syafa 's review for:

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

4.25

adventurous challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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At times, very big brain energy. Like it makes you think and then makes your head hurt a bit and so because of that, the reading experience was challenging at times. It does have really poignant reflections though. I agree with Josh's description: you read something and then think you have a point to make and then the book makes that point a few pages later, which can have either the effect of making you feel really smart for anticipating it, or the opposite because you realise your interpretations aren't that original. There's a line about reading and how it gives words to something that you, up until you read it, didn't realise you didn't have words for. I liked that. I thought it was smart and exactly how I feel reading in general but also as I read this book, so pretty meta. The breaks in form are also clever, though sometimes I feel like I don't entirely get everything she's trying to convey through them because she explicitly says there's a point to them but I can't be bothered to think that hard.