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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
I'm always delighted when a book turns out to be more than I expected, and Lost Property is one such book. Having heard the main character compared to the marvellous Eleanor Oliphant, I was anticipating a charming piece of 'Up Lit', a genre I was hitherto unaware of. And it definitely fits into that category – it is uplifting, witty, amusing, quirky, and so on. But it is also dark at times and ventures boldly and without warning into rather serious territory. (Trigger warnings for suicide and sexual assault, by the way. And I'm sorry if that's a spoiler, but I feel TWs are more of a warning than a spoiler.)
Our quirky and intellectual main character, Dot Watson, is working in the Lost Property department of TfL (that's Transport for London, for anyone outside the metropolis), cataloguing the items left behind by passengers on London's trains, buses, and the Underground. We gradually learn that Dot's life took an unexpected turn several years earlier, which led to her working at this seemingly mundane job. She takes pride in her work, however, and enjoys the thrill of reuniting lost items with their owners. She feels alienated from her sister, her father died some years prior, and her mother has just been moved into a care home as she is suffering from dementia. The story follows Dot on her journey to come to terms with her past while learning that situations are not always as we see them, and things that we thought were once lost can indeed be found again.
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an ARC of this rather splendid book in exchange for an honest review.
Our quirky and intellectual main character, Dot Watson, is working in the Lost Property department of TfL (that's Transport for London, for anyone outside the metropolis), cataloguing the items left behind by passengers on London's trains, buses, and the Underground. We gradually learn that Dot's life took an unexpected turn several years earlier, which led to her working at this seemingly mundane job. She takes pride in her work, however, and enjoys the thrill of reuniting lost items with their owners. She feels alienated from her sister, her father died some years prior, and her mother has just been moved into a care home as she is suffering from dementia. The story follows Dot on her journey to come to terms with her past while learning that situations are not always as we see them, and things that we thought were once lost can indeed be found again.
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an ARC of this rather splendid book in exchange for an honest review.
This was not the book I was expecting. I struggled with the writing style - The author is obviously very keen on words and their origins and unfortunately seems intent on using as many as possible all at once. I still felt at the end of the book that I don’t quite know who Dot Watson is - Is she a rather lovable, sad type along the lines of Eleanor Oliphant or someone who people warm to but loses her way? The parts about her family were there best for me - tinged with sadness. I don’t do well reading about dementia storylines. I couldn’t get to grips with the hold-all storyline but wanted to - I just felt there was so many sentences getting in the way of us being told exactly why Dot was so desperate to reunite the belongings with their owner. Especially as she appeared to leave the job so easily for someone who cared so much.
This book follows Dot Watson who's life is stuck and she is still working in a job that was meant to be temporary ten years ago in a Lost Property Office and she follows a simple routine. When Dot meets Mr Appleby, she is determined to help him find his late wife's purse.
This is a heart-warming story with some great character development. The plot is told from Dot's point of view and I felt this was important in order for the reader to understand her thought processes and actions. I found Dot difficult to connect with at times but did want her to become more assertive and help Mr Appleby. The plot also changes from past to present, detailing important events that have taken place in Dot's life. I enjoyed this element as it added depth to the story but I did find it hard to follow at times.
Paris includes some difficult topics in this book including dementia, suicide, mental health and abuse. In my opinion these topics were portrayed well, raising awareness as well as being sensitive.
For me this book reminded me a little of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Away With The Penguins and A Man Called Ove. If you have read these books and enjoyed them I would definitely recommend Lost Property.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
This is a heart-warming story with some great character development. The plot is told from Dot's point of view and I felt this was important in order for the reader to understand her thought processes and actions. I found Dot difficult to connect with at times but did want her to become more assertive and help Mr Appleby. The plot also changes from past to present, detailing important events that have taken place in Dot's life. I enjoyed this element as it added depth to the story but I did find it hard to follow at times.
Paris includes some difficult topics in this book including dementia, suicide, mental health and abuse. In my opinion these topics were portrayed well, raising awareness as well as being sensitive.
For me this book reminded me a little of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Away With The Penguins and A Man Called Ove. If you have read these books and enjoyed them I would definitely recommend Lost Property.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
Talk about pulling on my heart strings! Lost Property brings us the completely endearing Dorothea (Dot) Watson and her journey with loss – both emotionally and literally. The way it is written conveys the trickier side of human emotion in such a tender and loving way.
Dot works at the Lost Property office for Transport for London. A wondrous cave of everything lost on transport. I really liked the scenes describing Dot’s workplace. The idea of all these abandoned items having a story of their own and the way Dot really cares about reuniting them with their owners made me feel fuzzy and warm.
In her personal life, Dot is dealing with a variety of emotional loss. Her father has died, her mother has dementia and her relationship with her only sibling, her sister, is fractured due to their very different personalities.
So the two threads of this book are seamlessly woven together. Exploring the lighter and darker sides of loss – the contrast works wonderfully and develops into a rich back story for Dot and her family.
What I loved about Lost Property was how it tackled quite heavy subjects in a gentle and approachable way that many readers will be able to translate back into elements of their own experience.
As a child, Dot wanted to be a librarian and travel the world, she now collects travel guides as her passion is still there. (Travel guides are not something I ever considered reading for fun but they are the perfect form of escapism when you think about it.) She has to work out why she abandoned her dreams, address issues from her past and reunite a very special piece of lost property with its owner.
There were echoes of Eleanor Oliphant in Dot’s character. I loved Dot’s slightly archaic way of speaking, her wry observations and her heart of gold. She also has a darker edge to her story arc that I wasn’t expecting but really made me feel for her and invest in the story so much more.
Highly emotive and highly engrossing, I really valued my time discovering Dot’s story. Lost Property is a little gem that I definitely recommend adding to your reading list.
Dot works at the Lost Property office for Transport for London. A wondrous cave of everything lost on transport. I really liked the scenes describing Dot’s workplace. The idea of all these abandoned items having a story of their own and the way Dot really cares about reuniting them with their owners made me feel fuzzy and warm.
In her personal life, Dot is dealing with a variety of emotional loss. Her father has died, her mother has dementia and her relationship with her only sibling, her sister, is fractured due to their very different personalities.
So the two threads of this book are seamlessly woven together. Exploring the lighter and darker sides of loss – the contrast works wonderfully and develops into a rich back story for Dot and her family.
What I loved about Lost Property was how it tackled quite heavy subjects in a gentle and approachable way that many readers will be able to translate back into elements of their own experience.
As a child, Dot wanted to be a librarian and travel the world, she now collects travel guides as her passion is still there. (Travel guides are not something I ever considered reading for fun but they are the perfect form of escapism when you think about it.) She has to work out why she abandoned her dreams, address issues from her past and reunite a very special piece of lost property with its owner.
There were echoes of Eleanor Oliphant in Dot’s character. I loved Dot’s slightly archaic way of speaking, her wry observations and her heart of gold. She also has a darker edge to her story arc that I wasn’t expecting but really made me feel for her and invest in the story so much more.
Highly emotive and highly engrossing, I really valued my time discovering Dot’s story. Lost Property is a little gem that I definitely recommend adding to your reading list.
I have a bit of mixed feelings about this book.
I can't say I enjoyed it, but on the other hand I can't say i hated it.
Firstly, it's definitely not what I expected (and I'm not sure in a good way). After reading the blurb I expected sort of feel-good-story about Dot finding herself and making sense of her life while trying hard to help and older man to find his late wife's purse. What I got was a story of grief, losing a parent, death, missed opportunities. It definitely wasn't a feel good story.
The story is filled with irrelevant details which kind of blurr the plot and more often than not I found myself thinking "what's going on here?".
Writing wasn't bad but I struggled at times to go on and few times I was thinking of DNFing it. The last 1/4 of the book, when all the pieces started to fall in place, was interesting and I enjoyed it (much more than the rest of the book).
Trigger warnings: loss of a parent, suicide
I received this book from the Publisher in an exchange for an honest review
I can't say I enjoyed it, but on the other hand I can't say i hated it.
Firstly, it's definitely not what I expected (and I'm not sure in a good way). After reading the blurb I expected sort of feel-good-story about Dot finding herself and making sense of her life while trying hard to help and older man to find his late wife's purse. What I got was a story of grief, losing a parent, death, missed opportunities. It definitely wasn't a feel good story.
The story is filled with irrelevant details which kind of blurr the plot and more often than not I found myself thinking "what's going on here?".
Writing wasn't bad but I struggled at times to go on and few times I was thinking of DNFing it. The last 1/4 of the book, when all the pieces started to fall in place, was interesting and I enjoyed it (much more than the rest of the book).
Trigger warnings: loss of a parent, suicide
I received this book from the Publisher in an exchange for an honest review
I loved this book SO much! I really enjoyed Dot as a character, I found her incredibly quirky but very likeable. The setting in lost property was such an interesting backdrop to the story.
It was a little slow at first, but I soon found that, as the story unravelled, I just couldn't put it down. The story went in such a different direction to what I had been expecting and I really enjoyed how much it surprised me.
This book was a different genre to the books I usually read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.
It was a little slow at first, but I soon found that, as the story unravelled, I just couldn't put it down. The story went in such a different direction to what I had been expecting and I really enjoyed how much it surprised me.
This book was a different genre to the books I usually read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.
This isn’t really the type of book that I would normally read but I did and I am glad I did. Lovely exploration of family relationships and the effect of secrets. Yes, this was a really great story and very well written.
This was a lovely easy read/audio. I loved Dot and her awkwardness. It is a witty story with some heart breaking stories along the way. This isn't my usual genre but I will definitely look into more by this author because the style of writing is beautiful. The setting was a bit drab and the book wasn't what I thought it would it be, but I'm far from disappointed. It's a roller coaster of Dot's emotions, and I didn't car for her sister much until the last few chapters. I will definitely recommend for a summer read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Helen Paris, Random House UK and Transworld Publishers for this ARC in exchange for a honest review
Thank you to NetGalley, Helen Paris, Random House UK and Transworld Publishers for this ARC in exchange for a honest review