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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
There was a lot to love about this book, but ultimately it took me so long to finish because it felt so slow, and too feathered with brilliant! Literary! Language and metaphor, that the first third of the book was pretty hard for me to make it through. I’d heard great things though, so when I picked it up again, I did so In an environment free(er) from distractions - which was exactly what I needed to make it through the first hump, and lose myself in this beautiful, heart wrenching, and timely story.
My main critique Is that part of the story is narrated by a 10 year old boy, and while sometimes I’m charmed by this 10 year old’s youthful exuberance and rationale, I kept getting distracted by “his” vocabulary which didn’t read as authentic, and occasionally was jarring enough that it pulled me out of the story.
Aside from that though - there were multiple points in this story where I thought “WOW!” - Luiselli is absolutely a talented writer, and the multiple parallel storylines were ultimately unforgettable.
This is a book I’d recommend, with the warning that the first ~1/3 might scare readers off because of its flowery language and inaccessibility- but if you stick with it, you won’t be disappointed!
I’m an Indigo employee, and I received an advanced reading copy of this book, in exchange for my honest feedback.
My main critique Is that part of the story is narrated by a 10 year old boy, and while sometimes I’m charmed by this 10 year old’s youthful exuberance and rationale, I kept getting distracted by “his” vocabulary which didn’t read as authentic, and occasionally was jarring enough that it pulled me out of the story.
Aside from that though - there were multiple points in this story where I thought “WOW!” - Luiselli is absolutely a talented writer, and the multiple parallel storylines were ultimately unforgettable.
This is a book I’d recommend, with the warning that the first ~1/3 might scare readers off because of its flowery language and inaccessibility- but if you stick with it, you won’t be disappointed!
I’m an Indigo employee, and I received an advanced reading copy of this book, in exchange for my honest feedback.
First, let me say that if I were just reviewing the writing of this book alone, it would definitely be in five star territory. I loved the narrative voices, especially of the mother, and the use of language. I also found it interesting how the author used literary references and wove in language and metaphors of other authors. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another book by this author.
All that being said, thematically, I think this book tried way too hard. Ostensibly, the story is about a blended family where a father with a son married a mother with a daughter. The father and mother met on a work project where they connected, but when that project ended, their divergent career goals started to tear them apart. And there in lies my first critique, their career goals really were not all that different, and it's pretty hard for me to imagine their marriage falling apart because of them, and yet, the reader wasn't really shown much else about the marriage, so there's no other conclusion that can be reached.
The novel goes on to attempt to tie the history of the Apache Indians to our current immigration situation with the imminent loss of this family. The Apache references seemed completely superfluous to me. I didn't think they added to the theme nor really enhanced the story. Ostensibly, the father was obsessed with researching them, but beyond that, it just seemed extraneous and distracting.
The parallels between some of the challenges with our immigration/refugee issues here in the U.S. and the loss of family due to divorce worked better for me. The son narrates the second half of the book, and I felt there were specific scenes that related to his step sister that were so well done. I felt his pain at both the thought of losing her and the real loss of her. The issues regarding immigration were mostly put forward in the form of chapters of a book that the son and mother were reading called the Elegies of Lost Children, and the sorrows and struggles evoked there were moving.
All in all, I would have liked to see this book edited differently. I felt that the author's true strengths were muddied by trying to do too much. Sometimes less is more, and the prose was evocative and beautiful making the "cleverness" just feel like overreaching.
All that being said, thematically, I think this book tried way too hard. Ostensibly, the story is about a blended family where a father with a son married a mother with a daughter. The father and mother met on a work project where they connected, but when that project ended, their divergent career goals started to tear them apart. And there in lies my first critique, their career goals really were not all that different, and it's pretty hard for me to imagine their marriage falling apart because of them, and yet, the reader wasn't really shown much else about the marriage, so there's no other conclusion that can be reached.
The novel goes on to attempt to tie the history of the Apache Indians to our current immigration situation with the imminent loss of this family. The Apache references seemed completely superfluous to me. I didn't think they added to the theme nor really enhanced the story. Ostensibly, the father was obsessed with researching them, but beyond that, it just seemed extraneous and distracting.
The parallels between some of the challenges with our immigration/refugee issues here in the U.S. and the loss of family due to divorce worked better for me. The son narrates the second half of the book, and I felt there were specific scenes that related to his step sister that were so well done. I felt his pain at both the thought of losing her and the real loss of her. The issues regarding immigration were mostly put forward in the form of chapters of a book that the son and mother were reading called the Elegies of Lost Children, and the sorrows and struggles evoked there were moving.
All in all, I would have liked to see this book edited differently. I felt that the author's true strengths were muddied by trying to do too much. Sometimes less is more, and the prose was evocative and beautiful making the "cleverness" just feel like overreaching.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was so beautifully produced. I'm SO glad I consumed via audio.... seriously so special. Incredible writing and narration. Very emotional
I want to love this book but wasn’t gripping me at all, therefore decided to DNF.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
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
‘If I close my eyes, disquieting visions and thoughts churn inside my eye sockets and spill over into my mind. I keep my eyes open and try to imagine the eyes of my sleeping tribe. The boy’s eyes are hazel brown, usually dreamy and soft, but can suddenly ignite with joy or rage and blaze, like the meteoric eyes of souls too large and fierce to go gentle - “gentle into that good night.” The girl’s eyes are black and enormous. Come tears, and a red ring appears instantly around their edges. They are completely transparent in their sudden mood shifts. I think when I was a child, my eyes were like hers. My adult eyes more constant, unyielding and more ambivalent in their small shifts. My husband’s eyes are gray, slanted and often troubled. When he drives, he looks into the line of the highway like he’s reading a difficult book, and furrows his brows. He has the same look in his eyes when he’s recording. I don’t know what my husband sees when he studies my eyes; he doesn’t look very often these days.’
Though the characters remain largely anonymous in Luiselli’s moving, profound work-of-art that is Lost Children Archive, there is such a sense of perceived closeness, a kind of intimacy that you hold with this family. It’s a beautifully constructed, masterfully layered exploration of imaginative empathy. The reader is both held at a distance and brought intimately close and the experience lies in how you choose to define where that line lies. The mother and father, a sound documentarian and sound documentarist, along with a child each bring from a previous relationship form the nucleus of this story. As they traverse the landscape of the United States making their way from New York to the southwest border of Arizona, the independent research of both the mother and father becomes more pronounced. The mother, focussing on the child migrant crisis in the south border, and the father tracing the final whereabouts of the Apaches and the land they once called home. The stories they narrate, the literature they are influenced by, the music they listen to, the conversations they have weave a rich tapestry of nuanced storytelling, and you can’t help but feel you’re in this road trip with this family. As much as it’s a story of grand themes of migration and displacement, it’s also the story of a failing marriage and the subtle repercussions that take shape in the children’s own actions, catapulting them into an adventure of their own. All these different voices and narrative arcs, echo and merge to create a staggeringly ambitious soundscape of what it means to be human in inhumane times. It’s haunting, deeply melancholic, evocative and profoundly moving. A true work of genius.
Though the characters remain largely anonymous in Luiselli’s moving, profound work-of-art that is Lost Children Archive, there is such a sense of perceived closeness, a kind of intimacy that you hold with this family. It’s a beautifully constructed, masterfully layered exploration of imaginative empathy. The reader is both held at a distance and brought intimately close and the experience lies in how you choose to define where that line lies. The mother and father, a sound documentarian and sound documentarist, along with a child each bring from a previous relationship form the nucleus of this story. As they traverse the landscape of the United States making their way from New York to the southwest border of Arizona, the independent research of both the mother and father becomes more pronounced. The mother, focussing on the child migrant crisis in the south border, and the father tracing the final whereabouts of the Apaches and the land they once called home. The stories they narrate, the literature they are influenced by, the music they listen to, the conversations they have weave a rich tapestry of nuanced storytelling, and you can’t help but feel you’re in this road trip with this family. As much as it’s a story of grand themes of migration and displacement, it’s also the story of a failing marriage and the subtle repercussions that take shape in the children’s own actions, catapulting them into an adventure of their own. All these different voices and narrative arcs, echo and merge to create a staggeringly ambitious soundscape of what it means to be human in inhumane times. It’s haunting, deeply melancholic, evocative and profoundly moving. A true work of genius.