Lost Children Archive

Hum. This one will be hard to review. It's gorgeously written, a little over-written in my opinion. I found myself losing patience with it often as I just could not get invested in the story. Here we have two very independent, strong-willed people who built a family out of convenience and now we, the readers, get to watch it all fall apart on a road trip. In addition to that there were sections I literally felt I was sitting in a lecture hall in a class I was forced to take.
That said, the book absolutely came alive for me when the boy took over as narrator and the last quarter of the book is a whirlwind of breathless action. Two stories merge in the desert and it is incredible to experience. Honestly, the last quarter of the book made me so glad I read this.
Is it life altering? Maybe. I'll have to wait until some time passes before I see what I absorbed and what I will carry with me.
So, it's strange. While it is clearly one of the best novels I have read this year, I didn't enjoy it. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to patrons.
I want to note that I did a mix of audio book and physical copy on this one, and I'm glad I did. There are pictures, maps and lists in the book book that need to be seen, I feel.