Here’s Where The Story Ends

Humph…Lost Children Archives…what did I just read? First of all, that is the longest sentence I’ve ever seen in my life. Starting on page 319, the only full stop to be found appeared some twenty pages later. I have no choice but to look at this stylistically to try and make sense of what I’ve just finished reading. Long sentences often give the feeling of dragging time, that a minute can last for hours, days even. This thought lasts for 20 pages. I felt anxiety the entire time. No, not due to my overly pedantic nature, a good grammatical challenge makes me happy. But this…what was the point of this?

I feel let down. I enjoyed the portions of the book about nothing: the road trip. I loved how The Boy was telling The Girl about how things were—however, what was the temporal context? Obviously, The Boy is telling The Girl about what happened in the past (the tense changes in the narrative) but are the kids adults now? What was the significance in the change in narrator? I don’t know. Was there a point? And what was the point of the metanarrative, the story within a story. It seems to me that the elegies were the meat and potatoes of the book, the rest were the peas you try to hide under your napkin when no one is looking. If that’s the case, what was the point of the road trip?

How can I enjoy a book that I disliked so much? I did enjoy this book. I can’t honestly say I liked it though. In fact, I would go so far as to say I disliked it. There was no build up. With each turn of the page I hoped to see that Manuela’s girls were reunited with her. But no. She was just a simple side story. Perhaps her kids were in the elegies? But if that happened long before Lost Children Archive were written, how could they possibly be in search for them? It takes months to publish a book, those girls would be long gone.

This book made absolutely no sense to me. I couldn’t place the events on a time line. Sure there was a beginning and a middle. The end never happened though, which was frustrating.

In the context of our course, I am not sure how this book fits in. In fact, so many of the books we covered are such odd examples of books—kinks. Starting with The Squatter and The Don, it seemed as though this book was a history lesson in the form of a novel, which was rather interesting. Then we saw an analysis of legends based on true events in With A Pistol in His Hand. From there we foréed into Nuyorican literature with Down These Mean Streets, which seemed, to me, to be the first normal novel we read…only, it wasn’t a novel. Bless Me Ultima didn’t register well with me and may very well be the first book I ever donate. I will probably reread The House on Mango Street many times over the years, it is easily one of my favourite books I’ve ever read…yet it’s not a traditional book. And then there’s Lost Children Archive, which excited my interest in linguistics and stylistics but left me stranded…lost…for plot. Each one of the books we read had its own kink.

Which brings me to my final thoughts, thoughts that are more difficult to express than I thought they’d be. It has been an honour and a sincere pleasure working with you folks of SPAN 322. I have learned so much from every single person in this class, about literature, about life. I have been and will continue to be inspired by the dynamic that we had for these past few months. Thank you, Jon for your approach to literature. You make it interesting by not herding us down the corral of traditional literary analysis. You encouraged every one of us to emote with no holds barred, which helped me see the way through. Some of the blogs written, I didn’t always agree with, but I learned from every single one of them. And I want to thank each and everyone one of my classmates: Maria, whose work ethic and determination will inspire me for always; Cynthia, whose cheeky sense of humor will always bring a smile to my face; Madison, who showed me that strength and calmness go very well hand in hand; Pamela, with your level head, smile and laugh, you can persevere to accomplish anything; Curtis, well, you are wise beyond your years my friend, your blogs always inspired me to think; Rachel, who apparently hates reading but always finds the good to focus on with such wise words about what we read; Stephanie, whose will and fortitude showed me that passion is important for success; and Aurelien, who despite reading in a language other than your mother tongue, which is my biggest struggle, you inspired me to keep trying and to never give up. Each and every single one of you have touched my life and I will always remember you and this class with the fondest memories. I wish each and every one you the best.

I leave this blog, my last, with a song that punctuates the end our journey this term.

Lost Children Archive II: Really?

First of all, it makes me sad that this blog is the last one that I will write for this class. It has been good to share my thoughts with all of you guys, and tell you my perspectives about the different books we have read and discussed during this term. I will miss to have the liberty of writing about anything I decide, and don’t feel the pressure to think that anyone will judge me for what I posted in my blogs. So, thank you for the work we all have done during this term.

With respect to the book, once again, I don’t know where is that I should begin. I have to recognize that in no way did I imagine that when the title of the book makes reference to the ‘archive of lost children’, it would include both: 1) the children migrants who get lost in the desert  trying to cross to the US; and 2) the couple’s own children who get lost trying to get to the Echo Canyon. Once I get to this part of the book, it was very difficult to stop because I was interested to know what will happen at the end.

I remembered that last week, some of us agree that the story lacked some drama and suspense, not meaning this that it was less interesting, but perhaps different from the other books we read. However, after reading the second part of the book, I can affirm that this book has indeed a lot of suspense. This is also a sad story. There are different parts of the book that make me feel bad. For instance, the condition of the migrant children, who are left to their fate in the desert. As well as the fact that many of them do not reach the finish line, as was the case of Manuela’s children. I don’t like either that at the end, the couple couldn’t reconcile their differences and the two sibling (Memphis and Pluma Ligera) had to be separated. 

The relationship between these two children is something that makes me feel overly tender. It is so nice and cute the way in which Pluma Ligera takes care of his sister. The part of the book that is my favorite, is when he leaves his recording so that Memphis could remember him and everything that happened, all the adventures that both of them overcome. I realized that the parts I like the most is when he tells from his own perspective, how is that the trip was developing. I like his own reflections about the world. He is a very mature boy, who understands very well what is occurring at that moment. He is aware of the problems that his parents are facing; he sees how worried and sad his mother is due to the circumstances of the lost children; he even understands the complex social issue behind those children’s  lives.

Somehow, when he tells the story, everything is simpler, fresher, more realistic, purer, and with more love.

Valeria Luiselli on the Youtube

Here is a clip of Valeria Luiselli describing her work, how her characters are unnamed and how she describes her work as documentary/ fiction. I found it neat, so I thought I’d share it.

Stay healthy everyone!

Lost Children Archive Part 1:

I’ve really enjoyed this novel so far. As I’ve been reading the first part, I have encountered myself noticing how the reader is not really presented with any kind of suspense. Instead we are simply following a family through their road trip through the United States. As we join them in this journey, we learn about their family interaction, the relationship between the mom and the dad, music, photography, literature and the political climate in relation to the immigration crisis at the southwestern border. All this is narrated through the eyes of the wife. I must say that when I first saw the title of the novel, I was expecting something that would focus on tackling the child migrant crisis but after reading this first part it seems that this is the backdrop of the story. It is a novel with immigration. It’s a backdrop of the family road trip where the family also observes the wide variety of Americans in the country, witnessing things such as the way they live and their political and social beliefs. As the family is witness of this immigration crisis through listening to the radio, they also have a crisis of their own. This crisis revolves around the marriage presented, which is slowly dissolving throughout the family road trip. Though physically they are together, emotionally and internally the mom and dad seem to be lost in the direction of their marriage.

Throughout the journey the mother also reflects on how she wants to work and present her project on the border situation. As the trip progresses, she realizes that she wants to document the stories about the missing migrant children, something that is brought to her attention after hearing of the disappearances of the two girls that are part of the legal case that she has become interested in. The mother wants her project to humanize these children, as she shares that she does not want her project to use the suffering and unjust treatment of these innocent beings for political intentions, sob stories or to follow a narrative of us vs them or how she states it “patriots versus illegal aliens”. The mother is in search to give a human face to these beings who are victims of a terrible situation. This crisis that is touched on in this book clearly reminds me of the situation that is still happening presently and is still greatly politicized today.

Lost Children Archive Part 1:

I’ve really enjoyed this novel so far. As I’ve been reading the first part, I have encountered myself noticing how the reader is not really presented with any kind of suspense. Instead we are simply following a family through their road trip through the United States. As we join them in this journey, we learn about their family interaction, the relationship between the mom and the dad, music, photography, literature and the political climate in relation to the immigration crisis at the southwestern border. All this is narrated through the eyes of the wife. I must say that when I first saw the title of the novel, I was expecting something that would focus on tackling the child migrant crisis but after reading this first part it seems that this is the backdrop of the story. It is a novel with immigration. It’s a backdrop of the family road trip where the family also observes the wide variety of Americans in the country, witnessing things such as the way they live and their political and social beliefs. As the family is witness of this immigration crisis through listening to the radio, they also have a crisis of their own. This crisis revolves around the marriage presented, which is slowly dissolving throughout the family road trip. Though physically they are together, emotionally and internally the mom and dad seem to be lost in the direction of their marriage.

Throughout the journey the mother also reflects on how she wants to work and present her project on the border situation. As the trip progresses, she realizes that she wants to document the stories about the missing migrant children, something that is brought to her attention after hearing of the disappearances of the two girls that are part of the legal case that she has become interested in. The mother wants her project to humanize these children, as she shares that she does not want her project to use the suffering and unjust treatment of these innocent beings for political intentions, sob stories or to follow a narrative of us vs them or how she states it “patriots versus illegal aliens”. The mother is in search to give a human face to these beings who are victims of a terrible situation. This crisis that is touched on in this book clearly reminds me of the situation that is still happening presently and is still greatly politicized today.

Lost Children Archive (Part 1)

I am really enjoying this novel so far, but I can’t quite pin point exactly why – I am going to use this blog post to try and figure out why by spilling out my thoughts. If I am being honest, I am quite shocked that I am such a fun because I think a lot of people (including myself even just 2 years ago) would maybe find it too boring. I think part of the reason I like it so much is because I am constantly fascinated by the narrator, her words, and they way she delivers her thoughts. I remember Jon saying something last week about how the mother (the narrator) is an over-thinker, and even by page 1 I had made this observation myself. In a strangely pleasant way, I find myself becoming slightly anxious while reading this novel, and it’s all due to the narrator being an over-thinker, and therefore the narration being super fast-paced, as if time is moving very quickly. Actually, the mother even talks about how fast time is moving, both directly and indirectly. I find the descriptions in this novel super interesting; it seems on each and every page there was something that caught my attention, for example on page 84 the mother describes a woman as having: “Hyperthyrodial eyes”.  Another reason I think I like this novel so much is because I can somehow establish a personal connection to either the characters, the situation, etc., on pretty much each page. There are things the children say that I specifically remember myself saying as a kid; for example: “when will we get there?” (15).  This was the only thing that came out of me and my sisters’ mouths on road trips; every five minutes my parents would have to give us an answer. I also think that this novel is just beautifully written – there is so much thought and emotion in every sentence. There are so many times where I find myself rereading the same cluster of words just because of how beautifully written it is. I like how we as readers are let into all aspects of their lives; their jobs, their family, their relationship problems, etc. Interestingly though, we don’t even know any of their names. In my opinon, in this novel it seems that the narrator overcomplicates and overanalyzes things, where as in “House on Mango Street” it’s as if things are not analyzed enough. Interestingly enough, the tendencies to overanalyze and under analyze both left me with questions. Of course the ways in which sounds and space are used in this novel was also super interesting to me; something so simple like sound is turned into something to major – it’s almost as if it’s a character. Even the mother recognizes this: “Sound and space are connected in a way much deeper than we usually acknowledge” (39). I think this theme of sound extends to the narration itself; each paragraph is either filled with so much noise, or so much silence.

As much as this novel is about children, I think it is just as much about storytelling; throughout the entire first half, there are always stories being told. Whether it is the mother telling stories about her relationship/the situation at the border with the “lost children”, or the father who tells stories about the Apache children, among other things. On page 185 the mother even says: “For a long time I’ve been worried about what to tell our children, how to give them a story. But now, as I listen to the boy telling the story of this instant … / It’s his version of the story that will outlive us; his version that will remain an be passed down.” (185) It is also a story about and marriage, and relationships in general (between partners, between mother/father and child/step-child, etc.). The second paragraph on page 82 is just one of the many examples of where the mother reflects on her own relationship with her partner, and expresses how much she loves him, and how this is sometimes the problem, or rather HER problem as she likes the put it. I am fascinated by the relationship dynamics in this novel; each relationship is so unique.

I don’t really know how to explain this well but I also think this novel is sort of exclusive; what I mean is that there are so many references in this book to other songs, other books, etc.. One example is Lord of the Flies; if you’ve never heard of or read the book, maybe the parts of the novel that mention this book won’t make us much sense. This novel challenged me in this way; it was like a test of how much I know and how much I don’t.

Lost Children Archive: Where to begin?

This book has been my favorite so far. It has been really challenging to read and intriguing, I am spending more time on it than I expected. Each little “chapter”/section gives a lot to think about. I found the section “Routes and Roots” to present themes that we see throughout the book. A lot of them are presented by this woman narrator, of whom I haven’t found the name of, and we basically read an exposition of her thoughts and interpretations. So far I haven’t read any book like this. With His Pistol In His Hand holds some resemblance to this book, in the way it is structures, however it is a dissertation whereas this book seems to be part nonfiction and fiction. The part that I assume is fiction is the backstory of this family, however all of the works that are mentioned in the inventory of the boxes, the places they travel to, the “lost children” are true. Is the backstory of this family, their trip, true as well? The polaroid photos correspond to scenes in the book “The picture comes out in shades of brown: sepia, ecru, wheat, and sand. (…) they look as though they are not really there, like they are being remembered instead of photographed.” (p.68)

There is this focus on capturing, recording, memory, collecting, languages and tongues, pronouns, maps, directions, the Apaches, archives, etc., and I think most importantly children. It seems as if this book exists to archive a series of experiences, concepts, the lost children, and how this family of four puts the very nature of the world into question. The very idea of family is in question, of what destiny is, of where the road takes them in life. I have reread a few sections and I always find different underlying meanings, or questions. I think so far, this book seems to present more of what seems like a series of questions and tentative answers. The children seem to possess most of the answers. The protagonist/narrator really analyzes what her daughter and stepson tell her, how they are the ones that reprimand her and make her see the world clearly.

I am still trying to understand the relationships in this family. At certain points we see how the woman and the daughter are one whole and then the separate whole being the “husband” and “the boy”. Other times she feels a maternal bond to the boy, even though he is not her biological son. The wife and the husband see themselves as “passing strangers” that live their lives in parallel. Another aspect of this unconnected existence is in the section on pronouns at the beginning of the book “(…)pronouns shifted constantly in our confused syntax while we negotiated the terms of the relocation. We started speaking more hesitant about everything (…)” (p.26). So far I only have pieces of what this book might mean to me and how it is found in the world. I don’t know if they are right, I don’t know nor do I understand this, this is completely uncharted territory for me and I find myself following the thoughts of the narrator, as they are written on paper, as if I were experiencing and thinking things over with her.

I do see purpose and meaning in this book, and the work the narrator does, I think that is something the narrator holds dear to her heart and what gives her doubt about her marriage. She wants to archive, record, the struggles of living beings whereas she describes her husband as one who follows ghosts. That is an interesting perspective, maybe it will change by the end, or maybe not. There is more to debate there.

Lost Children Archive: Where to begin?

This book has been my favorite so far. It has been really challenging to read and intriguing, I am spending more time on it than I expected. Each little “chapter”/section gives a lot to think about. I found the section “Routes and Roots” to present themes that we see throughout the book. A lot of them are presented by this woman narrator, of whom I haven’t found the name of, and we basically read an exposition of her thoughts and interpretations. So far I haven’t read any book like this. With His Pistol In His Hand holds some resemblance to this book, in the way it is structures, however it is a dissertation whereas this book seems to be part nonfiction and fiction. The part that I assume is fiction is the backstory of this family, however all of the works that are mentioned in the inventory of the boxes, the places they travel to, the “lost children” are true. Is the backstory of this family, their trip, true as well? The polaroid photos correspond to scenes in the book “The picture comes out in shades of brown: sepia, ecru, wheat, and sand. (…) they look as though they are not really there, like they are being remembered instead of photographed.” (p.68)

There is this focus on capturing, recording, memory, collecting, languages and tongues, pronouns, maps, directions, the Apaches, archives, etc., and I think most importantly children. It seems as if this book exists to archive a series of experiences, concepts, the lost children, and how this family of four puts the very nature of the world into question. The very idea of family is in question, of what destiny is, of where the road takes them in life. I have reread a few sections and I always find different underlying meanings, or questions. I think so far, this book seems to present more of what seems like a series of questions and tentative answers. The children seem to possess most of the answers. The protagonist/narrator really analyzes what her daughter and stepson tell her, how they are the ones that reprimand her and make her see the world clearly.

I am still trying to understand the relationships in this family. At certain points we see how the woman and the daughter are one whole and then the separate whole being the “husband” and “the boy”. Other times she feels a maternal bond to the boy, even though he is not her biological son. The wife and the husband see themselves as “passing strangers” that live their lives in parallel. Another aspect of this unconnected existence is in the section on pronouns at the beginning of the book “(…)pronouns shifted constantly in our confused syntax while we negotiated the terms of the relocation. We started speaking more hesitant about everything (…)” (p.26). So far I only have pieces of what this book might mean to me and how it is found in the world. I don’t know if they are right, I don’t know nor do I understand this, this is completely uncharted territory for me and I find myself following the thoughts of the narrator, as they are written on paper, as if I were experiencing and thinking things over with her.

I do see purpose and meaning in this book, and the work the narrator does, I think that is something the narrator holds dear to her heart and what gives her doubt about her marriage. She wants to archive, record, the struggles of living beings whereas she describes her husband as one who follows ghosts. That is an interesting perspective, maybe it will change by the end, or maybe not. There is more to debate there.

Lost Children Archive

I had lowered my expectations for this novel, as per Jon’s request, but I have honestly found it easier to read than Bless Me Ultima or Gregorio Cortez. Particularly, I have found the style of writing quite interesting. It is seemingly uninteresting and anticlimactic – there are no names for the characters (which I have not figured out why yet), the dialogue is rather dry and the conflicts we’ve seen so far are anti-dramatic. Instead, it is written in a self-reflexive nature, where Luiselli’s thoughts turn in and upon themselves.  In fact it seems that the book is written in such a way that is analogous to comparing a movie with a documentary; while a movie is full of action and expression and music that enhances every scene, a documentary is raw, dry and simply following the actions of the characters with no embellishments. I somewhat appreciate this about Luiselli’s writing, because it makes the events seem real and untainted. Moreover, like a documentary, Luiselli’s writing envelops the reader in such a way that it seems we are there with them I their 1996 Volvo wagon. That we are there as they drive across the country and make their pit stops to eat and drink and sleep.  

The title is also very intriguing… the meaning and purpose of it seems to be unravelling slowly as the novel goes on. For starters, the husband, wife and kids had brought archives with them – the boxes of books and audio recordings in their trunk – and they are attempting to find new material to add. However, the “lost children” part remains more mysterious. We do, however, have some idea thanks to the wife helping Manuela get her daughters into America. (I am realizing now that other characters have names while the main family does not, why is that?). When Manuela calls to say that they had lost their case and the girls have disappeared somewhere between New Mexico and Arizona, it seems that Luiselli had an ah-ha moment that her novel must be for “the children who are missing, those whose voices can no longer be heard because they are, possible forever, lost”. I think that this is such an intriguing way to write, because it seems as though we were brought on Luiselli’s journey to find her purpose and her passion. It seems as though we were included in the process of writing this book, as well as included in discovering the the how, why and for whom it was written.

Lost Children Archive (part 1)

I enjoyed reading the first half of the Lost Children Archive because it reminds me of many things, of my own experiences. Even just starting out with the first few pages were enjoyable to me because it takes me back to places that I hold very close to my heart. The pages of this book brings me back to the backseat of a car driving to Arizona, or driving down the East Coast from New York to Georgia. While the narrator mentions (wait.. do we know her name?) that they were driving from New York to Arizona, it excited me because I am familiar with that route. Though we were coming from California when we drove to Arizona and we drove straight down than across the States when we drove from New York. The mention of the George Washington Bridge, Virginia and all those other places excited me. It is as if I was doing a long drive again, something that my dad loves doing.

However, there is a negative side to all this nostalgia. As I was reading the last few pages of the first half of the book last night, I realized that this book also brings images in my head that are not very exciting to me. In fact, they made me sad. I realized that as I was reading the words out of that book that it’s actually happening at that very moment- children arriving at the US-Mexican border without knowing what would be next for them in a country where they don’t speak the language and where they don’t know how to locate their parents. I am lying down comfortably under my sheets reading this book and there are literally children with bleeding feet at the border at that very moment who have nowhere to sleep.

 

It’s interesting to see the parallels of the child characters in this novel. We see the children of the narrator sitting comfortably in the backseat of their car as they drive across the States. Their needs are tended to. They have everything they need. But at the same time the narrator reads of all these “lost children”. Of course the narrator’s children are important to her but we also see that they do not have names. I’m not quite sure why that is. Does the narrator feel a disconnect with her own children but feels a connection with the “lost children”? Or is she acknowledging the fact that they are all children and it could happen to any one of them?