Lost Children Archive

Lost Children Archive is inventive, timely, and ambitious. Valeria Luiselli has pulled off quite a feat, merging a relevant topic with various media forms and using language in a very ingenious way. This is a book that could do for immigrant children what The Grapes of Wrath did for migrant workers (though the execution probably leaves out too much of the average reader). I recognize all the great and wonderful components of this novel, but I didn't enjoy it all that much. And that always makes for a difficult review.

The biggest barrier for me was the narrative. I was distanced from these characters, not because their experiences were vastly different from my own, but because I never understood who they were; I was never fully invited into their thoughts. Who was this unnamed woman? We're told about her endeavors, about her passion for others—but the woman we get on the page seems rather detached from everything that happens. We're told about her volatile marriage, but the marriage on page is boring at worst. We're led to believe the son is incredibly mature and intelligent—and this is actually shown in the narrative—but when the plot demands the son doing something really, really stupid, suddenly his common sense completely evaporates. Unfortunately, none of these characters are developed in a way to make sense of their actions (or inaction) in the story.

Certainly, my lackluster opinion of this novel reflects my own bias—I like character-driven stories. This novel fails in regards to creating interesting, multi-dimensional characters who possess a notable arc. Lost Children Archive definitely excels when it comes to language and delivers a satisfactory plot—readers who are turned on by language and plot will find more appeal than I did. In the end, I admire this book for its intellectual and artistic acumen, but I just don't think it fully delivered.