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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
3.5 maybe. Really on the fence with this one. I never enjoyed my time with it, but I really appreciate how creative it is. There is something so fresh and new about it. Probably my favorite of the Booker long list titles I have read so far (which is only four titles).
I found myself skimming thru most of the text. It felt like alot of repetition. If we hear them do they exist? If we make notes and build an archive will we preserve their existence?
Exploring those questions is not enjoyable for me. I prefer hearing stories with more direct consequences. I have too many bouts with existentialism in my own life.
Exploring those questions is not enjoyable for me. I prefer hearing stories with more direct consequences. I have too many bouts with existentialism in my own life.
I put this book down after I started it because I found it off-putting that the protagonist referred to her children as “the boy” and “the girl.” When I picked it up again, I realized no one in the family was named, and that the whole point of the novel was to somehow record the existence of anonymous, “lost children,” either by their presence or their absence. Some readers objected to the depiction of Native Peoples as being “vanishing” or “lost,” but it seemed one of the author’s intentions was to create parallels between the Indian Removal Act and the current situation at our southern border. I agree with other readers that some passages were overwritten and strained credulity, and that the children spoke in voices beyond their years. For me, however, those shortcomings didn’t diminish the power of this novel.
Read it for class and it was...interesting. I'm not sure sure how I feel about how the main character described her interactions with her children.
I enjoyed this book a lot. The subject matter is wildly important, interestingly displayed, and, rarely, and tastefully, in between the darkness of the violence the US inflicts on immigrant children, I even found that Luiselli had moments of true comedy.
My critiques, and the reason for a 4 star rating are such: Luiselli gives off a very, very "New Yorkers visit the Southwest and think they're better than it" attitude throughout the novel. As someone who grew up in NM, her descriptions of the names of the towns rubbed me the wrong way. It felt as if she was describing an alien world rather than a place where human beings live. Additionally, the language she gave the male child (and sometimes even the female child) was advanced past what I would expect for a 9 and 3 year old. It brought me out of the story sometimes because I would think about how much more worldly and philosophical the children were rather than focusing on the content of the story.
Overall, I think its a good jumping off point to start thinking about how we view immigration in America and the countless young lives lost tragically in the desert. I think it spurs activism and a desire to continue to educate yourself.
My critiques, and the reason for a 4 star rating are such: Luiselli gives off a very, very "New Yorkers visit the Southwest and think they're better than it" attitude throughout the novel. As someone who grew up in NM, her descriptions of the names of the towns rubbed me the wrong way. It felt as if she was describing an alien world rather than a place where human beings live. Additionally, the language she gave the male child (and sometimes even the female child) was advanced past what I would expect for a 9 and 3 year old. It brought me out of the story sometimes because I would think about how much more worldly and philosophical the children were rather than focusing on the content of the story.
Overall, I think its a good jumping off point to start thinking about how we view immigration in America and the countless young lives lost tragically in the desert. I think it spurs activism and a desire to continue to educate yourself.
Wow. That was amazing. Layers of story and meaning in beautiful prose. Read it.
I can’t say I much liked this book, which is a shame because I think Luiselli is a terrific writer (read The Story of My Teeth, it’s incredible). It’s also a shame because the subject matter is visceral and powerful, both the wholesale destruction of Native American communities throughout the 19th Century and the Country’s recent awfulness around the deportation of children who cross the border illegally. But the parents at the centre of this novel - one searching for lost tribes, the other searching for lost children - are horrible, self-obsessed people going through a marriage breakup. Spending half the book with them is painful. Thankfully the second half of the novel is through the eyes of their highly intelligent ten-year-old son, and his decision to run away with his five-year-old sister (I seriously can’t blame him). It also has the best depiction of a five year old girl in literature (children’s voices are difficult to capture, but Luiselli nails it). For that alone, the book gets an extra star.
This book just took me forever to finish and it felt like a chore to do so. It was a book club book so I did want to finish it. The story both of a family facing their ending and lost children and immigration. The writing is challenging. It is told from three perspectives the mothers, the sons, and another story. It can be confusing especially at the end when there are just pages and pages of one sentence. At the same time I couldn’t hate it either.
(4.5. RTC)
Reading this after the Women’s Prize shortlist announcement, my frustration at the composition of that list was refreshed. Luiselli takes a Sebaldian approach to her two-pronged story. One strand follows the journey of a group of migrant children from Mexico as they ride the border freight trains, sleep rough, and–sometimes–die, trying to get to a better life. The second follows the road trip of a married couple who are both audio journalists, and their two children, ostensibly traveling towards the American Southwest in order to produce a story about the migrant children. Luiselli’s philosophical, detailed style occasionally outstays its welcome, but mostly Lost Children Archive is a heartbreaking, fiercely intelligent wonder.
If you like what I write, buy me a coffee!
Reading this after the Women’s Prize shortlist announcement, my frustration at the composition of that list was refreshed. Luiselli takes a Sebaldian approach to her two-pronged story. One strand follows the journey of a group of migrant children from Mexico as they ride the border freight trains, sleep rough, and–sometimes–die, trying to get to a better life. The second follows the road trip of a married couple who are both audio journalists, and their two children, ostensibly traveling towards the American Southwest in order to produce a story about the migrant children. Luiselli’s philosophical, detailed style occasionally outstays its welcome, but mostly Lost Children Archive is a heartbreaking, fiercely intelligent wonder.
If you like what I write, buy me a coffee!