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The Lacuna

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The Lacuna

By: Barbara Kingsolver
Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
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Born in the US and reared in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd is a liability to his social-climbing mother, Salome. When a violent incident sends him to North Carolina, he remakes himself in America's hopeful image. But political winds continue to throw him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach - the lacuna - between truth and public presumption.

©2009 Barbara Kingsolver (P)2009 Harper Collins Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Heartfelt
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This book was recommended to me by a friend. For the first couple of chapters, I didn't think I was going to like it and then it took off!

I have listened to so many fabulous books since joining Audible, but this is one of my favourites.
The way in which Barbara Kingsolver narrates her own words is precise and hypnotising and her range of different voices for the characters really made the story come to life for me.
I AM IN LOVE WITH VIOLET BROWN!
I loved her voice and her choice of words and the gentle love and kindness that she showed to Harrison.
The range of subjects in this book was incredible, I learnt a lot about Frida, Diego and Lev Trotsky and whilst I had heard about the Communism 'witch hunt' in America, this book really brought the paranoia to life.
Such a great tale, I loved it!

Such an Interesting, Beautiful Book.

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Starts slowly but becomes a compelling story of world events and cultural battles, fashioned around a convincing, though ultimately fictional lead character. HWS is a complex and engaging humanist, disappointed to find he wasn’t real, particularly following the ending!

Excellent!

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Thought provoking - How words / stories can be used powerfully for good or twisted for bad. Barbara Kingsolver tells a story linking USA Mexico and communism Powerful true historical characters all connected by a quiet observer and habitual recorder, fictional -Harrison Shepherd.
Post war fear and misinformation in USA post war believed by the masses makes outcasts of the innocent So much can be reflected today and perhaps every period of history.

The power of words.

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I love most of Kingsolver’s writing… but this book just didn’t do anything for me. I frequently lost concentration and realised I’d missed 30mins or so of the story, but didn’t care enough to go back and listen again. I made it to the end, and enjoyed the final episodes more than the rest of the book. I really like hearing this author read her own work… so that was a strong plus point for me.

Mostly reads like a long history lesson

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Absurdly and deceitfully Kingsolver presents Trotsky as a sweet, peace loving guru. He was in fact a power hungry murderous monster responsible sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly for thousands of deaths on his orders. Why did Kingsolver produce such lying propaganda in the guise of historical fiction?

Ingenious storytelling let down by fatal flaw

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