Scan barcode
A review by knkoch
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was a longer book I struggled to get through. It’s about a family of four grappling with the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border (especially focused on unaccompanied children), and while I found it very informative and well researched, I felt disconnected often.
The structure of each chapter/subheading was grounded in archival terms, as the parents both do archival sound recording work. It felt like I missed many of the extra-textual connections there. I found the mother’s voice more compelling than the son’s, as the story shifted to his perspective in the second half. It’s so challenging to write from the perspective of a child, and I felt that as a 10 year old he was far too precocious and wise at first. The story becomes more engaging at the end, but for the reasons listed above, it didn’t really pay off for me.
The structure of each chapter/subheading was grounded in archival terms, as the parents both do archival sound recording work. It felt like I missed many of the extra-textual connections there. I found the mother’s voice more compelling than the son’s, as the story shifted to his perspective in the second half. It’s so challenging to write from the perspective of a child, and I felt that as a 10 year old he was far too precocious and wise at first. The story becomes more engaging at the end, but for the reasons listed above, it didn’t really pay off for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death