The First Book Of 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    Girls,  I can only recommend that you immerse yourself in the world of Barbara Kingsolver.

                                    I have not read any of her works since "The Poisonwood Bible," which was unforgettable, and that was at least a decade ago.  So, when  I mentioned I was looking to read one of her other works, and someone recommended "The Lacuna" to me, I went with it.

                                     And I am  glad I did.  Through the eyes of a Mexican raised boy named Harrison William Shepherd, who grows up to be a popular novelist, in the vein of, say, Margaret Mitchell or Ross Lockridge, Kingsolver gives us a panorama of Mexican history and art--Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo are just two of the main characters--not to mention cuisine.  We go through the war years in America, and the nightmare of the Red Scare, in the Fifties, and the devastation it wreaked upon those in creative endeavors.

                                       There is a happy twist, at the end, that takes away a bit of the sting initially felt in the climax, but it is Kingsolver's eye for visual detail, literary lyricism, and superb narrative drive that makes "The Lacuna" one of the most satisfying ways to start out a reading year.  Indeed, I was so engrossed in this world, while reading it, I did not want to leave, when my subway arrived at its destination, or I could no longer read, because my eyes were tired.

                                          It took me a long time to get to this work, and I urge my readers out there not to wait as long as I.  If you are looking for engrossing, and intellectually stimulating literary fiction, "The Lacuna" should be made a priority.

                                            And there's more of Barbara for me to read, yet!!!!!!!!!  You know, I will keep you posted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!