The Lacuna

The central character in this book is the son of a US bureaucrat and a Mexican woman. He lives in both countries growing up, and in Mexico city ends up working for Diego Rivera; his wife, Frida Kahlo; and their houseguest, Leon Trotsky. Later he becomes a best-selling novelist and is hounded by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

For some reason, the reviews I read of it are lukewarm, but since I'm both a Barbara Kingsolver fan and interested in those characters, I read it anyway. I think the reviews are what always happens when someone is famous -- it's easier to say the book is a falling-off from earlier work than to really describe how good it is, so they say it's a falling-off.

I wouldn't recommend it as the place to start if you haven't read Barbara Kingsolver before. That would be Prodigal Summer if you like novels, or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle if you prefer nonfiction and are interested in eating local, non-industrial foods. Both of these books are set in the Appalachian south where Kingsolver grew up.

But I thought it was certainly up to the standard of The Poisonwood Bible, also about a disfunctional family in an unfamiliar setting.

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1. Cryptonomicon
2. Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood
3. Dog park conversation