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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Closer to a 2.5.
A lot of people really love this book. A girl is effectively a runaway and ends up in this town filled with other people who are lost or who have disappeared, with no immediate way out.
What starts as a cool story essentially melts into a draggy, repetitive middle and then throws in The Twist at the end that mostly just did a good job of infuriating me as it felt like it copped out on what we already knew.
The concept is there. The execution was missing something significant, as it could have been 100 pages shorter and even then...
I definitely feel like I missed something here.
A lot of people really love this book. A girl is effectively a runaway and ends up in this town filled with other people who are lost or who have disappeared, with no immediate way out.
What starts as a cool story essentially melts into a draggy, repetitive middle and then throws in The Twist at the end that mostly just did a good job of infuriating me as it felt like it copped out on what we already knew.
The concept is there. The execution was missing something significant, as it could have been 100 pages shorter and even then...
I definitely feel like I missed something here.
I have never read any of Sarah Beth Durst's novels before, so I found myself in a strange new world. A place where the unreal has the capacity to seem as real as the air we breathe, but where we have the capacity to fix ourselves if only we find what was Lost. A place that, strangely, I didn't really want to leave - where the place was just as alive as the people within it. A story that had me looking up the sequel, ready and willing to buy it immediately (having forgotten that this is a new book). It's unusual that I feel this way about a book, especially with money being tight right now.
While I had never read any of her books before, Lost has me convinced that I must rectify that shortcoming immediately in order to experience more of the strange and fascinating worlds she has created.
While I had never read any of her books before, Lost has me convinced that I must rectify that shortcoming immediately in order to experience more of the strange and fascinating worlds she has created.
There is this place, where the lost and forgotten go. People, places, things. Once you arrive, you can't leave until you find the thing you're missing.
I wanted to love this book, more than I did. Oh! How I wanted to love this book, because how often do we feel lost and want someone to give us the answers? Maybe there were just too many questions for me. It also reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.
I wanted to love this book, more than I did. Oh! How I wanted to love this book, because how often do we feel lost and want someone to give us the answers? Maybe there were just too many questions for me. It also reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.
This book was just plain amazing, it never left you bored. I loved it through and through, and I am desperately waiting for the second one to be released (if that ever happens...).
The Lost is a mixed bag that I still ended up enjoying. Although I think Durst's transition to adult made her feel as if she needed to strip down her writing style (a lot of the sentences are very short) otherwise I think her first foray into adult fiction was a successful one.
The aforementioned prose either became less stunted as time went on, or I became more used to it. Durst finds her flow once Lauren becomes situated to Lost and her life there. The idea of Lost is a fascinating one, although maybe not overly original (after all, the same idea appears in a Halloweentown movie, although in the form of a house.) Wallets end up there, as do dogs and even houses lost to foreclosure. People end up there too, as Lauren accidentally does.
The exploration of Lost and how it operates was well defined and thought out. Lauren's relationship with the Finder and little Claire were touching, although I will say that the primary mystery of who Lauren was to the Missing Man was a tad predictable, even if it hasn't been entirely revealed yet.
The main point of The Lost, however, is Lauren's development as a character and her relationship with her mother. I enjoyed seeing a healthy relationship between mother and daughter here, and the resolution to it is a gut punch right in the feelings. You will need tissues. As much as Lauren annoyed me in the beginning of the novel, I did enjoy seeing her grow as a character and get over the traits that irritated me at first.
If there were a critique I had with The Lost, it's the relationship between the Finder Peter and Lauren. Peter is a sort of quirky character, constantly reciting lines from old classical novels, plays and poems. Generally, he's charming. But a lot of the time, he speaks down to Lauren. Never maliciously, to him he's only stating obvious facts, but it has the same effect: Lauren, who already has a trouble with self-esteem, takes it badly. Her reactions are generally laughed off and she soon forgets any of her issues with Peter because, hey, he's hot after all, and one of the only ways she can survive in Lost.
At one point Claire states that Peter teases Lauren because he likes her, and I actually cringed away from the screen. I hate this myth and I wish it wouldn't be repeated in fiction everywhere. Peter also sleeps in Lauren's bedroom closet without her knowing. She calls him out on it being creepy the day after, but again is laughed off and no one really takes her complaints to heart. Nothing's more romantic than a guy creepin' on a woman in her sleep and constantly saying she isn't interesting enough to cause such a commotion in the town!
But despite that admittedly huge obstacle, I'm still left a fan of The Lost. Enough so that I want to see what happens in the second book of the trilogy, The Missing.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review through NetGalley.
The aforementioned prose either became less stunted as time went on, or I became more used to it. Durst finds her flow once Lauren becomes situated to Lost and her life there. The idea of Lost is a fascinating one, although maybe not overly original (after all, the same idea appears in a Halloweentown movie, although in the form of a house.) Wallets end up there, as do dogs and even houses lost to foreclosure. People end up there too, as Lauren accidentally does.
The exploration of Lost and how it operates was well defined and thought out. Lauren's relationship with the Finder and little Claire were touching, although I will say that the primary mystery of who Lauren was to the Missing Man was a tad predictable, even if it hasn't been entirely revealed yet.
The main point of The Lost, however, is Lauren's development as a character and her relationship with her mother. I enjoyed seeing a healthy relationship between mother and daughter here, and the resolution to it is a gut punch right in the feelings. You will need tissues. As much as Lauren annoyed me in the beginning of the novel, I did enjoy seeing her grow as a character and get over the traits that irritated me at first.
If there were a critique I had with The Lost, it's the relationship between the Finder Peter and Lauren. Peter is a sort of quirky character, constantly reciting lines from old classical novels, plays and poems. Generally, he's charming. But a lot of the time, he speaks down to Lauren. Never maliciously, to him he's only stating obvious facts, but it has the same effect: Lauren, who already has a trouble with self-esteem, takes it badly. Her reactions are generally laughed off and she soon forgets any of her issues with Peter because, hey, he's hot after all, and one of the only ways she can survive in Lost.
At one point Claire states that Peter teases Lauren because he likes her, and I actually cringed away from the screen. I hate this myth and I wish it wouldn't be repeated in fiction everywhere. Peter also sleeps in Lauren's bedroom closet without her knowing. She calls him out on it being creepy the day after, but again is laughed off and no one really takes her complaints to heart. Nothing's more romantic than a guy creepin' on a woman in her sleep and constantly saying she isn't interesting enough to cause such a commotion in the town!
But despite that admittedly huge obstacle, I'm still left a fan of The Lost. Enough so that I want to see what happens in the second book of the trilogy, The Missing.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review through NetGalley.
The lyrical writing was beautiful, but I was disappointed by the characters. I had a hard time warming up to Lauren, and Peter was a little too mysterious for me to connect with. Not enough time was spent on backstory or character development. Plus, the plot didn't really go where I expected it to, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I feel like there were some missed opportunities that would have made this story stand out. Worth the read, but not something I'll be actively recommending.
In some of my previous reviews, I've mentioned that I'm having issues with "weird" books and that I've seem to have lost my appreciation of them. I had wondered if it was me and my reading tastes changing or if it was those particular books. Well, The Lost happens to answer that question. I'm quite certain that it must have been those books because The Lost was incredibly weird...yet I kind of loved it. This is the sort of weird that just works.
First things first: I loved Lauren. I just saw so much of myself in her. I've been categorized by some of my friends as slightly paranoid. It's just the way I'm built, but I tend to over-think things and somewhat obsess over them. I also tend to think that if there is a statistic of a bad thing happening to one out of a million people, I'm pretty sure that I would be that one. It doesn't matter what that bad or bizarre thing is or how unlikely it is to happen. It WILL happen to me. And Lauren is sort of like this. Which is why I was so amused by her thoughts in the beginning of The Lost. As the novel went on, I was still intrigued and endeared by her.
The supporting characters in The Lost were also magnificent. I just found them to be so full of life. And I was so engrossed with their plights and issues. They were just so vivid. I adored Claire so much. I also really liked Victoria and Sean and Merry and all of the other wonderful characters that made The Lost such a pleasure to read. However, the award for The Most Enigmatic Character Ever goes to the Missing Man. He reminded me like a sort of alternate universe Dumbledore. And I have a theory as to who he REALLY is. I won't share here seeing as how it's probably me overthinking things per usual.
The romance: I'm always weird with romance in most books. But recently I have found myself reading the synopsis of some romance books and thinking "Huh. That sounds like it has potential". Cut to me having an internal identity crisis. In The Lost, I liked the romance at the beginning. Then found myself ambivalent towards it, followed by some mild dislike, which ended with me being ambivalent again. The romance wasn't a huge point in The Lost (yay!), but some of Peter's attitude and neediness in regards to the romance kind of annoyed me...But it wasn't too bad.
The world building in The Lost was my favorite aspect of the novel. It was such an ingenious idea. I don't want to spoil too much of it seeing as how most of the enjoyment from this book comes from figuring things out on your own and seeing just how bizarre and weird things truly are. But just know that it gets all sorts of points for originality and of course, for following through right to the end.
Overall, I found The Lost to be a pretty damn great novel. I'm beginning to get somewhat stingy with my stars which is why this one didn't get the full five stars. Maybe later I'll rethink it and decide that it does deserve that last star. I highly recommend this book if you want a slightly weird but really great read with an intriguing plot, engrossing characters, and an okay romance.
First things first: I loved Lauren. I just saw so much of myself in her. I've been categorized by some of my friends as slightly paranoid. It's just the way I'm built, but I tend to over-think things and somewhat obsess over them. I also tend to think that if there is a statistic of a bad thing happening to one out of a million people, I'm pretty sure that I would be that one. It doesn't matter what that bad or bizarre thing is or how unlikely it is to happen. It WILL happen to me. And Lauren is sort of like this. Which is why I was so amused by her thoughts in the beginning of The Lost. As the novel went on, I was still intrigued and endeared by her.
The supporting characters in The Lost were also magnificent. I just found them to be so full of life. And I was so engrossed with their plights and issues. They were just so vivid. I adored Claire so much. I also really liked Victoria and Sean and Merry and all of the other wonderful characters that made The Lost such a pleasure to read. However, the award for The Most Enigmatic Character Ever goes to the Missing Man. He reminded me like a sort of alternate universe Dumbledore. And I have a theory as to who he REALLY is. I won't share here seeing as how it's probably me overthinking things per usual.
The romance: I'm always weird with romance in most books. But recently I have found myself reading the synopsis of some romance books and thinking "Huh. That sounds like it has potential". Cut to me having an internal identity crisis. In The Lost, I liked the romance at the beginning. Then found myself ambivalent towards it, followed by some mild dislike, which ended with me being ambivalent again. The romance wasn't a huge point in The Lost (yay!), but some of Peter's attitude and neediness in regards to the romance kind of annoyed me...But it wasn't too bad.
The world building in The Lost was my favorite aspect of the novel. It was such an ingenious idea. I don't want to spoil too much of it seeing as how most of the enjoyment from this book comes from figuring things out on your own and seeing just how bizarre and weird things truly are. But just know that it gets all sorts of points for originality and of course, for following through right to the end.
Overall, I found The Lost to be a pretty damn great novel. I'm beginning to get somewhat stingy with my stars which is why this one didn't get the full five stars. Maybe later I'll rethink it and decide that it does deserve that last star. I highly recommend this book if you want a slightly weird but really great read with an intriguing plot, engrossing characters, and an okay romance.
Existential. Not my usual genre but will read the next in the series.
4.5
I really, really enjoyed this. This was very well done! Maybe too well done because it is set to be a trilogy... really hope she can keep this up!
I really, really enjoyed this. This was very well done! Maybe too well done because it is set to be a trilogy... really hope she can keep this up!
Sarah Beth Durst's first "adult" novel is unexpected and addictive. Lauren was only driving, driving away from her problems, with no intent but to drive. But then she arrives in the town of Lost, populated with lost souls, where you can't leave until you are found...I read a review that likened it to the Eagles' song Hotel California. Yup.
While this is categorized as "adult," it would be great for teens, with themes of running from problems, finding oneself, examining wants vs. needs, and it contains no sex, drugs or rock-n-roll. ;-)
While this is categorized as "adult," it would be great for teens, with themes of running from problems, finding oneself, examining wants vs. needs, and it contains no sex, drugs or rock-n-roll. ;-)