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A review by sde
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
4.0
Catherine O'Flynn is an amazing writer, and I will definitely read more books by her. She made me see the simple and everyday - a mall, school room, corner store - seem like interesting and sometimes magical places. Yet I wish this story went in a completely different direction - but it's the author's story to tell, not mine.
The book starts in 1984 in an English suburb/small city and then moves to 20 years later. The main character in the 1984 section is an elementary school-aged girl named Kate Meaney. I LOVED Kate. She was a quirky, interesting girl who didn't really fit in with her classmates. She yearns to be a detective, and spends a lot of time in the local mall practicing her skills of observation and looking for crime. O'Flynn makes Kate seem both mature for her age and yet still a child. She is a complex, and not too cute, child character.
I did not enjoy the next section nearly as much, and not just because of its sadness. The author accurately depicted the malaise of 20 and 30-somethings stuck in a place in life that they are not quite sure how they arrived at. It was interesting, but felt completely different from the first part. The two sections intertwine, and the story wouldn't be what it was without the sections set in different decades, but, still, I wanted these to be two separate books. I wanted more time with my beloved Kate, rather than with the depressing, time-dragging time I spent with the adults in the 21st century.
And I wanted to learn more about Adrian, the young man who works in his parents store. Why did he like to do besides talk to a young girl? And I really wanted to know more about Teresa, Kate's defiant but smart classmate who has a very interesting story herself, although we only get to her a smidgeon of it.
I didn't like the ending, but I didn't think there was anything really WRONG with it. So, again, I have to remind myself that it's O'Flynn's story, not mine.
The book starts in 1984 in an English suburb/small city and then moves to 20 years later. The main character in the 1984 section is an elementary school-aged girl named Kate Meaney. I LOVED Kate. She was a quirky, interesting girl who didn't really fit in with her classmates. She yearns to be a detective, and spends a lot of time in the local mall practicing her skills of observation and looking for crime. O'Flynn makes Kate seem both mature for her age and yet still a child. She is a complex, and not too cute, child character.
I did not enjoy the next section nearly as much, and not just because of its sadness. The author accurately depicted the malaise of 20 and 30-somethings stuck in a place in life that they are not quite sure how they arrived at. It was interesting, but felt completely different from the first part. The two sections intertwine, and the story wouldn't be what it was without the sections set in different decades, but, still, I wanted these to be two separate books. I wanted more time with my beloved Kate, rather than with the depressing, time-dragging time I spent with the adults in the 21st century.
And I wanted to learn more about Adrian, the young man who works in his parents store. Why did he like to do besides talk to a young girl? And I really wanted to know more about Teresa, Kate's defiant but smart classmate who has a very interesting story herself, although we only get to her a smidgeon of it.
I didn't like the ending, but I didn't think there was anything really WRONG with it. So, again, I have to remind myself that it's O'Flynn's story, not mine.