Lost City Radio

Lost City Radio
by Daniel Alarcon
Harper Collins, 2007. 257 pgs. Fiction

For ten years, Norma has been the voice of consolation for a people broken by violence. She hosts Lost City Radio, the most popular program in their nameless South American country gripped by the aftermath of war. Every week, the Indians in the mountains and the poor from the barrios listen as she reads the names of those who have gone missing. Loved ones are reunited and the lost are found, but Norma is hiding her own personal loss: her husband disappeared at the end of the war. One day the life she has become accustomed to is forever changed when a young boy arrives from the jungle and provides a clue to the fate of her long-missing husband.

This was an interesting and challenging book to read. The country is never named and the author gives few concrete details about it, so the atmosphere of the book is somewhat confusing and chaotic. This reflects the reality of life under war and government oppression. I have seen this book compared to dystopian fiction like 1984 or The Hunger Games; it is similar in its themes and plot, but the writing is very different because the story is not told in a straightforward way. If you are looking for a book that is different from most, this is a great choice.