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book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
In an unnamed city in an unnamed South American country, Norma is the beloved on-air host of “Lost City Radio,” where the nation’s lost and tormented souls try to reconnect with loved ones they’ve lost track of. It is ten years since the most recent civil war ended – at least officially. But people still live in fear of reprisal and even Norma’s show isn’t immune to the sort of self-censorship that comes from self-preservation. Norma’s husband is among the missing, and she daren’t read his name aloud.
The powerful thing about this book is that it is so universal. While it takes place in South America, it could take place in many countries around the world. Alarcon explores what it means to live in constant fear, trusting no one, afraid that any small slip of the tongue may mark you as the enemy or a collaborator, leaving you second-guessing every small gesture or the posture of that stranger on the street you’ve seen once too often recently. His use of the orphan boy, Victor, to trigger the memories of the adults he comes across is an effective technique. For like most children, Victor’s needs are simple and immediate. He doesn’t understand the larger implications of his mission to take a list of missing from his small mountain village to the large city radio station. He only knows that he is alone, and that this is his chance to find his father.
Alarcon mixes tenses fluidly and sometimes within one paragraph. A remark or smell will trigger a memory and the text follows the character’s wandering mind as he or she remembers something that happened in the past. Then, just as suddenly as if awakening from a dream, the action is back in the present and we are back on the bus headed for the city, or back in the café having lunch. It sounds as if this would be very confusing, but Alarcon is skilled at making this device work wonderfully.
In the end, only the reader knows what happened to one missing person, while being left to wonder what will happen to the many.
The powerful thing about this book is that it is so universal. While it takes place in South America, it could take place in many countries around the world. Alarcon explores what it means to live in constant fear, trusting no one, afraid that any small slip of the tongue may mark you as the enemy or a collaborator, leaving you second-guessing every small gesture or the posture of that stranger on the street you’ve seen once too often recently. His use of the orphan boy, Victor, to trigger the memories of the adults he comes across is an effective technique. For like most children, Victor’s needs are simple and immediate. He doesn’t understand the larger implications of his mission to take a list of missing from his small mountain village to the large city radio station. He only knows that he is alone, and that this is his chance to find his father.
Alarcon mixes tenses fluidly and sometimes within one paragraph. A remark or smell will trigger a memory and the text follows the character’s wandering mind as he or she remembers something that happened in the past. Then, just as suddenly as if awakening from a dream, the action is back in the present and we are back on the bus headed for the city, or back in the café having lunch. It sounds as if this would be very confusing, but Alarcon is skilled at making this device work wonderfully.
In the end, only the reader knows what happened to one missing person, while being left to wonder what will happen to the many.
princessklee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
alanaleigh's review against another edition
3.0
Hurray for wonderful book club members that create interesting lists and select good books.
I enjoyed Lost City Radio. I didn't really adore it, but I read it quickly and found very little fault with it. It struck me as a novel that junior high or high school teachers might encourage their students to read as a means of introducing them to certain historical events, and it would be an excellent way to do this. And I don't mean that as a slight that some people intend when they assign books to a certain age group or something. I'm not saying that only eighth-graders should read this, but it made me somewhat feel like I was back in school and about to study a South American civil war.
On top of that, I often find a certain similarity in the tone of stories that focus on missing loved ones, particularly when we're talking about situations like this where a Latin/South American country suffers civil war and many disappear. It's horrific and sad and so very upsetting to live with the knowledge that there will never be closure to the feeling of loss... It's one of those things that I cannot possibly comprehend and I hope I never will.
So, the story. This novel focuses on three characters in an unnamed country, weaving back and forth through time as we eventually learn about what (predictably) links them together. While our focus remains on these and a handful of others, the two main locations are the jungle and the city. The circumstances of the civil war and the country are vague, which means we bring in our own vague knowledge of many Latin/South American countries that have experienced civil wars, dictators, rebel armies, and mass disappearances that foster a culture of fear. And because of that, we automatically have ourselves a scenario and we're free to focus on what this means to our characters and what it does to change their lives.
First and foremost, we have Norma. Norma hosts "Lost City Radio," a Sunday radio program where callers phone with names and descriptions of missing loved ones. While her face might not be known to the country, it's practically impossible for her to speak outside of the radio without being identified. The people love her. She is repeatedly stopped and handed lists of names to be read on her show. Lost City Radio is often the site for staged reunions and everyone in the country seems to tune in, desperate to locate their own missing family, friends, and loved ones.
Norma's own husband is one of the missing, though she cannot speak his name on the air without fear of some action being taken. Possibly a member of the rebel group, the IL, Rey was a man who was taken into custody and imprisoned on the very night that he met Norma. He was released and met her once more a year later, so Norma returns to this fact constantly as an excuse for why she cannot quite let go. His ability to disappear and reappear in her life became so ingrained with their relationship that even now, ten years later, she cannot help but hope. She does not know how involved he was with a rebel movement and deluded herself into believing that her husband was a man who kept no secrets.
The third character that we have is young Victor, an eleven-year-old boy who is sent by his village to see Norma and bring her the list of their village's missing. His mother has just died, he never knew his father, and his teacher (who accompanied him to the city) appears to have abandoned him at the radio station, so Norma takes charge of him and it is at that point where we begin our story.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, though most everything came as a given in the plot. A weaving storyline will do that, as you assume certain things to fill in the gaps and then, when you double-back, your assumptions are confirmed. Thus, you're thankful that Alacron is a good storyteller and you're compelled to finish the novel based on that alone, because you know what's going to happen. I found this to be one of those books where you don't shed tears, and yet you still feel sadness pervading every page. It's a constant emotion in the book, despite small bursts of anxiety, fear and even some joy, as we're looking back on events that cannot be changed, and it's only once we reach the end that we look forward to what can be done.
ajith's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
The odds of it getting mistaken for a sci-fi thriller is more owing to its apocalyptic sounding title that lovers of political/family drama might brush it off without a second glance. That's the plausible explanation I could come up with for this evidently underrated and hence obscure work of fiction.
The novel is set in an unnamed authoritarian South American country where political unrest is in the air. The government is hellbent on cracking down any forms of subversion and they are at war with the dissidents for years.
Norma is in her early 40s, is widely popular nationwide for running ‘Lost City Radio’, a Sunday night talk show where callers dial in in anticipation to find the whereabouts of their long lost ones, a consequence of decade long war and subsequent displacements.Her show has been instrumental for a number of reunions of estranged families, but behind the facade of her mellifluous voice Norma has been battling her own emotional wreckage because her husband Rey, an ethnobotanist, has been missing for more than a decade.
In comes Victor, a 11 year old boy who lost his mother recently and his father earlier, accompanied by his teacher Manau who leads the boy to Norma at the radio station before managing to slip off stealthily.Victor has a list of names with him that he hands over to Norma.Depending on how a name is perceived in this country, speaking out it has its ramifications that Norma has to be mindful of. The story unfolds slowly leaving us in suspense till the last page.
The narrative, due to its political undertone, lends an ominousity that stays throughout. For a debut novel, the author appeared super confident for he hasn't bothered to spoon feed the readers with details that they could deduce themselves.
"There are people out there who think of themselves as belonging to someone.To a person who, for whatever reason,has gone.And they wait years : they don't look for their missing, they are the missing". (Page 233)
If you ask me what this novel is seriously missing, that would be the accolades it ideally should have received. And here is my humble contribution towards bettering it.
lgmaxwell722's review against another edition
3.0
An intriguing read. Never knowing the location of the story adds to the mystery of a women who longs to find her husband through a radio program.
paintchips1003's review against another edition
5.0
I wasn't into it until the last 20 pages and then, holy cow, I realized Alarcon had crafted something.
audaciaray's review against another edition
4.0
So richly written, with heavy doses of loss and the ever looming spectre of violence.
alaiyo0685's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book to be thoroughly predictable but still overall rather enjoyable.
karenleagermain's review against another edition
3.0
Daniel Alarcon's novel "Lost City Radio" is set during a violent civil war in Peru (although not named as Peru) and follows several characters from a myriad of backgrounds and locations as their lives intersect in surprising ways.
I wanted to enjoy this book, but felt a big disconnect. I'm not completely sure what created the disconnect, but at times, I was finding it a chore to read the book. It seemed just as I was ready to give up, a beautiful passage would draw me in and compel me to keep reading.
Alarcon writes lyrically and it's easy to get swept away by his beautiful prose.
I found the narraration occasionally be confusion, as he would switch voices. It was an artistic choice, that didn't always work for me. This could have been the biggest factor towards creating the disconnect.
At times, the story felt repetitive in its sentiment or just simply not moving forward with regard to either plot or character development. It's not a particularly tricky story with twists and surprises, but the way story jumped between characters and time frames it felt like an episode of "Lost"!
As far as the plot, I found the plight of the Indians to be the most engaging. Alarcon has many big themes in his story and the one of globalization and expanding territories was the biggest take-away for me. It was the most affecting portion of the story. This is a story of people that do not have power and who are without a voice. None are more powerless than the natives caught in the middle of a war that is not even theirs.
I enjoyed the interview with the author following the story, more than I enjoyed the story itself. It seems like Alarcon has a rich family History and even though he is adept at writing fiction, I wish that he had written a non-fiction account on the subject.
I enjoyed the interview with the author following the story, more than I enjoyed the story itself. It seems like Alarcon has a rich family History and even though he is adept at writing fiction, I wish that he had written a non-fiction account on the subject.
Please visit my blog for more reviews and musings!
I wanted to enjoy this book, but felt a big disconnect. I'm not completely sure what created the disconnect, but at times, I was finding it a chore to read the book. It seemed just as I was ready to give up, a beautiful passage would draw me in and compel me to keep reading.
Alarcon writes lyrically and it's easy to get swept away by his beautiful prose.
I found the narraration occasionally be confusion, as he would switch voices. It was an artistic choice, that didn't always work for me. This could have been the biggest factor towards creating the disconnect.
At times, the story felt repetitive in its sentiment or just simply not moving forward with regard to either plot or character development. It's not a particularly tricky story with twists and surprises, but the way story jumped between characters and time frames it felt like an episode of "Lost"!
As far as the plot, I found the plight of the Indians to be the most engaging. Alarcon has many big themes in his story and the one of globalization and expanding territories was the biggest take-away for me. It was the most affecting portion of the story. This is a story of people that do not have power and who are without a voice. None are more powerless than the natives caught in the middle of a war that is not even theirs.
I enjoyed the interview with the author following the story, more than I enjoyed the story itself. It seems like Alarcon has a rich family History and even though he is adept at writing fiction, I wish that he had written a non-fiction account on the subject.
I enjoyed the interview with the author following the story, more than I enjoyed the story itself. It seems like Alarcon has a rich family History and even though he is adept at writing fiction, I wish that he had written a non-fiction account on the subject.
Please visit my blog for more reviews and musings!