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someryarns's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Infidelity, Death, Child death, and Cursing
bobo_smrad's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
Minor: Gun violence
An astounding feat by the author. A stellar read! and...I cired at the end...quite a bit...esme_bonner's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Literary fiction definitely is for some people, typically I would say it is not for me. However. I read this book as part of my MA in English, and whilst it is not the most accessible book you can find on this topic, it is without doubt a compelling, heartbreaking rendering of the issues it surrounds.
The Lost Children Archive is a literary fiction book that combines the stories of two vastly different families. Drawing on her own experience as a translator in the courts, Luiselli gives voices to the women, children and families who do what they must to make it to America. Luiselli blends history with heartbreak, she gives us a woman in a dysfunctional marriage, and asks if the nobility of a cause, the knowledge that you can do something worthwhile, is allowed to take precedence over whatever love you might yet salvage. She gives us two people, one obsessed with the horrendous past of America, and one desperate to make a difference in the horrendous present. Between them we have their children, who's youthful naivety allows them to do what their parents have only ever thought of.
A non-traditional novel, The Lost Children Archive is filled with bold literary technique. Books within books, boxes upon boxes, and the shifting of point of view between parent, child, past, present, fictional, fictionalised and all too real. This is not a beach read, it is a novel that deserves your time. There will be moments that feel strange, out of place, an attempt by the author, perhaps, to ensure this novel sits where it should in a bookshop; a reminder that literary fiction can be self-consciously within its genre. For me that's what takes this from 5 stars down to a 4.75.
Brilliant.
The Lost Children Archive is a literary fiction book that combines the stories of two vastly different families. Drawing on her own experience as a translator in the courts, Luiselli gives voices to the women, children and families who do what they must to make it to America. Luiselli blends history with heartbreak, she gives us a woman in a dysfunctional marriage, and asks if the nobility of a cause, the knowledge that you can do something worthwhile, is allowed to take precedence over whatever love you might yet salvage. She gives us two people, one obsessed with the horrendous past of America, and one desperate to make a difference in the horrendous present. Between them we have their children, who's youthful naivety allows them to do what their parents have only ever thought of.
A non-traditional novel, The Lost Children Archive is filled with bold literary technique. Books within books, boxes upon boxes, and the shifting of point of view between parent, child, past, present, fictional, fictionalised and all too real. This is not a beach read, it is a novel that deserves your time. There will be moments that feel strange, out of place, an attempt by the author, perhaps, to ensure this novel sits where it should in a bookshop; a reminder that literary fiction can be self-consciously within its genre. For me that's what takes this from 5 stars down to a 4.75.
Brilliant.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Xenophobia, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Deportation, Trafficking, and Child death
This book draws on the author's experience working with undocumented immigrants, including depictions of the journey into the US via coyotes.
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