Book Review: The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata

About:

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata is a novel spanning generations about a science fiction writer and her lost manuscript. Mr. Zapata is an educator and award winning author.

• 272 pages
• Publisher: Hanover Square Press
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1335010122

 

My rat­ing for The Lost Book of Adana Moreau — 5
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Thoughts:

A very imaginative and well written book, weaving stories within stories within stories.  From the first few paragraphs I could tell that I am going to enjoy The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata and the tangents the author took me on.

I’m actually amazed at the way the author told this story, it centers around complicated ideas and emotions, yet it is read effortlessly and the narrative unfolds smoothly. The novel weaves a literary mystery with hallucinatory science fiction (which, by the way, I had to check if it exists because that would have been next on my “to read” list), smoothly as if the two were made to compliment one another.

The two books Adana Moreau wrote, Lost City and possible A Model Earth, are not the only books mentioned. Mr. Zapata invents a whole litany of books and stories which would have each made a great story all by themselves.

The author builds the story in multiple layers, orphans, diaspora, multiple Earths, and more importantly the way past generations influence future ones in ways which they never imagined. After all, at some point we are all connected even if we don’t know it.

This novel could have easily been a political one, if the author chose (even though, most science-fiction books are political to being with). The narrative is very critical about the way humans treat one another, the unpunished, and even celebrated injustices and betrayals all around the globe, destroying families, cities, and countries with impunity.

After I finished this wonderful novel, it suddenly hit me that instead of setting this book in a future which has grave injustices, the author set in in the sufferings of the past, from Hurricane Katrina, to the September 11 attacks, the Argentine Financial Crisis of 2001 as well as personal tragedies and even pirates (believe me – it works).  The world, in this novel is not going to end, but has already ended.
We just don’t know about it yet.

Synopsis:

Adana Moreau, a Dominican immigrant and the only survivor of events that massacred her family, writes a science fiction novel called Lost City. In 1929 this novel is ground breaking, and gets a small, but enthusiastic fan base. Adana starts write a sequel, and before she dies she destroys the manuscript with her son, Maxwell.

Many years later, in 2005, Saul Drower discovers a manuscript called A Model Earth, by Adana Morea while cleaning up the belongings of his recently deceased grandfather. Together with friend Javier, Saul tracks down Maxwell, now a theoretical physicist, in New Orleans days after Hurricane Katrina hit.

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More Books by Michael Zapata *

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account