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syd_a's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 I did not enjoy this all that much, it was a lot of random thoughts and the plot didn’t even seem to finish by the end. However this is the last book I needed to read before I get my English degree so I gave it an extra 0.5 for that.
k_buck4's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
emiliano_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.5
book_concierge's review against another edition
5.0
Digital audiobook performed by the author, Kivlighan de Montebello, William DeMeritt, and Maia Enrigue Luiselli.
A cross-country journey from New York to Arizona gives one family – mother, father, 10-year-old boy, five-year-old girl – an opportunity to explore the history of this nation from two perspectives: How the immigrant Europeans, in the name of expanded opportunities, wrested the land from the native population, and how their descendants are trying to keep a new wave of immigrants from seeking their own opportunities.
As they travel, they sing along with the songs on the radio, play games, stop at various tourist attractions. They encounter people of all walks of life, and differences the parents sometimes struggle to explain to the children. And they begin to hear more and more news coverage of a growing crisis along our nation’s southern border – the many children who are desperately trying to enter the country.
I loved the way this unfolded. Luiselli changes narrators hallway through the book, first giving us the mother’s perspective, and then the son’s. Both parents work to document things, but one is a documentarian and the other a documentarist. I’m still not sure I fully understand the difference, but clearly this difference is important to both the man and the woman. What’s important to the reader is the way they are documenting what is happening, in their family, in nature, in the nation, in the world. And this forces the reader to think about how we remember things. The same photograph of a landmark, or a family gathering, will elicit different memories from those who viewed that same event together. And a child’s interpretation will be far different from an adult’s.
As distressing as the images and stories of the lost children trying to enter this country are, the specifics of this family’s journey had me on the edge of my seat. I could not help but think of the Stephen Sondheim song “Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods.
Luisselli’s writing is evocative of time and place. I could clearly picture the changing landscape as the family travels across the United States.
I am so looking forward to my F2F book club discussion of this book!
The audiobook is performed by a team including the author, Kivlighan de Montebello, William DeMeritt, and Maia Enrigue Luiselli. This was a very effective way of reading this book. However, the text has numerous photographs, drawings, maps, which are difficult to convey in audio format. Though I applaud the team for how they managed this, I’m glad I had a text version handy so I could see what they were describing.
A cross-country journey from New York to Arizona gives one family – mother, father, 10-year-old boy, five-year-old girl – an opportunity to explore the history of this nation from two perspectives: How the immigrant Europeans, in the name of expanded opportunities, wrested the land from the native population, and how their descendants are trying to keep a new wave of immigrants from seeking their own opportunities.
As they travel, they sing along with the songs on the radio, play games, stop at various tourist attractions. They encounter people of all walks of life, and differences the parents sometimes struggle to explain to the children. And they begin to hear more and more news coverage of a growing crisis along our nation’s southern border – the many children who are desperately trying to enter the country.
I loved the way this unfolded. Luiselli changes narrators hallway through the book, first giving us the mother’s perspective, and then the son’s. Both parents work to document things, but one is a documentarian and the other a documentarist. I’m still not sure I fully understand the difference, but clearly this difference is important to both the man and the woman. What’s important to the reader is the way they are documenting what is happening, in their family, in nature, in the nation, in the world. And this forces the reader to think about how we remember things. The same photograph of a landmark, or a family gathering, will elicit different memories from those who viewed that same event together. And a child’s interpretation will be far different from an adult’s.
As distressing as the images and stories of the lost children trying to enter this country are, the specifics of this family’s journey had me on the edge of my seat. I could not help but think of the Stephen Sondheim song “Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods.
Luisselli’s writing is evocative of time and place. I could clearly picture the changing landscape as the family travels across the United States.
I am so looking forward to my F2F book club discussion of this book!
The audiobook is performed by a team including the author, Kivlighan de Montebello, William DeMeritt, and Maia Enrigue Luiselli. This was a very effective way of reading this book. However, the text has numerous photographs, drawings, maps, which are difficult to convey in audio format. Though I applaud the team for how they managed this, I’m glad I had a text version handy so I could see what they were describing.
cordeliana's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.25
ktaylorhurley's review against another edition
5.0
I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for an alternative to American Dirt. This book is so beautifully written, it cracked my heart open. The writing is so straightforward, it leaves room for the structure and the story to be complex and nuanced. I just loved it.
thepletts's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
3.0
Valeria Luiselli is a gifted writer, and I was surprised at how much I liked the early part of the novel--characters with no names, musing a lot, headed somewhere that is not where their map goes--these don't usually grab me, but I was taken along on this road trip with this uncomfortable couple. When Luiselli switched the narrator, that's when I veered off. the track. Might I go back and pick up where I left off? Maybe. Maybe not.
3.5 stars.
3.5 stars.
jcgrenn_reads's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a shout into a void, each page an echo of truth back to us. Incriminatingly perfect, this intensely real book sits alone, calmly looking down at all of us stunned readers as we close it at the end. A thoughtful meandering at first slowly, calculatedly turns into one of the most powerful final sets of pages of a novel I’ve ever read.