The Lacuna

I've been reading The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver's new novel about the artistic and political maturation of a peripatetic young writer. I just completed a lengthy passage about the protagonist's relationships with Frida Kahlo (who serves as the writer's friend and muse), Diego Rivera, and Leon (Lev) Trotsky, the Bolshevist thinker and leader exiled from Russia after a split with Stalin.

Kingsolver has a genuine gift for finding and exploring the humanity of such iconic figures, as exemplified by this poetic, evocative paragraph describing Trotsky's wife Natalya:

Perpetua has walked down the street twice this week, to deliver some pottery Natalya liked especially. Her favorite is the white glazed platter with a fish leaping over it, a gift from Frida when they first arrived. Natalya thanked Perpetua and put it away in a cabinet, but today she has brought it out and set it against the wall. In the years with Lev her world has been so constrained, with so few objects of beauty in it. She is not a bulldog, only a woman pressed into the shape of a small jar, possibly attempting to dance in there. It shows in the way she places a seashell on a window sill, a red-painted chair in a corner: she is practiced in the art of creating a still life and taking up residence inside it.

Sunday Funnies & Gripes

As always, click to enlarge...

Maybe it's the surgery, but Citizen K. feels aggravated this morning. It all started with Fox Sports News report in which Terry, Jimmy, Howie and the rest of the football pregame guys visited the troops in Afghanistan. Citizen K. doesn't begrudge a little morale boost; God knows that it's needed. But he couldn't help noticing that of the 10-12 sound bytes from soldiers, only one was from a woman and only one was from an African-American. The rest were from white men.

Citizen K. also took notice of Howie Long's ernest report from a medical unit that treats friend and foe alike. Which neatly sidestepped the matter of civilian casualties, one of the critical issues in Afghanistan. Likely, the med center treats all too many of those...

Then there's this depressing story from the New York Times about the mounting costs of the war in Afghanistan. Reporter Christopher Drew writes: "While President Obama's decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan is primarily a military one..." This is not only exactly wrong, it's part and parcel of the problem with sending more troops. BECAUSE THE DECISION ABOUT SENDING MORE TROOPS IS STRATEGIC, NOT MILITARY. What strategic interests does the United States serve by propping up a corrupt, dysfunctional regime?...

On the good side, The Lacuna, Barabara Kingsolver's superb (so far) new novel, really eases recuperation. As does Little Moon, Grant-Lee Phillips fine new CD about the pleasures and responsibilities of fatherhood...

Poor Boy Blues...