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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
An interesting layered story whose narrator switches several times, and evolves into a plot that made me need to know what happens next.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Que angustia. Realmente páginas que muestran el camino hacia un infierno con ticket de retorno. La búsqueda de una vida mejor que solo tiene vuelta en U y tal vez un camino sin posibilidad a seguir.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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:
Yes
This felt overly referential and pretentious. The kids didn't feel realistic and the parents weren't fleshed out. I feel like we got information about their actions but not who they are, if that makes sense. The native narrative and immigration conversation were jumbled and felt like plot devices.
This beautifully written book seems to be something different to everyone who reviews it. While yes, it is overtly about immigration - to me, it's also about sound, and words, and documenting, and memories, and journeys.
It's exactly the kind of book I enjoy and also exactly the kind of book I probably wouldn't recommend to most. There is a plot, but it's mostly introspection.
It was a strange coincidence that while I was reading this book, the governor of Florida illegally lured and flew migrants and asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard as a political stunt. This just underscored the ongoing plight of lost children I was reading about.
It's exactly the kind of book I enjoy and also exactly the kind of book I probably wouldn't recommend to most. There is a plot, but it's mostly introspection.
It was a strange coincidence that while I was reading this book, the governor of Florida illegally lured and flew migrants and asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard as a political stunt. This just underscored the ongoing plight of lost children I was reading about.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
“But sometimes a little light can make you aware of the dark, unknown space that surrounds it, of the enormous ignorance that envelops everything we think we know. And that recognition and coming to terms with darkness is more valuable than all the factual knowledge we may ever accumulate.”
I found the conversation that the mother had with her stepson about the Lord of the Flies and the social contract between individuals interesting. Many Americans choose to define their part of the social contract as a responsibility to the well-being of only other fellow citizens. The mother in this novel disagreed with this point of view. As she and her husband were about to go their separate ways, the two adults were reconsidering their responsibilities to the family, curtailing the obligations to each other and to their two children. With the resulting separation of the siblings, the parents have now redefined their responsibilities to only their own biological child. So it seems to me that both the United States and the parents in the novel have decided to limit their liabilities and look to their own self-interest.
“But after a little while, they'd be more worried than mad. Ma would start thinking of us the way she thought of them, the lost children. All the time and with all her heart. And Pa would focus on finding our echoes, instead of all the other echoes he was chasing. And here's the most important part, if we too were lost children, we would have to be found again. Ma and Pa would have to find us. They would find us, I knew that.”
“The lost children archive” by Valeria Luisselli is a road story stacked with a dizzying number of layers of meaning and artistic expression. It veers between depression and spinning out of control through stories of finding and seeking, but holds together in the end.