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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
I was given an advanced copy by the publisher as part of #GoodreadsGiveaways. I'm quite thankful for the opportunity to review this book by an author I admire.
On paper, this is precisely the type of book that I should love -- a smart, socially conscious writer, tacking a complex and contemporary issue, with a fascinating structure to the book that runs akimbo to my career as a librarian.
In practice, I had to put the book down. Every session was a real fight to find something to hold onto. Part of the danger in writing an ambitious, lofty novel with ethereal characters is that the long text blocks with no proper character names didn't leave much for the reader to be grounded in. Having a book about a very emotional, very humanistic problem, that didn't allow me to ever connect to its characters was what broke me. There were a few occasions that I remember thinking how beautiful a sentence would be, but it would be one sentence per 40 pages or so. The interpersonal relationships that Luiselli explored read more like a case-study or notes from field-work, which is in a sense, precisely what she was going for by structuring the novel around the work of these characters. Using the narrative breaks provided by the banker boxes to partition, segue, and ultimately dis-engage the reader was a bit frustrating. I would find myself getting some small inertia with the book, only to be thrown back into a sea of disaffection and dense prose.
I'm ultimately going to try to read it through to the end, but I was very disappointed by my first efforts with this novel. I read maybe 30% of it, but often felt that it was a much longer, more obtuse version of "Tell Me How It Ends," with no relatable characters.
On paper, this is precisely the type of book that I should love -- a smart, socially conscious writer, tacking a complex and contemporary issue, with a fascinating structure to the book that runs akimbo to my career as a librarian.
In practice, I had to put the book down. Every session was a real fight to find something to hold onto. Part of the danger in writing an ambitious, lofty novel with ethereal characters is that the long text blocks with no proper character names didn't leave much for the reader to be grounded in. Having a book about a very emotional, very humanistic problem, that didn't allow me to ever connect to its characters was what broke me. There were a few occasions that I remember thinking how beautiful a sentence would be, but it would be one sentence per 40 pages or so. The interpersonal relationships that Luiselli explored read more like a case-study or notes from field-work, which is in a sense, precisely what she was going for by structuring the novel around the work of these characters. Using the narrative breaks provided by the banker boxes to partition, segue, and ultimately dis-engage the reader was a bit frustrating. I would find myself getting some small inertia with the book, only to be thrown back into a sea of disaffection and dense prose.
I'm ultimately going to try to read it through to the end, but I was very disappointed by my first efforts with this novel. I read maybe 30% of it, but often felt that it was a much longer, more obtuse version of "Tell Me How It Ends," with no relatable characters.
I really wanted to love this but it just didn't work for me. The second star is primarily because I appreciate the story it was trying to tell.
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
One of the best novels about family I've ever read, along with being a heartbreaking testimony to the insane cruelty of the US border policy. Anyone who understands how incredibly brave and desperate the children are who attempt to cross the border should realize how completely imbecilic it is to simply demand that people stop doing so.
I wanted to like this but found that hard. I’m not sure the literary techniques deployed worked for the novel and not against it. Using relational approaches just made it harder for me to connect and empathise. That said there’s a tremendous amount of research and under-explored stories which the author reveals as they’re stories which should be told. However, I knew I had struggled bravely on when I reached Box VII and it was all Polaroids and I thighs ‘Thank God!’.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
me, halfway through: oh it’s so cute they’re listening to space oddity
me, at the end: Never Mention Space Oddity To Me Ever Again. Never.
me, at the end: Never Mention Space Oddity To Me Ever Again. Never.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Literary fiction definitely is for some people, typically I would say it is not for me. However. I read this book as part of my MA in English, and whilst it is not the most accessible book you can find on this topic, it is without doubt a compelling, heartbreaking rendering of the issues it surrounds.
The Lost Children Archive is a literary fiction book that combines the stories of two vastly different families. Drawing on her own experience as a translator in the courts, Luiselli gives voices to the women, children and families who do what they must to make it to America. Luiselli blends history with heartbreak, she gives us a woman in a dysfunctional marriage, and asks if the nobility of a cause, the knowledge that you can do something worthwhile, is allowed to take precedence over whatever love you might yet salvage. She gives us two people, one obsessed with the horrendous past of America, and one desperate to make a difference in the horrendous present. Between them we have their children, who's youthful naivety allows them to do what their parents have only ever thought of.
A non-traditional novel, The Lost Children Archive is filled with bold literary technique. Books within books, boxes upon boxes, and the shifting of point of view between parent, child, past, present, fictional, fictionalised and all too real. This is not a beach read, it is a novel that deserves your time. There will be moments that feel strange, out of place, an attempt by the author, perhaps, to ensure this novel sits where it should in a bookshop; a reminder that literary fiction can be self-consciously within its genre. For me that's what takes this from 5 stars down to a 4.75.
Brilliant.
The Lost Children Archive is a literary fiction book that combines the stories of two vastly different families. Drawing on her own experience as a translator in the courts, Luiselli gives voices to the women, children and families who do what they must to make it to America. Luiselli blends history with heartbreak, she gives us a woman in a dysfunctional marriage, and asks if the nobility of a cause, the knowledge that you can do something worthwhile, is allowed to take precedence over whatever love you might yet salvage. She gives us two people, one obsessed with the horrendous past of America, and one desperate to make a difference in the horrendous present. Between them we have their children, who's youthful naivety allows them to do what their parents have only ever thought of.
A non-traditional novel, The Lost Children Archive is filled with bold literary technique. Books within books, boxes upon boxes, and the shifting of point of view between parent, child, past, present, fictional, fictionalised and all too real. This is not a beach read, it is a novel that deserves your time. There will be moments that feel strange, out of place, an attempt by the author, perhaps, to ensure this novel sits where it should in a bookshop; a reminder that literary fiction can be self-consciously within its genre. For me that's what takes this from 5 stars down to a 4.75.
Brilliant.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Trafficking, Deportation
This book draws on the author's experience working with undocumented immigrants, including depictions of the journey into the US via coyotes.
Me gusto porque la historia es bonita, triste y fuerte a la vez. Además que es un libro diferente a lo que acostumbro a leer y se nota el trabajo de investigación de la autora sobre los niños migrantes que llegan a Estados Unidos. Lo mejor de todo es la voz del niño, es de los aspectos que más me ha gustado del libro porque es uno de los aspectos que más les cuesta a los escritores al momento de escribir.