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Lost Children Archive
384 pages, 2020
In Valeria Luiselli’s fiercely imaginative follow-up to the American Book Award-winning Tell Me How It Ends, an artist couple set out with their two children on a road trip from New York to Arizona in the heat of summer. As the family travels west, the bonds between them begin to the fray: a fracture is growing between the parents, one the children can almost feel beneath their feet.
Through ephemera such as songs, maps, and a Polaroid camera, the children try to make sense of both their family’s crisis and the larger one engulfing the news: the stories of thousands of kids trying to cross the southwestern border into the United States but getting detained—or lost in the desert along the way.
A breath-taking feat of literary virtuosity, Lost Children Archive is timely, compassionate, subtly hilarious, and formally inventive—a powerful, urgent story about what it is to be human in an inhuman world.
In Lost Children Archive, Valeria Luiselli paints a vivid picture of a family on a road trip. The journey is not just physical, but also emotional, as the family navigates through their own internal struggles and conflicts. This book encourages readers to explore their own family dynamics and relationships.
The book provides a deep insight into the lives of immigrant children, their struggles, and their resilience. It's a call to action for readers to research and understand the immigrant experience, and to empathize with those who are often marginalized and overlooked.
Luiselli uses storytelling as a powerful tool to convey complex ideas and emotions. She weaves together multiple narratives, encouraging readers to see the power of stories in shaping our understanding of the world. Check out how she does this, it might inspire you to tell your own stories.
What does 'home' mean? This is a question that the book explores in depth. As the family travels and the children in the story are displaced, the concept of home becomes fluid and complex. This book will make you think about what home means to you.
In Lost Children Archive, the personal is political. The family's journey is set against the backdrop of the immigration crisis, showing how larger political issues can impact individual lives. This book will encourage you to look into how your own life intersects with the political world.
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A truly exceptional work, Luiselli's novel is a meticulously crafted, politically engaged, and deeply empathetic gem. It's a novel that speaks directly to the heart of our current immigration crisis.
Zadie Smith - Novelist, EssayistLuiselli's Lost Children Archive is a hauntingly beautiful narrative that weaves together the intimate and the global, reflecting profoundly on what it is to be human in a world of displacement.
Sally Rooney - Irish AuthorLost Children Archive is a novel that demands your attention. Luiselli has crafted a masterpiece that is both politically important and personally moving.
Marlon James - Jamaican WriterLuiselli's novel is a powerful exploration of the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we ignore. It's a deeply moving and thought-provoking work.
Celeste Ng - American Author
