Book Review - The Lacuna

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.

There isn't much I can say about this Orange Prize winner that hasn't already been said by well versed professional book reviewers. If you are in the least familiar with the author, her previous works and her formidable reputation, then you know that when I say  this book lives up to her rep, you'll know that's all that needs to be said.

This is an important book, more so than her previous works, even The Poisonwood Bible. The Lacuna is rich in allegory and metaphor. While we may read this book, feeling far removed from events that occurred 50 years ago in Mexico and The United States, we much realize in these pages that we are not removed at all. History repeats itself, again and again. If we are even remotely appalled by the injustices and madness of Hiroshima and McCarthyism, perhaps we need to raise our heads out of the holes where we have been hiding them, and look around at Afghanistan, Iraq and the insanities of the Far Right.... the foundation was laid more than 50 years ago. The Lacuna is historical fiction at its best.