers dutifully reported the administration's party line that 80% of classes were still going on - as fact. I walked through Harold Washington's building mid-day and saw for myself that no classes whatsoever were going on - but that was too much for a reporter to do.
So yes, I know that can happen too. And it happens in the book. Twisting of facts, both innocently and not innocently, become incontrovertible and undeniable. So, Ms. Kingsolver, you win this round. As paper-thin as the villains seem to be, they are based on real life examples.
It's also a good study of the point in American history when we turned from a nation of questioners to a nation where questioning made people suspect you were "un-American."
Also, I love the title - a Lacuna, apparently, refers to a missing piece that is - what? - almost drawn or seen by the negative space around it. It's not seen at all itself. That was neat - there's a missing piece of the protagonist's life for us, and a different missing piece of the protagonist's life for the next main character, and I got to the end of the book and realized our hero's very face was a lacuna - we never get a physical description of it, and throughout the book he eschews photographs. Lots of patterns in the book, is what I'm saying. I'm sure there are plenty I missed.
Very good book.
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