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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
A sound documentarian and his journalist wife, embark on a journey across USA from New York to Arizona, with their 10 year old son and 5 year old daughter.
The couple met while working on a documentary about the sounds of New York, and fell in love over this shared project.
Each brought to the marriage a child - the husband, a boy and the wife, a girl. They have become a single family unit, but the husband is restless and wants to embark on an epic road trip to follow the history of the Apache - for reasons unknown.
The wife is reluctant, at first, but comes to realise that something is amiss with their relationship, and she is also feeling restless. She has become involved in the story of two Mexican refugee girls, being held at the border, and decides to combine the road trip with a project about missing refugee children - "lost children".
They begin their trip with a few possessions, recording equipment, a polaroid camera, and some archive boxes, which are filled with various research materials/books/pictures associated with their two projects - and two empty boxes for the children to fill along the way.
As the family drives west, the father tells the children of the tragic history of the Apache, and the mother shares stories of the refugee children stranded at the southern border and being deported back home to an unknown fate....while a marriage falls apart at the seams.
This is a difficult book to review, so I may ramble a bit here!
Ultimately, it is a book about the sound and rhythm of our lives - how sometimes the beats of individuals can be in harmony, and at other times discordant. Sometimes, the harmonious note of a couple can become out of sync over time, and the music that was once there is gone.
It is a book about things that are lost - not just "lost children".
This book is actually in two different parts.
The first covers the narrative of the mother and describes their journey west, the tales that are shared with the children, and the worsening relationship with her husband. She finds it difficult to understand why her husband is so obsessed with tracing the history of the Apache tribe, and this is not really explained, although it does provide a reason for the road trip.
This part of the story, which takes up the majority of the book, is actually rather boring and introspective. Not a lot really happens, other than domestic dramas and the pace is very slow. To be honest, the Apache tales become a bit tedious, though they do serve to inspire the children to take on new identities - as sort of "braves".
I have seen a few reviews from people who have given up on this book, because they found it boring and I can see why, based on the first part.
The second part of the book is the narrative of the son. This part was by far the best bit of the book.
In this section, it becomes clear that the stories of both the mother and father have made a very big impression on him. The boy becomes fired up with the idea that, as a "brave", he can help to find the two refugee girls, who have now become lost after running away from a detainment centre.
The boy leaves a note and map for his parents, and takes his sister on a journey through the desert to trace the footsteps of the "lost children". In effect, they become "lost children" themselves.
This is the most powerful part of the book and my heart was in my mouth the whole time they were alone and vulnerable.
Thankfully, the boy and girl are found safe and well, but the fate of the other "lost children" is not so certain - are the missing girls alive or dead? We will never know for sure.
The boy is actually very astute, when it comes to the state of his parents' marriage. He can see the end is nigh, and because of this, he fills his archive box with momentos for his sister, so she will remember him and their adventures. This was so touching and beautiful that it made me shed a tear or two, and made the whole book worthwhile. So, if you give this book a go, please make sure to read it all.
The couple met while working on a documentary about the sounds of New York, and fell in love over this shared project.
Each brought to the marriage a child - the husband, a boy and the wife, a girl. They have become a single family unit, but the husband is restless and wants to embark on an epic road trip to follow the history of the Apache - for reasons unknown.
The wife is reluctant, at first, but comes to realise that something is amiss with their relationship, and she is also feeling restless. She has become involved in the story of two Mexican refugee girls, being held at the border, and decides to combine the road trip with a project about missing refugee children - "lost children".
They begin their trip with a few possessions, recording equipment, a polaroid camera, and some archive boxes, which are filled with various research materials/books/pictures associated with their two projects - and two empty boxes for the children to fill along the way.
As the family drives west, the father tells the children of the tragic history of the Apache, and the mother shares stories of the refugee children stranded at the southern border and being deported back home to an unknown fate....while a marriage falls apart at the seams.
This is a difficult book to review, so I may ramble a bit here!
Ultimately, it is a book about the sound and rhythm of our lives - how sometimes the beats of individuals can be in harmony, and at other times discordant. Sometimes, the harmonious note of a couple can become out of sync over time, and the music that was once there is gone.
It is a book about things that are lost - not just "lost children".
This book is actually in two different parts.
The first covers the narrative of the mother and describes their journey west, the tales that are shared with the children, and the worsening relationship with her husband. She finds it difficult to understand why her husband is so obsessed with tracing the history of the Apache tribe, and this is not really explained, although it does provide a reason for the road trip.
This part of the story, which takes up the majority of the book, is actually rather boring and introspective. Not a lot really happens, other than domestic dramas and the pace is very slow. To be honest, the Apache tales become a bit tedious, though they do serve to inspire the children to take on new identities - as sort of "braves".
I have seen a few reviews from people who have given up on this book, because they found it boring and I can see why, based on the first part.
The second part of the book is the narrative of the son. This part was by far the best bit of the book.
In this section, it becomes clear that the stories of both the mother and father have made a very big impression on him. The boy becomes fired up with the idea that, as a "brave", he can help to find the two refugee girls, who have now become lost after running away from a detainment centre.
The boy leaves a note and map for his parents, and takes his sister on a journey through the desert to trace the footsteps of the "lost children". In effect, they become "lost children" themselves.
This is the most powerful part of the book and my heart was in my mouth the whole time they were alone and vulnerable.
Thankfully, the boy and girl are found safe and well, but the fate of the other "lost children" is not so certain - are the missing girls alive or dead? We will never know for sure.
The boy is actually very astute, when it comes to the state of his parents' marriage. He can see the end is nigh, and because of this, he fills his archive box with momentos for his sister, so she will remember him and their adventures. This was so touching and beautiful that it made me shed a tear or two, and made the whole book worthwhile. So, if you give this book a go, please make sure to read it all.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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:
No
Not quite sure what to make of this novel, not even sure if I should call it a novel.
I really liked some passages and really struggled with some others, not necessarily in the same parts.
Why insist that Polaroid pictures need to be stuck into a book to develop properly? And why did this annoy me so much?
I really liked some passages and really struggled with some others, not necessarily in the same parts.
Why insist that Polaroid pictures need to be stuck into a book to develop properly? And why did this annoy me so much?
I really enjoyed parts of this book, but the parts I didn’t enjoy were so incredibly tedious they don’t make up the difference. I think I’m just not literary enough to appreciate what the author was trying to do.
A powerful book, beautifully written and very timely. Lost children arriving at the border. It’s a story about a young family, against the backdrop of the humanitarian crisis at the border. The parents, educated and intellectual but lack any sense, fill their 5 and 10 years old kids with the most damaging details of history and the news. Why? Told as a road trip, I shared the kids’ sentiment at times- “are we there yet?” It could have used some editing. We didn’t have to witness every napkin and feather they found.
There is a great deal about sounds, so an audiobook version was recommended. Unfortunately The author was one of the narrators of the audiobook, and I found her delivery flat.
It’s a heartbreaking reality.
There is a great deal about sounds, so an audiobook version was recommended. Unfortunately The author was one of the narrators of the audiobook, and I found her delivery flat.
It’s a heartbreaking reality.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was gifted this book for Christmas by a colleague. I learned that another colleague has attended Columbia with the author so I felt almost obligated to read it. ***I wish I would have read the author's notes before diving into the book. It certainly would have alerted me to the experimental approach to the writing and saved me a lot of frustration. I took a long time to write a review because I was really unsure how I feel about the book….even now. I applaud the efforts to incorporate a number of literary styles, however, it just feels discombobulated and unfinished. Its also quite possible I am not the intended audience as I am unfamiliar with many of the literary references the author mentioned in her notes.
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This complex novel is difficult to sum up in a short review. With a main character who calls herself a "documentarian" and her husband who calls himself a "documentarist" this novel raises interesting questions about what it means to document a person or an event, and what details should be included in such a document or archive. The archive boxes at the center of the story layer onto these questions, as do the projects the protagonist and her husband are working on: she, to search for two unaccompanied children who crossed the southern border into the US and then were lost and to bring attention to the issue of migrant children who are lost once they cross the border; he, to document echoes of Geronimo, the last Apache holdout. In both cases, the subjects of their project face erasure by a dominant white culture and one question is how they can be seen and/or remembered while respecting their humanity.
The story is told through a road trip from New York to Arizona taken by the protagonist, her husband, and their children, a boy and a girl. The first part of the novel is from the protagonist's point of view, and the second part from the boy's point of view. The shifting points of view, the descriptions of the archive boxes, and the collection of Polaroid pictures taken by the boy through the course of their travels, as well as the stories of unaccompanied children traveling by train through Mexico to the US that are interspersed throughout, help the reader experience issues of immigration through individual experiences instead of in the abstract. The novel offers no solutions, merely questions that are likely to change the way many white American readers think about immigration, while also reflecting on relationships and the power held by those who write the history books.
The story is told through a road trip from New York to Arizona taken by the protagonist, her husband, and their children, a boy and a girl. The first part of the novel is from the protagonist's point of view, and the second part from the boy's point of view. The shifting points of view, the descriptions of the archive boxes, and the collection of Polaroid pictures taken by the boy through the course of their travels, as well as the stories of unaccompanied children traveling by train through Mexico to the US that are interspersed throughout, help the reader experience issues of immigration through individual experiences instead of in the abstract. The novel offers no solutions, merely questions that are likely to change the way many white American readers think about immigration, while also reflecting on relationships and the power held by those who write the history books.
I listened to this one on audiobook, and this seemed like a very appropriate way read it because so much is about audio. And the recording uses a variety of voices and some inventiveness in its technique that all seemed appropriate. Though I do want to look back to see how some of it was handled in the text. I enjoyed it and, though the subject matter is moving, the novel itself didn't move me much.