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1.33k reviews for:

Desierto Sonoro

Valeria Luiselli

3.82 AVERAGE

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Absolutely beautifully written. Full of wisdom and truths about our world. At times hard to read, but ultimately had me thinking about relationships, politics, geography, sound, story telling, personal growth, literature and so much more. There is so much literary finesse in this book with overlapping and contrasting themes and characters. I loved the dual narrative voice.

If you like plot driven books this isn’t the book for you. But if you want to dive into some heavy topics and have your views of childhood, relationships and what it means to take care of those you love challenged , or have any passing interest in the border crisis- this book is an absolute gem.
adventurous challenging informative sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

El libro habla sobre un matrimonio en crisis que viaja en coche con sus dos hijos pequeños desde Nueva York hasta Arizona. Ambos son documentalistas y cada uno se concentra en un proyecto propio: él está tras los rastros de la última banda apache en rendirse al poder militar estadounidense; ella busca documentar la diáspora de niños que llegan a la frontera sur del país en busca de asilo. Inicialmente se escribe desde la visión de la mamá y después desde la visión del hijo de 10 años.
Es un poco terrible el libro para leer en estos momentos de crisis, pero reafirmo que es muy cierto, que los libros son espejos y solo dejan ver cosas que uno ya piensa.
Acá dejo algunas reflexiones que saqué después de esta lectura:
- La música existente en nuestras vidas se encuentra definida por nuestro entorno. Hay culturas que usan melodías relacionadas con el canto de las aves.
- Los niños entienden el mundo igual que los adultos, pero no tienen las herramientas para expresarse completamente. Esto me hizo pensar en por qué no quiero tener hijos. No es que no me gusten los niños, pero me da terror hacer algo que vaya a arruinar sus vidas. Prefiero evitarlo.
- En el mundo pasan cosas terribles y siento que es un deber moral estar informada de lo que más pueda, pese a que mentalmente no ayuda mucho. Llevo harto tiempo cuestionándome por qué es tan seductor el complicarse tanto y no vivir como en Un mundo feliz, consumiendo una droga (o religión) que nos quite todas las preocupaciones...
Me encanto el libro. Me demore 2 semanas en leer el 30% y dos días en leer el resto.
Parte un poco complejo durante el relato de la madre, pero quizás fue distracción mía solamente. después, cuando llega al relato del niño, ya no se puede parar de leer.
Todas las historias: apaches, niños migrantes y la historia de esta familia se entrelazan de manera perfecta y hacen cuestionarse la vida entera.

Some parts really, really beautiful, others too obviously constructed/didactic; the pacing felt uneven and the story, therefore, a bit unbalanced/too cleanly assembled. Overall, not a bad book, but certainly overhyped.

Side note: Since I listened to the audiobook of a book so heavily based in sounds, I actually think I may have gotten a better experience of this story than if I’d read it on paper. Or maybe a worse experience (I wouldn’t know). Still an interesting change.

DNF at 30%. Just could not get into the writing style. Felt very pretentious and chock full of literary references to the point that it just felt heavy handed. The children dont sound like children. The story of migrant "lost" children was just in the background and thats what I really cared about. Lots of seemingly random flashbacks to moments that dont seem to matter in the context of any of the main storylines. Ex: She talks about her friend who is trying to come up for a solution for women's periods in space. Like okay? What does that have to do with your marriage falling apart or the lost children or the Apache people. Idk. Maybe I'm just not patient enough to get to the meat or to understand the connections but I just don't care anymore. This book is decently long and I can tell it wont be for me.
challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.5 Sterne

I never connected to the story. I could see the beauty of the writing but I just didn't care as much as I felt like I should (considering the subject matter). This is now the second book of the year of the NYT Top 5 that I felt "meh" about (I hate when that happens.)