Is The Lacuna Worth Reading?
Ada’s Score
Barbara Kingsolver's novel follows Harrison Shepherd, born of an American father and Mexican mother, who becomes a cook in the household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in 1930s Mexico City before later working for the exiled Leon Trotsky. The story then leaps forward to the McCarthy-era United States, where Shepherd's artistic and political past makes him a target. Kingsolver uses her protagonist's journals and news clippings to create a dazzling formal structure. It is a novel about truth, media, and how history erases inconvenient lives.
Spotlight“Kingsolver at her most ambitious. The Kahlo and Rivera sections alone are worth the price of admission — extraordinary.”
Between Revolutions and Reckoning
Barbara Kingsolver has this extraordinary gift for placing quiet, observant characters at the center of history's great storms. In The Lacuna, we follow a young man who finds himself in Frida Kahlo's kitchen, in Trotsky's confidence, and eventually in the crosshairs of American paranoia. It's a novel about the gaps—the lacunas—between what we are and what others insist we must be. Absolutely stunning.
Ada Brief
AI reading intelligence“Kingsolver at her most ambitious. The Kahlo and Rivera sections alone are worth the price of admission — extraordinary.”
Between Revolutions and Reckoning
Barbara Kingsolver has this extraordinary gift for placing quiet, observant characters at the center of history's great storms. In The Lacuna, we follow a young man who finds himself in Frida Kahlo's kitchen, in Trotsky's confidence, and eventually in the crosshairs of American paranoia. It's a novel about the gaps—the lacunas—between what we are and what others insist we must be. Absolutely stunning.
Book Details
- Publisher
- Harper Perennial
- Published
- January 1, 2010
- Pages
- 544
- Language
- English
Get This Book
Affiliate linksISBN: 9780060852580
Disclosure: ReadAda earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you.
Ada’s Score
4.1
Ada’s editorial score — not an aggregate of reader reviews.
Common Questions About The Lacuna
- Is The Lacuna worth reading?
- Kingsolver at her most ambitious. The Kahlo and Rivera sections alone are worth the price of admission — extraordinary. Ada rates it 4.1 out of 5.
- How many pages is The Lacuna?
- The Lacuna is 544 pages long — around 10–11 hours at an average reading pace.
Ada also recommends
More from Historical Fiction
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Ada’s Score
Hamnet
Maggie O'Farrell
Ada’s Score
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah
Ada’s Score
Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders
Ada’s Score
The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Ada’s Score