What Was Lost: A Novel
by Catherine O'Flynn
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Book Reviews of What Was Lost: A Novel
Book Review: Down at the Mall
Summary: 4 Stars
Catherine O'Flynn does such a good job of delaying important information about characters and their situation that it is almost impossible to review her fine first novel, WHAT WAS LOST, without giving something away. Let me just say that it is set near Birmingham, England, and involves two time periods, 1984 and 2003. In the first, we meet a ten-year-old girl, Kate Meaney, and her older friend Adrian. Kate leads a fantasy life as a detective, mostly observing people at the huge Green Oaks Mall. Though a college graduate, 22-year-old Adrian works behind the counter in his father's newsagent's shop; he is inspired by Kate's energy, but also seems to have a special understanding of her loneliness.
The 2003 sections are set almost entirely in the Mall. The two chief characters there are Lisa, who is assistant manager of a CD and video store, and Kurt, one of the security guards. Their connection with the 1984 story emerges only gradually, in the midst of an account of their frustrating dead-end jobs, their sometimes-comic relationships with their co-workers, and their discovery of one another. It is particularly interesting to see behind the scenes at the Mall, and visit the miles of unpainted concrete block corridors behind the glittering facades. The place becomes a metaphor for life, with most of the characters in the book inhabiting its unglamorous underside. But the people themselves are not uninteresting; indeed, the bleaker their environment, the more we get drawn into their lives as people.
Catherine O'Flynn says that she herself played detective as a child, and worked in a mall music store as an adult, jotting down notes that became the material for much of this book. Perhaps too much; there are times in both periods when the narrative thread is almost lost in the proliferation of anecdote. But this is an engaging book, and when the author pulls the two plot strands together (albeit with the aid of a few coincidences and a tinge of the supernatural) towards the end, it also becomes quite a moving one.
Book Review: A mixed bag
Summary: 4 Stars
When I turned the final page of this book, I thought about how much I liked the story. Saying that, I am giving this 4 stars because I thought there were parts (the middle!) that were a slow-go for me.
Summary, no spoilers:
The book starts out in 1984, and we follow the escapades of 10 year old Kate Meaney. She is a precocious, imaginative, but lonely little girl, who decides that she wants to open up a detective agency with a partner - her toy stuffed animal, a monkey named Mickey. Her only real friends are a rebellious schoolmate, and a young man named Adrian, who lives next door.
Kate decides the best place to scope out the criminals is the local mall, Green Oaks. She spends most of her free time there, trying to spy on the would-be robbers and criminals, copiously taking notes.
The next section of book takes place in 2003, and we know that Kate had disappeared without a trace back in 1984. We learn about the repercussions from that, and we are introduced to Lisa, Adrian's sister who works at the Green Oaks Mall's music store, and Kurt, the security guard there.
I thought the first section of this novel was absolutely riveting, and I just loved Kate. When I got to the second section, I just couldn't get as interested in Lisa and Kurt, and I found myself wanting to hurry on to find out what happened to Kate. I found this whole part of the novel a slow read.
But for that, I would've given this book 5 stars, because the denouement is just fantastic, and poignant. When I was done with the book, I was happy I had read it, and I was very satisfied with the story.
Recommended, and if you find yourself slowing down mid-book, hang in there. There's a big payoff at the end.
Book Review: Waste Lands
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the debut novel of a very talented writer. It is a working class mystery set in the industrial ruins of the English Midlands and in a shopping mall in Birmingham. The story is set in two time zones: 1984 and 19 years later.
I would bet that Ms.O'Flynn didn't choose 1984 for nothing. England is one of the countries with the highest surveillance levels in the world, closed circuit television is everywhere. One of the main characters of the later events is a security guard who spends hours every day looking at CCTV screens in the mall. He sees something on a screen at night, which leads to events from the past, the vanishing without trace of a precocious 10 year old girl, a loner and `amateur detective' (due to a gift from her father, a guide `how to be a private investigator'). He teams up with a young woman who works in a music shop in the mall, whose brother had disappeared a little later than the little girl, when he was 22.
This writer knows what she is writing about. Her descriptions of places and events are down to earth. Her working life scenes have a distinctly Dilbertian quality. She can be humorous without annoying me and she knows when to drop it. Her scenes from family life are full of cynical wisdom about the real world. (What is the point of life? Wasting time until you die.)
How did I pick this up? In my shelves, I have different waiting hills of books. One consists of books that my daughter thinks I must read. She is not always right, but in this case I agree with her.
Book Review: Good story, promising writer
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me start by saying I enjoyed this book. It is the story of a young girl named Kate who lost her mother and then her father. She is 10 years old and fancies herself a private investigator, an idea she got from her father, the parent that she really knew. After his death, she sort of ran with the PI persona, investigating nearly everybody in her neighborhood. Then one day, she disappeared.
The story skips to 20 years later with a security guard at the mall where Kate did a lot of investigating, and a woman employed at a music store in the mall. The woman's brother Adrian was the prime suspect in Kate's disappearance. The story unfolds from there.
I gave this book 3 stars because I felt that the character development was weak and I was not compelled to buy into the connections between the people in the book because of it. I also felt that the author used the same voice for the 10 year old girl that she did for the 22 year old man and for the 60 year old father and for all the characters. So basically, it was difficult to get a real feel for the characters. The writing was very nice though and the author created a story where I could be carried along in it, wanting to read on.
If you are looking for a quick read and a good story, I recommend it.
Book Review: Good writing, mixed feelings about the book
Summary: 3 Stars
It's England in the 1980s-and loner Kate Meaney is a bright, inquisitive child who is passionate about being a junior detective. She is also a child who has been dealt a difficult hand. Kate doesn't have a mother, her father dies and she's left with an inattentive grandmother who allows her to come and go as she pleases.
One day Kate leaves her home to take an academic test and simply goes missing. Her adult friend Adrian is the last to see her and thus becomes a suspect. His life and the lives of others change forever following her disappearance.
The book forwards twenty years and a security guard at Green Oaks shopping mall sees a child carrying a stuffed monkey on the security camera. It appears to be Kate. Adrian's sister, Lisa works at the mall and befriends Kurt (security guard). Together they investigate the disappearance of Kate Meaney.
What Was Lost is a dark novel that tells Kate's story and then begins to meander through the lives and minds of people who were peripherally connected to Kate. The plot is stunning and the book is well written, but the story seems more suited to that of a novella than novel.
Armchair Interviews says: Each reader must decide for themselves about this novel.