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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Despite Luiselli's excellent prose, and the incredible depth and humour she brought to the characterization of the two children when told from the voice of the mother, this book was a disappointment.
My issue, and it's a very big one, is with her consistent description of the Chiricahua
Apache as "lost", absent, vanished, existing only in the past.
"Because they were the last of something."
"...where...the last of the Apaches are buried."
"He's somehow trying to capture their past presence in the world, and making it audible, despite their current absence..."
This is a lie. They are, in no way, gone. They are very much alive, present and have their own voices. It's shocking to me, that someone who obviously did an incredible amount of research for this book never bothered to fact-check what accounts for a foundational part of this story. The irony of how she fully takes away the reality and voice of one group of marginalized people while trying so hard to capture the sounds, the voices, the presence of another marginalized group. The disservice she does to the Chiricahua by propagating the lie that they are, essentially "extinct" is sickening to me.
My issue, and it's a very big one, is with her consistent description of the Chiricahua
Apache as "lost", absent, vanished, existing only in the past.
"Because they were the last of something."
"...where...the last of the Apaches are buried."
"He's somehow trying to capture their past presence in the world, and making it audible, despite their current absence..."
This is a lie. They are, in no way, gone. They are very much alive, present and have their own voices. It's shocking to me, that someone who obviously did an incredible amount of research for this book never bothered to fact-check what accounts for a foundational part of this story. The irony of how she fully takes away the reality and voice of one group of marginalized people while trying so hard to capture the sounds, the voices, the presence of another marginalized group. The disservice she does to the Chiricahua by propagating the lie that they are, essentially "extinct" is sickening to me.
Beautiful, devastating read, which developed more twists and layers the deeper I dug into this story within a story. My full review (on the second half) for the (awesomely-fun-and-enlightening-and-if-you're-not-following-them-you-should-be) Tournament of Books is here:
https://themorningnews.org/article/camp-tob-2019-week-six-lost-children-archive
https://themorningnews.org/article/camp-tob-2019-week-six-lost-children-archive
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
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
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a superb audio production! And just a lovely book. Really enjoyed the blend of past/present texts, past/present migration, past/present timelines ... probably one of the best ways to write a novel about the brutal migrant crisis in our midst: sideways.
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
a really stunning road trip novel that has its finger on the pulse of modern american life. multimedia novels often feel meta for meta's sake but the documents, the archives, and the polaroids in this novel actually aid the narrative immensely, it's so rare that this style of novel works this well.
the 'elegies' presented throughout, for me, harked back to the border writings of Tomás Rivera and Gloria Anzaldúa, two comparisons I do not make lightly! easily one of the best and most essential novels published in 2019.
the 'elegies' presented throughout, for me, harked back to the border writings of Tomás Rivera and Gloria Anzaldúa, two comparisons I do not make lightly! easily one of the best and most essential novels published in 2019.