Firstly Ladies an apology, I was unaware of the size of our tome this month, but on the other hand I love Barbara Kingsolver as a novelist so I am looking forward to good things.Our protagonist for this novel is Harrison Shepherd born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.
Just a few questions to ponder while we wade through our saga.
The word “lacuna” means many things: a missing piece of a manuscript, a gap in history or
knowledge, a tunnel or passage leading from one
place to another. What are some of the
lacunae in this novel?
Several characters repeat the phrase: “The most important part of a story is the piece of it
you don’t know.” What does this mean to you, in terms of both public and private life?
The opening paragraph of the novel promises: “In the beginning were the howlers,” and suggests they
will always be with us. As you read, did you find yourself thinking of modern occasions of media
“howlers” purveying gossip, fear and injurious misquotes? Why does this industry persist?
Hello Ladies
ReplyDeleteHow are you both? And your families? We’re fine here. Celebrated Mum’s 95th birthday on Sunday. She slept through most of it, but we enjoyed getting together. The weather has been incredible. Sunshine from dawn to dusk (about eighteen hours) for weeks now. Bound to be restrictions on water usage before too long. The grass is brown and crops will be struggling soon. Nevertheless, it’s a joy to wander out into the garden in late afternoon, with the newspaper and a cup of coffee.
I’m afraid I’ve written far too much here so will make two posts from my comments. Sorry ladies.
I’ve successfully waded through the tome, Nancy, and really liked it. To answer your question re different types of lacuna: there’s many instances where it means a tunnel or a passage: the ‘waterpath tunneling into the rocks’ (p.55) in Isla Pixol, Mexico; the train ride to Union Station which ‘With luck might open on the other side into something new’ (p.111); and Asheville’s Tunnel Road that brings Harrison into Asheville’s is described by Mrs. Brown as ‘the long tunnel . . . (which) spit (Harrison) out from darkness into the valley’. There’s lots more of this: a great metaphor to describe Harrison’s itinerant life story.
Mouths are often associated with lacuna, and generally they are unpleasant. A temple door is described as ‘a serpent’s mouth, a lacuna leading deep into the temple’ (p.70), to where sacrifices are made. Harrison says of Natalya and Lev ‘The blue house was a mouth that swallowed her down. Or a dark necessity they passed through together,’ (p.304). In Yucatan, the ancients fed ‘the gasping mouths of water holes’ ‘as old as human dread’ (p.524) The holes led to caves, and reminded me of the boys and their coach currently trapped in caves in Thailand. Of course, there’s also the carved figurine found in the mass grave at the temple that Harrison visits with Frida. This has “a hole for a mouth, like a tunnel from another time, speaking: ’I’m looking for the door to another world.’” (p.265)
If Mrs. Brown had known this was Harrison’s interpretation of the carved figure, which he left behind in Asheville, she’d have thought twice about Harrison’s apparent death. An example of the gap in knowledge Frida mentions: ‘The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don’t know.’ (p.286). Harrison says it’s, ‘Something you never knew. That is the heart of the story.’ (p.431) People are slow to reveal themselves, though I never trusted Tom Cuddy. There again, perhaps he didn’t know the important thing about Harrison. Only Frida seems to know the important things about Harrison. Gives her an awful power. To be honest, Nancy, I find it easier not to know too much about people. Far easier to grease the wheels of society if you don’t know your neighbour is a fervent Brexit supporter!
ReplyDeleteFrida provides Harrison with ‘the most important part of any story . . . the missing piece’ (p.364) by saving his notebooks and papers. The agony caused by missing manuscripts threads through the book. I felt for Mrs. Brown, struggling to make a moral decision about the ones she did not burn.
Finally, to the ‘howlers’, so brilliantly symbolized at the beginning of the book. In the U.K. now howlers dominate what claims to be news, most especially around the arguments associated with Brexit. Horrible. Fake news is clearly current parlance for howlers. It persists because of unprincipled powerful individuals’ self interest, and human fear. Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ is based on the time Kingsolver is discussing. Tells us all we need to know.
“Neither a man, nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” (Bertrand Russell)
“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in God, but never without belief in a devil.” (Eric Hoffer)
Foolishly, I keep collecting these deeply depressing little sayings.
As an aside, it is incredible that Asheville and Zelda Fitzgerald should reappear in our reading. I’ve been lucky enough to go to Meridah and Chichén Itzá. It was a joy to go there again.
Wonderful book, Nancy, thank you.
Much love to you both.
Hello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you're getting some nice weather Sue. My sister-in-law has just returned from the UK and was raving about the fantastic weather. Happy Birthday to Dorothy, sounds like both her and Bill are maintaining reasonable health.
Hopefully your Summer is going well Katie, I bet those beautiful children of yours are having a ball.
Our Winter's here are very mild so we are quite active kayaking and hiking as Summertime is just too hot. I am in the process of organizing a trip to the Great Barrier Reef for a few days snorkeling next month, I am really looking forward to that.
Whenever I read a Barbara Kingsolver novel I feel overwhelmed with the volume of information included. I always feel I've learned new things and could easily re read it to pick up the many things I am sure I have missed. I really enjoy her novels,so I'm pleased you enjoyed it also Sue. It was a few years ago you suggested The Poisonwood Bible to me and I think Flight Behavior was one of your choices, so now I'm a fan, so thankyou.
"Howlers" and "Lacunae", so many clever references throughout the novel I stopped marking them in my copy. Sue you referenced quite a few. It seems fitting Harrison escaped the howlers to a new life through a lacuna with the help of loyal friends.
I feel Ms Kingsolver holds out hope for our humanity despite this novel being a damning reflection on our collective susceptibility propaganda.
Our modern day Howlers have invaded all aspects of our lives and I'm not sure how to avoid them. I like to be informed about current events in our world but find myself so cynical and disbelieving of news coverage. As we are bombarded with endless choices for information and ways to receive it, I find it very easy to select outlets that share my ethics, sometimes not the most balanced approach.
It seems though propaganda no matter how we receive it never really changes and we can all look back historically and recognise the mistakes and fallacies. It just seems the vast majority of us are blind to it in our own time.
I've just finished a novel my mother-in-law lent me about WW11 Latvia and a family fleeing form the horrors of that and the prejudices faced as refugees in Australia. A story very similar to her own. Sadly, swap out a few country names and we can apply this scenario to so many times in history and in the present day.
Sue, loved your quotes, so relevant.
I also enjoyed coincidentally visiting Asheville again
much love Nancy
Hello to you both!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to your mum, Sue. 95 is quite the accomplishment! Nancy, your trip sounds so very exciting! Benjamin and Lillian are enjoying the hot summer days floating in our pool every chance they get. I am enjoying the heat too.
I think you both summarized this story thoroughly. It was really well written and most enjoyable. I did feel a lot of sympathy for our protagonist. Shepherd was such a mild mannered man who simply longed for a place to belonged. It was sad that both parent countries treated him as poorly as his biological parents.
You both mention the coincidental mentioning of Ashville. While I was reading this on the train, there were advertisements for a local art exhibit featuring a picture of Frida Kahlo with Fulang Chang. I found that highly amusing.
Thank you for another good read!
Katie