Reviews

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

3.0

It might be better called Lost Children's Archivers as the book really spends very little time with the lost children themselves ( a few minor chapters from an imagined book within this book which uses phrases from a number of established authors) but stays with the Archivers a lot. The Archivers are a family - a husband and wife and their children get interested in it because of them during the story.

There are a few amazing passages here and there and book is really informative about sufferings of migrant children. It is really powerful when it talks about migrant children but that doesn't happen a lot. I wish they were given more of direct attention.

zosia's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars, I really liked the first part.

meegan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

cathyw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

A powerful evocation of the horrors of migration and its tragic impact on young lives, an endictment of US history. 

k101's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective sad 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? No

5.0

sanjubee's review

3.0

The last section was certainly more engaging than the rest, but overall I think this book makes important observations about academic/archival approaches to political violence.

moeax83's review

2.0

The inside book cover pretty much covered the book. Easy to read, just never really drew me into the story or characters.

blaineduncan's review

1.0

In a "Works Cited" section to end this novel, Luiselli says that 'Lost Children Archive' is a "result of a dialogue with many different texts," and boy, does she mean that literally. She proves her pointy-headed bona fides by constantly quoting -- out of context -- works you've never heard of, never wanted to hear, or have heard of but doesn't add a thing to this text. It adds to the coldness of this work. It's so cold, it's lifeless, which is sad because there's a warm story here, somewhere. I got 100 pages into it, saw where it was going, and finally allowed myself to quit this distant book. If you like your books to prove to you that the author has an MFA, boy, do I have a great one for you. Some books want to give you a story rather than tell you one.

syd_a's review

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