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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
This novel mixes several stories: a family roadtrip; the stories of refugee children that get lost; the end of the Apache tribe.
Not only is there constant switching between the different stories, there is also a switch from the POV of the mother to that of the son.
The whole book is filled with cultural references.
I am very thankful that I followed the advice to read [b:Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions|33608721|Tell Me How It Ends An Essay in Forty Questions|Valeria Luiselli|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497428713s/33608721.jpg|54428382] first. I’m not sure my reading of this book would have been the same if I missed it.
While I did not consider it an easy read, I think it is an amazing, beautiful and very sad book. It urges us to think about some very difficult topics.
(Can I please ask that all people who think children should be detained, read this? This book shows that the way we treat children has nothing to do with politics. Ignoring this problem is ignoring our own humanity)
Not only is there constant switching between the different stories, there is also a switch from the POV of the mother to that of the son.
The whole book is filled with cultural references.
I am very thankful that I followed the advice to read [b:Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions|33608721|Tell Me How It Ends An Essay in Forty Questions|Valeria Luiselli|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497428713s/33608721.jpg|54428382] first. I’m not sure my reading of this book would have been the same if I missed it.
While I did not consider it an easy read, I think it is an amazing, beautiful and very sad book. It urges us to think about some very difficult topics.
(Can I please ask that all people who think children should be detained, read this? This book shows that the way we treat children has nothing to do with politics. Ignoring this problem is ignoring our own humanity)
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was not the story I hoped it would be, and the story it was was quite dull, with pretentious and unlikable characters. I could not suspend my disbelief of how unrealistic and stupid these people were. And then there was the writing. So many overdone and avant-garde choices, including a sentence that was literally 20 pages long! I kept hoping it would get more interesting, but it didn't.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book contains glimpses of brilliance interwoven with essayistic autofiction. From the outset, Luiselli employs a vague narrative voice that is perhaps an embodiment of the protagonistic family's meandering but instead makes the interspersed political commentary jarring. The latter half of the novel switches to the perspective of a child, a gimmick I often find difficult to tolerate. Lending a ten-year-old the awareness and precocity required to hold a reader's attention is a recipe for disingenuity.
In this instance, however, the perspective saves the author from herself, distancing the political aspects of the novel and allowing her audience to revel in fiction. The second half of the novel - almost entirely disparate from the first - explores the strength of memories (i.e. echoes) and their documentation. It also feels like a betrayal of the author's agenda and her faith in the ability of 'displacement' - the titular theme of this manifesto-cum-novel - to maintain momentum.
The archives throughout, especially the Migrant Mortality Reports, invoke this theme in a way the author may not have intended: displacing the reader from their suspension of disbelief and, subsequently, their enjoyment of the novel.
In this instance, however, the perspective saves the author from herself, distancing the political aspects of the novel and allowing her audience to revel in fiction. The second half of the novel - almost entirely disparate from the first - explores the strength of memories (i.e. echoes) and their documentation. It also feels like a betrayal of the author's agenda and her faith in the ability of 'displacement' - the titular theme of this manifesto-cum-novel - to maintain momentum.
The archives throughout, especially the Migrant Mortality Reports, invoke this theme in a way the author may not have intended: displacing the reader from their suspension of disbelief and, subsequently, their enjoyment of the novel.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No