Lost & Found by Brooke Davis

January 26, 2015 Contemporary Fiction 23

G’Day Bookworms!

I was engaging in a little behind the scenes book chatter recently (it is every bit as glamorous as it sounds, I assure you) when some serious raving began over Brooke Davis’s debut novel Lost & Found. I am highly susceptible to peer pressure, so naturally, I clicked my way on over to NetGalley to see if I could snag myself a copy of this novel. Fortune smiled, and I was granted access to a complimentary copy of Lost & Found for review consideration. No worries, though, my review will still be honest. I’m a little like Agatha Pantha that way, but you’ll have to keep reading to get that reference…
9780525954682_medium_Lost_&_FoundMillie is a 7 year old girl living in Australia. After her father passes away, her mother slowly withdraws until one day she takes Millie to a department store and abandons her in the lingerie section. While hanging around said department store, Millie joins forces with an unlikely elderly ally, Karl the Touch Typist. He engages in air stenography and makes friends with mannequins. The odd little duo is soon joined by Agatha Pantha, an elderly widow and shut in. She has spent the years since her husband died shouting vitriolic honesty out her window and listening to TV static. Can you think of a better trio to go on a cross country quest to chase down Millie’s mother?

I really wanted to LOVE this book, but my feelings are rather conflicted. On the one hand, I loved the quirky characters. Precocious children and eccentric elderly folks are a pretty irresistible combination. That said, the subject matter was unbelievably heartbreaking. The book is well written, but seeing as it’s January and I’m in the midst of the winter blahs, I had hoped it would be a little more uplifting. When I finished it, I didn’t have a life affirming feeling, it was more of a vague foggy sadness. It makes me wonder if I’d feel differently had I read the book in the summer, seeing as I’m less of a moody basket case when the sun doesn’t set before I leave work. Even though this wasn’t a super fantastic 5 star read for me, I can see a lot of y’all loving it. Seriously, if you like oddball characters and laughter-through-tears Lost & Found might be a big winner for you.

Talk to me, Bookworms. Do you ever think that the timing of when you read a book affects your opinion of it?

*If you make a purchase through a link on this site, I will receive a small commission. I’m going to put it toward a pair of red gum boots because Millie has killer fashion sense.*

23 Responses to “Lost & Found by Brooke Davis”

  1. tanya (52 books or bust)

    Timing is everything when I read a book. Gotta be the right book for the mood I’m in and I feel really badly when I read a book at the wrong time. That being said, I’ve been avoiding this book in spite of the praise because the back cover blurb makes me want to cry. But at least you gave it a try, right?

    Reply

  3. Darlene @ Lost in Literature 108

    The time of year doesn’t affect my reading enjoyment but the time in life does. When my children were small I absolutely could not read anything about children being neglected or orphaned. It affected me profoundly. I could not do it. I’m good now though.:)

    Reply

  4. Rhian

    I really wanted to love this as Ms Davis is a local author, but I had the same feelings that you did – I really liked the characters but their slapstick adventures couldn’t take me away from the fact that a little girl who lost her beloved father had been cruelly abandoned by her mother.

    I do find mood can affect my opinion of a book. I have been known to set aside a book that’s not grabbing me and pick it up at a different time and get totally absorbed.

    Reply

  5. thatashgirl

    It totally makes an impact for me. It also depends on what I’ve read before. It’s why I need to switch up my serious/non-fiction/fluff because if I read too many serious and emotional books in a row I get grumpy and that’s never good.

    Reply

  7. Mysterious Bibliophile

    Timing is definitely important to me. My taste in books and movies runs a bit to the dark side. 🙂 But I hold off on difficult reads (or movies) when I am feeling vulnerable or just in a bit of a slump.

    Reply

  8. Jennine G.

    Timing definitely can affect your reading. I notice it mostly when my life gets busy in the middle of a bigger book and it starts feeling disjointed when I get back to reading.

    Reply

  10. Leah

    I LOVED this book. Absolutely adored it and have been thinking about it constantly since finishing (I read it just before Christmas).

    Timing definitely affects the way I feel about a book, though in my case it’s rarely due to the seasons. In the beginning of the month I read Stephen King’s latest. Though I loved it, it took a LOT out of me and when I finished I needed something completely different. The novel I picked up (In Some Other World, Maybe) wasn’t a happy-go-lucky book, but it WAS a complete 180 from King and it came at the right moment. I’m positive I would have still enjoyed it had I picked it up any other time, but because I was in that certain kind of mindset I think I liked it just a little bit more.

    Reply

Talk to me, Bookworms!

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