Lost Children Archive

Right now I'm a little less than halfway through Valeria Luiselli's novel Lost Children Archive. It's about a family of four that sets off on a summer road trip from New York to the borderlands of the desert Southwest. Both parents are audio documentarians, but their interests (and maybe their lives) are now diverging. He's working on a project about Geronimo and the Apaches; she's searching for two "lost children" during an immigration crisis. We'll see what twists and turns await as the family meanders toward Arizona. I'm eager and apprehensive.

The reviews I've seen for Lost Children Archive have been mixed, reminding me in a way of people's responses to Terrence Malick's mostly (but maybe not totally) unrelated film The Tree of Life. In both cases, it seems you either rave about the artistry or you find the whole thing a confusing waste of time. So far, I'm in the considerably smaller liking-but-not-sure-I'm-raving camp, which is in line with my reaction to Luiselli's earlier novel The Story of My Teeth.