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A review by navsy
The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
4.0
Where do you draw the line of loving someone? If you lose a loved one, would you go to any extent to get them back? How do you make yourself let someone go?
I pondered over these questions while reading this book. I'm sure you too would have at some point.
Where do I even start with my review? Before reading this book, I was expecting a dystopian world where a girl who is nothing but an echo of another person searches for her true identity and fights against her creators to have a life of her own; what I wasn't expecting was a book so rich in human emotions and relationships that is wonderful in its simplicity with a beautiful writing style and brilliant characterization.
I don't think of this book as entirely dystopian; dystopia hints towards a futuristic society, yes, but other than weavers creating life in the form of echoes, other elements of a dystopian world are not touched. I'd consider it more as an alternative reality, a world where weaving started 200 years back. It's not an issue for the book, but since I would have liked to know more about weaving, I feel a teensy bit disappointed. I can overlook it, because that's not what makes this book so great, but I can't entirely because when I'm going into a book expecting it to be dystopian, I'd like to know more about the how and why of the world building.
The Lost Girl presents a world where a few have found a way to give life to the dead. No, don't think zombie, think a replacement for the dead ones you can't seem to let go. Sounds so morally wrong and creepy right? You're in for a surprise. Getting back to those people; they call themselves weavers. We are only introduced to three of them in this book, maybe because there are only three present in the whole world or because the story is only focused on London's loom of weavers. They make echoes for the sole purpose of replacing a person in case of their deaths. The echoes look and sound exactly like their Other and have to live their life learning the Other's mannerisms so that they can fit into their life when their Other dies.
Our protagonist Eva is an echo. She has spent her life trying to be like Amarra, her Other who lives in India. She doesn't want to be her but follows the rules of the Loom to survive. However, that doesn't stop her from being a little rebellious whenever she gets the chance. Eva is impulsive where Amarra is controlled, temperamental where Amarra is calm, loves art where Amarra is more into archaeology. Eva has always wanted to escape, to have her own identity but she can't give in to her whims for the fear of her life.
The ethical question of creating life is a nagging reminder in the entirety of the book. Eva as an echo doesn't know what her existence means. She is considered a monster, a husk of a shell with no feelings or dreams of her own by people who think echoes are unnatural creations that shouldn't even exist; but she is considered human, a who and not a what by people who know her and love her, who realize how very alive she is if they try seeing her as something other than an oddity.
Eva's connection to Amarra is puzzling but convincing at the same time. The loss of Amarra's death not only affects her family and friends but also Eva and in a way she couldn't have been prepared for. Eva is haunted by Amarra's presence all along the way and her loneliness and confusion is so beautifully painful. Every character in this book has a personality of their own and the author has made them all real rather than using them as convenient tools for the plot. From Alisha's hopes of finding her daughter somewhere in Eva to Neil's pragmatism of accepting Eva as a different person; from Nik's unselfishness to Sasha's undulated love; from Ray's anger, grief and hatred to Lekha's understanding and friendliness; everything is written in a way that you not only understand what they're going through but you feel it with them.
Other characters, be it the ever caring Mina ma, the ever vigilant Erik, the ever friendly Ophelia or the ever mysterious Sir Matthew, all of them cared for Eva in a different way and Mandanna has done a great job in portraying each one of them. There isn't really a love triangle but two love interests. One is the forbidden love and the other is the supposed-to-fall-in-love love. Sean is the composed, calculating, practical guy who abides by the law and hides his feelings towards Eva as best as he can. Ray is the guy who loved Amarra and would do anything to find her in Eva so that he could forgive himself a little. The author has done a great job in building Eva's relationship with both of them.
The book flows by smoothly without any predictable twists. The ending came out of nowhere. I had no idea how things would end and I definitely hadn't guessed what happened at last. I would like to believe that they got their happy ending too. I'm a believer like that. I don't care if it's not likely but what they had, what they went through, makes me wish for the best and I don't want anyone to burst my bubble so just DON'T! There are a few things I would have liked to end differently. I definitely wanted to know more about the Loom, Adrian's experiments and Matthew's change of character. Elsa seemed like an intriguing character but there was only one scene that included her.
All in all, this was a book that would tug at your heart strings and make you fall in love with all the characters. Eva begins her journey being unsure of everything but slowly finds her way through her life. She learns to respect herself and accepts that she's worth living. Her journey is not easy but filled with fear, love, hope, sacrifices, betrayal and trust; but she keeps fighting and wins even if it's a bittersweet victory. I really enjoyed it. 4 stars.
I pondered over these questions while reading this book. I'm sure you too would have at some point.
Where do I even start with my review? Before reading this book, I was expecting a dystopian world where a girl who is nothing but an echo of another person searches for her true identity and fights against her creators to have a life of her own; what I wasn't expecting was a book so rich in human emotions and relationships that is wonderful in its simplicity with a beautiful writing style and brilliant characterization.
I don't think of this book as entirely dystopian; dystopia hints towards a futuristic society, yes, but other than weavers creating life in the form of echoes, other elements of a dystopian world are not touched. I'd consider it more as an alternative reality, a world where weaving started 200 years back. It's not an issue for the book, but since I would have liked to know more about weaving, I feel a teensy bit disappointed. I can overlook it, because that's not what makes this book so great, but I can't entirely because when I'm going into a book expecting it to be dystopian, I'd like to know more about the how and why of the world building.
The Lost Girl presents a world where a few have found a way to give life to the dead. No, don't think zombie, think a replacement for the dead ones you can't seem to let go. Sounds so morally wrong and creepy right? You're in for a surprise. Getting back to those people; they call themselves weavers. We are only introduced to three of them in this book, maybe because there are only three present in the whole world or because the story is only focused on London's loom of weavers. They make echoes for the sole purpose of replacing a person in case of their deaths. The echoes look and sound exactly like their Other and have to live their life learning the Other's mannerisms so that they can fit into their life when their Other dies.
Our protagonist Eva is an echo. She has spent her life trying to be like Amarra, her Other who lives in India. She doesn't want to be her but follows the rules of the Loom to survive. However, that doesn't stop her from being a little rebellious whenever she gets the chance. Eva is impulsive where Amarra is controlled, temperamental where Amarra is calm, loves art where Amarra is more into archaeology. Eva has always wanted to escape, to have her own identity but she can't give in to her whims for the fear of her life.
The ethical question of creating life is a nagging reminder in the entirety of the book. Eva as an echo doesn't know what her existence means. She is considered a monster, a husk of a shell with no feelings or dreams of her own by people who think echoes are unnatural creations that shouldn't even exist; but she is considered human, a who and not a what by people who know her and love her, who realize how very alive she is if they try seeing her as something other than an oddity.
Eva's connection to Amarra is puzzling but convincing at the same time. The loss of Amarra's death not only affects her family and friends but also Eva and in a way she couldn't have been prepared for. Eva is haunted by Amarra's presence all along the way and her loneliness and confusion is so beautifully painful. Every character in this book has a personality of their own and the author has made them all real rather than using them as convenient tools for the plot. From Alisha's hopes of finding her daughter somewhere in Eva to Neil's pragmatism of accepting Eva as a different person; from Nik's unselfishness to Sasha's undulated love; from Ray's anger, grief and hatred to Lekha's understanding and friendliness; everything is written in a way that you not only understand what they're going through but you feel it with them.
Other characters, be it the ever caring Mina ma, the ever vigilant Erik, the ever friendly Ophelia or the ever mysterious Sir Matthew, all of them cared for Eva in a different way and Mandanna has done a great job in portraying each one of them. There isn't really a love triangle but two love interests. One is the forbidden love and the other is the supposed-to-fall-in-love love. Sean is the composed, calculating, practical guy who abides by the law and hides his feelings towards Eva as best as he can. Ray is the guy who loved Amarra and would do anything to find her in Eva so that he could forgive himself a little. The author has done a great job in building Eva's relationship with both of them.
The book flows by smoothly without any predictable twists. The ending came out of nowhere. I had no idea how things would end and I definitely hadn't guessed what happened at last. I would like to believe that they
Spoiler
Sean and EvaAll in all, this was a book that would tug at your heart strings and make you fall in love with all the characters. Eva begins her journey being unsure of everything but slowly finds her way through her life. She learns to respect herself and accepts that she's worth living. Her journey is not easy but filled with fear, love, hope, sacrifices, betrayal and trust; but she keeps fighting and wins even if it's a bittersweet victory. I really enjoyed it. 4 stars.