The Lacuna, Part I

[vaneramos]

My back has siezed up, condemning me to a day in bed. No matter, it's a great excuse to plough through Barbara Kingsolver's novel, The Lacuna. It is historical fiction about the artist couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera around the time they harboured Leon Trotsky in their home (although I'm only one-third of the way through, so I can't tell where it's going). It is narrated in the form of a life memoir by one of the Riveras' servants. Part of it is narrated in the second-person as a confidential report to Kahlo. Surprisingly, the narrator is gay. Even more intriguing: the object of his desire is a Norse fellow named Van, Trotsky's assistant. Kingsolver's writing is lucid and lively, never pretentious, an engaging mix of humour and tragedy. Back to bed and back to book.

Comments

[putzmeisterbear.livejournal.com]

We just attended a talk on the time Diego and Freda spent in San Francisco. Trotsky was talked about but now I'm curious about that part of their lives and I migh have to read this. Thanks for letting me know about this book. This afternoon we are attending another talk at one of Diego's murals he painted here. Really fascinating people.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I hardly knew anything about Kahlo, nothing about Rivera, until reading this book. I came to it through Kingsolver, because I enjoyed one of her non-fiction books. It's interesting and amusing reading. Kahlo and Trotsky had an affair (in fact).