Reviews

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata

melissajoulwan's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

4.25

I've always wanted to use the adjective 'elegiac' to describe a novel, and now I can! The plot is pretty straightforward: a young man goes in search of an old man in New Orleans — just after Katrina — to return a book manuscript to him. But this is far more than a road rip/quest novel. It weaves stories inside stories about loss, hope, history, the power of narrative, and the abiding effects of love. It wasn't fun, but it was rewarding, moving, engaging, and packed with references to science fiction stories and concepts. I'll be thinking about this one for quite a while.

julieannasbooks's review

4.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau is Michael Zapata’s newest release. Adana Moreau is a Dominican immigrant living in New Orleans during the 1930’s. During that time, she publishes a science fiction novel that gains a modest following. She begins a sequel to the book, but is never able to finish it due to her passing, and her son Maxwell destroyed the manuscript.

Many years later, Saul Drower of Chicago is going through his grandfather’s things, and he finds a manuscript titled by Adana Moreau. Not knowing the name nor her association with his grandfather, Saul and his friend Javier search for answers in New Orleans during the onset of Hurricane Katrina.

One of the most prominent aspects of this book for me (and my favorite as well) was the idea of preserving memories, your family, and your heritage through writing. Throughout the book, there are several descriptions of the major events of Adana Moreau’s novels, and much of her writing is based on her own life and journey to America. This concept ties into Saul’s perspective as well, and I really liked how this concept was executed over multiple generations of people.

That being said, although this book is presented as a mystery, it ends up becoming much more than that. While I was originally intrigued about the mystery before starting, I became much more invested in the characters and their stories as soon as the book took off. For a book that’s just short of 300 pages, it does pack a punch.

The only thing I found distracting from the overall story was the way that the story was told. The narrative of this book is presented as if a person were telling you the story, and because of that it’s not as descriptive. Sometimes, between this and the way that the dialogue was written, I did find myself lost at some points and had to retrace my reading. But in the same breath, I can see the rationale for it – one of the primary themes of the story is about telling stories, so this technique makes sense in comparison.

I loved how much there was to unpack in this book. There are so many discussions going on in such a short book, even though in summary it’s a book about a book. It’s also a book that’s about displacement, heritage, parallel universes, science fiction, and becoming connected with others on a whole new level. There are so many things that don’t sound like they would go together, but they come together in this book, and the author manages this so smoothly.

I’d highly recommend The Lost Book of Adana Moreau. Between the character’s backstories, the themes of this book, and the variety of concepts explored, there is so much that this book offers. Above all, this book explores how we are all connected. And because this was a debut, I’m looking forward to seeing if the author publishes more books In the future.


Find more of my reviews here: http://julieannasbooks.com/ ❤

black_girl_reading's review against another edition

3.0

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata is a story in a story in a story of sorts. About two science fiction novels written in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s by a young Dominican woman displaced by American imperialism, married to a Black American pirate disenfranchised by American exclusionism, this book follows the popularity of one book, and the destruction and rebirth of the other up into the time surrounding hurricane Katrina. The book had a lot of overarching themes of political upheaval, governmental terror, racism, lateral violence, grief and loss, friendship across difference, and the unifying voice of stories, but somehow I don’t know if there was much there there. I wasn’t enamoured of the original stories of Adana Moreau, and while I enjoyed the journey of her son and his friend, and later of his friend’s grandson and his friend in turn, I don’t know exactly that the underlying narrative of the journey of this book was really a plotline that served the larger messages the novel contained. I didn’t dislike it, but I found it to be a fantastical tale, written at a frantic pace, about not much of anything, which was a bit beguiling and also a bit of a letdown. Thank you @netgalley for the arc, opinions are my own.

erollinus's review against another edition

4.0

Great read, had elements that reminded me.of Shadow of the Wind - however, my only complaint, was the ending. I wish that we just didn't know what happened with his father - that it was implied , and not shown.

andrewb21's review against another edition

3.0

Very well-written prose, but the stories don't establish stakes, or much of a narrative drive past the meandering quest for re-connecting with the past. A great writer, but the plot doesn't demand attention.

leftylauren's review

3.0

Stories and stories. Very attenuated.

jacobsar001's review

5.0

"Giving Maxwell the familiar impression that there was no border between space and the earth and that one inevitably dispersed into the other and then fragmented into beauty."

Beautiful and other worldly. This book captures cyclical human connections throughout time and stories of migration. It's an ode to science fiction and classic literature. I love the journey it took me on and the people met along the way.

henyouise's review

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Incredible story. I'll pick up any book with the name "Moreau" on it and I'm glad I picked this one. It's a *chefs kiss* sci-fi read with some adventure and history mixed in. And you get the adventure from so many different aspects of the story, it's not just one linear thing. I love it and would recommend to anyone who likes sci-fi or adventure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Antisemitism and Abandonment

mkfreckles's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

luckydayyy's review against another edition

3.0

3.5/4 stars