"The novel truly becomes novel again in Luiselli''s hands--electric, elastic, alluring, new . She is a superb chronicler of children: the daughter and son feel piercingly real--perceptive, irreplaceable, wonderfully odd. The book [is] an archive of curiosities, yearnings, animated by the narrator''s restless energy . It breaks out of the rhythms of the road trip, into a heart-stopping climax." --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times "Daring, wholly original, brilliant.fascinating. What Luiselli has pulled off here is a twist on the great American road trip novel, a book about alienation that chronicles fractures, divides, and estrangement--of both a family and a country. It''s a remarkable feat of empathy and intellectuality that showcases Luiselli''s ability to braid the political, historical, and personal while explicitly addressing the challenges of figuring out how to tell the very story she''s telling.
Luiselli is an extraordinary writer [with] a freewheeling novelist''s imagination." --Heller McAlpin, NPR "Engrossing.constantly surprising--a beguiling mixture of the real and the doubly invented; a passionately engaged book [with] intellectual amplitude and moral seriousness, [and] a beautiful, loving portrait of children and of the task of looking after them. The kids are utterly alive, hurling questions and mangling adult signals: we are with the family, inside their Volvo wagon, or looking over their shoulders as they eat in diners and stay in motels. It is a pleasure to be a part of the narrator''s family; just as pleasurable is the access we gain to the narrator''s mind--a comprehensive literary intelligence." --James Wood, The New Yorker "Riveting, lyrical, virtuosic . There is joy in make-believe in Lost Children Archive-- a novel as much about storytellers and storytelling as it is about lost children. Two texts and two journeys--one by car, meandering; the other speeding forward with the locomotive propulsion of suspenseful fiction--seem on their way to a collision; Luiselli''s most thrilling section consists of one rhythmic, delirious feat of a sentence reminiscent of Molly Bloom''s epic soliloquy in Joyce''s Ulysses .
The novel bears rereading, to reveal pleasing ironies. Luiselli''s metaphors are wrought with devastating precision . The brilliance of the writing stirs rage and pity. It humanizes us." --Gaiutra Bahardur, The New York Times Book Review "Luiselli is a master. Not since Lolita has a road trip so brilliantly captured the dark underbelly of the American dream, the gulf between its promise and reality. Luiselli confronts big picture questions: What does it mean to be American? To what lengths should we go to bear witness? Will history ever stop repeating itself? All the while, her language is so transporting, it stops you time and again." --Carmen Maria Machado, O Magazine "Stunning--an engaging blend of essay, travelogue and narrative.
Those who read with pen in hand will find much to underline and explore. At the halfway point we turn a corner, and echoes from the past converge with the present with devastating force. Readers have been galvanized by road trips before; one thinks of Jesmyn Ward''s haunting Sing, Unburied, Sing , and the ambition and humility of James Agee''s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men . As with that brilliant and challenging book, Luiselli''s singular narrative will prove uniquely rewarding, even life-changing." --David Brockes, The Seattle Times "An epic road trip [that also] captures the unruly intimacies of marriage and parenthood. Luiselli''s mind is a delight; her writing shimmers like its desert setting. This is a novel that daylights our common humanity, and challenges us to reconcile our differences." --Kristen Millares Young, The Washington Post "An extraordinary allegory of this country''s current crisis of self-concept: Lost Children Archive [is] an inversion of the American frontier fable--its anti-myth, its interrogator.
A family sets out from the relative safety of the East Coast in a wagon (here, a station wagon) in wary but hopeful search of a new home. The [mother] privately comes to think of their destination as the place where the family will discover which of its own possible trajectories will come to pass: stay together, or part. What happens when a person is lost to loved ones, to herself, to history? Can such loss be prevented? Can we be retrieved? One of Lost Children Archive ''s pleasures is its resemblance to the kind of collection that emerges when a dedicated mind is at work on the same problem over the course of years. Luiselli''s approach is elegant and generous." --Jordan Kisner, The Atlantic "Urgent, profound, and poetic, this is a modern classic in the making, one that should be considered required reading . Threading together a rich tapestry of heartbreaking stories is the story of [one] family on the road. As their journey continues, it becomes clear that something else is driving this family to the Arizona-Mexico border--something of much greater importance than their projects, their careers, and even themselves. Lost Children Archive asks important questions about the nature and importance of storytelling, fictional and factual.
It is a layered narrative about family, immigration, justice, and hope. There is no simplicity in [the novel''s] structure, no easy ending. The story is still being written, being told, and perhaps most importantly, being heard." --Sadie Trombetta, Bustle "Remarkable, stunning . Luiselli''s writing possesses a restless intelligence that weaves disparate lives and cultures into a map of the world . The music this novel''s ensemble of voices creates is beautiful." --Ismail Muhammad, Newsday "In probing, elegant prose, Lost Children Archive maps one family''s road trip [through] a strange, beautiful, iconic landscape of gas stations, diners, and motels, [into] Apacheria, a place that contains the histories of ''the last free peoples on the continent.'' The novel unfolds with great attention to voices, echoes and silences; it has a dreamlike rhythm that feels both urgent and reflective.
" -- WBUR "A resonant Great American Novel for our time--a dense and layered novel of the Americas, evocative of Kerouac and Bolaño, Rebecca Solnit and Juan Rulfo. There [is] a counterbalance of intimacy and inventiveness to Luiselli''s writing." --Andy Tepper, Vanity Fair "Poignant . Lost Children Archive is unquestionably timely, [but] it also approaches a certain timelessness, like all great novels. It is laced with the melancholy of last things. The novel reminds us how fragile family can be . It [reverberates] with the headlines of the present, and the great art of the past. The maddeningly ''relevant'' political novel is all the rage right now, but what separates Luiselli''s book from the pack is that it manages to be political without being propagandistic, rousing without any didacticism.
This novel is the kind of book we need right now." --Tyler Malone, Los Angeles Times "Stories appear on the news, lacking in compassion, meant to inspire fear. But there are those trying to paint a fuller picture. Valeria Luiselli is one of those people. Lost Children Archive is a story, but also a response: to the articles, to literature, to the nonprofits and schools, to the American landscape, to ideas of family, and to ideas of choice. There is so much truth in this novel. In some ways, Lost Children Archive is like a love letter to literature. Luiselli is an exceptional writer who knows her craft; this is a beautiful text, in which everyone is searching for connection and reconnection--a novel asking for more consideration, more mercy, and more action.
" --Abigail Bereola, San Francisco Chronicle "However we decide what defines a Great American Novel in 2019, it must feel a lot like what''s inside Lost Children Archive. Not only because the narrative unfolds across a literal road map of the United States, or because its focus--open borders, blended families--is so painfully of the moment. But because the search for selfhood and manifest destiny seems so freshly recast in the frank intelligence and imagination of Luiselli''s telling. With song lyrics, sketches, and Polaroids, the novel drifts almost dreamlike between the personal and political, finding beguiling detours and cul-de-sacs as it goes. The kids are precisely, perfectly drawn. By its feverish climax, Luiselli isn''t just giving us a story, she''s showing us new ways to see." --Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly "Elegant. epic in its assured embrace of American history, literature, pop culture, and politics.
--Maureen Corrigan, NPR "Revelatory, simply stunning . a road novel driven by fierce intelligence; a breathtaking journey that builds slowly and confidently until you find yourself in a fever dream of convergences. This book is a perfect intervention for our time, but that fleeting concurrence is not why this book will be read for years to come. Luiselli is swimming in the historical currents of the great stories and myths of journey and discovery that came before. Lost Children Archive is.