The Lacuna in Around the World

Apr 14, 2020 Joanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american-lit, my-favs-i-would-read-again

Harrison Shepherd—12 years old and living in Mexico with his mother, who has left his father for Enrique. They are living on an island and Harrison occupies his time by swimming in the ocean—learning to hold his breath underwater, discovering fish and the lacuna among the caves. While swimming he learns about tides and the full moon. He also makes friends with the cook Leandro who gives him the goggles for swimming and teaches him to cook.

Harrison begins keeping a diary and reads from Enrique's Harrison Shepherd—12 years old and living in Mexico with his mother, who has left his father for Enrique. They are living on an island and Harrison occupies his time by swimming in the ocean—learning to hold his breath underwater, discovering fish and the lacuna among the caves. While swimming he learns about tides and the full moon. He also makes friends with the cook Leandro who gives him the goggles for swimming and teaches him to cook.

Harrison begins keeping a diary and reads from Enrique's library who produces a key each week and the boy is allowed to choose four books. I enjoyed this section of the book as Kingsolver's passages seemed to have a musical flow to them.

Later Harrison moves to the U.S. for school, but soon returns to Mexico—he works for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo as plasterer, cook, and later secretary. Lev Trotsky, exiled from the Soviet Union, moves in with the Riveras. When Trotsky is murdered, Harrison becomes wary of the press and returns to the U.S., lives in NC and becomes a writer while becoming a recluse in his house. He publishes two books and is working on his third when the Un-American Activities Committee comes after him for his relationships with Rivera and Kahlo among other things.

Harrison's character intrigues me because he comes across as passive and introverted but there is so much more to him than appears—hidden waters run deep and all that. He thinks if he doesn’t reply or say anything the Committee will leave him alone. He couldn’t be more wrong.

Many reviews mentioned they could not connect with Harrison Shepherd; yes, he is not a gregarious, larger than life character, but I found that he was easy to relate with. He has an easy-going nature; he has had to spend a lot of time alone, basically home-schooling himself while living with his mother and his father immediately sends him away to school. As an adult in the U.S. he becomes an author publishing adventure books about Mexico. His conversations are light-hearted and teasing, his diary excerpts matter of fact. His letters show that he is very loyal to his few friends. He calls his secretary “the love of his life.” His diaries showed that he played a large part in history and his life inter-connected with those bigger characters of his time while he documented it in his diaries. His secretary is the one who recovered the diaries giving a voice to his truth.
Overall I would give it 4.0-4.5 stars just because it lagged a bit in the middle for me.

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