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simoneclark's review
3.0
Thank you, NetGalley and Harlequin, for a complimentary copy of this book! This review reflects my personal opinion.
I had a hard time coming up with a description of my feelings about this book. Thankfully, another reviewer mentioned exactly what I felt was off for me in the book: "Written entirely in omniscient third person past tense narrative with little quoted dialogue, the coldly remote observer style loses readers as the author moves omnisciently between time, place, and character." (Todd Stocklager) I honestly got lost a lot. There was hardly any real dialogue and that made it hard for me to identify with the characters or at least feel some kind of connection to them. The story itself was great and unique. I loved the combination of sci-fi, a bit of fantasy, history, and contemporary. However, the implementation of the concept was not for me.
I had a hard time coming up with a description of my feelings about this book. Thankfully, another reviewer mentioned exactly what I felt was off for me in the book: "Written entirely in omniscient third person past tense narrative with little quoted dialogue, the coldly remote observer style loses readers as the author moves omnisciently between time, place, and character." (Todd Stocklager) I honestly got lost a lot. There was hardly any real dialogue and that made it hard for me to identify with the characters or at least feel some kind of connection to them. The story itself was great and unique. I loved the combination of sci-fi, a bit of fantasy, history, and contemporary. However, the implementation of the concept was not for me.
kteddycurr's review against another edition
4.0
The epilogue might have made the book a little worse. But I otherwise loved it
oknicky's review
4.0
Zapata wrote his book over ten years. Reading it is like opening a drawer filled with a decade's worth of ideas. Story upon story upon story, descriptions and overviews of stories. Lists of books and authors. Oh, and jokes. Also, a few paintings and maps. Very Jewish. Would recommend.
joangittel's review against another edition
3.0
This got great reviews, and I sort of understand why. Reminded me of the style of Isabel Allende a little. Although I really wanted to love this and I really tried, ultimately I couldn't get into it and abandoned it halfway through.
alundeberg's review against another edition
4.0
When I heard of Michael Zapata's "The Lost Book of Adana Moreau" about a Latin American science fiction writer, a lost manuscript, and parallel universes, I anticipated something mythical and magical along the lines of Carlos Ruiz Zafón or Silvia Moreno-Garcia. While there are personal quests, journeys to far off locales, and mysteries to be solved, the similarities end there. Zapata's novel is very real as he explores the themes of loss, connection, exile, family, war and destruction, and the power of telling one's own story. Spanning multiple generations and genocides, the novel centers on Saul Drower who tries to fulfill his grandfather's dying wish that the lost book of Adana Moreau be returned to her son. This leads to a journey to the past in the Dominican Republic, Russia, Great Depression America to Argentina during the Dirty War to post-Katrina New Orleans. It is a beautifully written heavy-read very relevant to these times as we continue to face destruction in the face of racism and COVID. Throughout the novel the idea of characters living in parallel universes-- where they are still alive, still together, still as a family-- is explored. This felt particularly relevant as COVID had pushed all of us into a parallel universe of pain and uncertainty; all of us can look at the calendar and know what we would be doing instead in our "normal" lives. Zapata's work is not a one-way mirror into escapism and magical worlds, but a mirror of our world and our tenuous hold on it.
glendareads39's review
5.0
Michael Zapata's debut novel was moving, captivating, and well developed. It's story within a story combining Science Fiction and Historical fiction. Told by multidimensional characters and realistic settings . Two stories about the son of a writer and the manuscript deliverer. It filling pages with emotion and color. It's a tribute to storytelling. It's about an Domincian writer named Adana Moreau who writes a Sci-Fi novel in 1920's New Orleans, the book becomes a success. Adana tries to write a sequel but she falls gravely ill. She and her son Maxwell destroys the manuscript. Decades later in Chicago, Saul Drower was cleaning out his Grandfather's house to discovers a package containing a manuscript written by Adana Moreau. Saul and his friend Javier searches for Adana's son in New Orleans.
minty's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the sense of wonder that this book contains. I don't even know how to articulate what it felt like to be in this world--kind of like a character on an adventure, but also to discover who they are, and also to learn who their family is. Like a bildungsroman for a whole family? I don't know, I enjoyed this greatly.
juhlig's review
adventurous
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
I could tell this book was well written but it wasn’t a style I enjoyed. The narrative was windy, taking many paragraphs to describe a scene or interaction or dialogue that could have been a few lines. I wanted Adanas book to mean something more than it did, which was basically nothing except to bring two characters together, and even then it was a rewrite which could not be the same. I did like the path you were taken on as a reader, across timelines and characters and “worlds”.
catalinalao's review
1.0
This book was a nightmare. So many short stories within short stories. Didn’t engage me in any way.