Book Review: What Was Lost

I can't remember why I reserved this book in my library. It's not part of my 1001 list so I'm guessing I must've read a good review on it.

It's a bit difficult to explain the plot of the story (not that it's a David Markson novel or anything) without giving away too much. It begins with the story of a girl who wants to be a detective and has a stuffed monkey in a suit as a sidekick. Cute, huh? But her story is far from cute and we find out that her life is not a happy life, rather a bit lonely.

Then, the story cuts to 20 years later and we find out that she has been missing for all that time. This part of the story revolves around a mall security guard with a sleeping disorder and an uninspired music store manager. Sounds disjointed, right?

And the novel is a bit that, however, the author does tie the stories together nicely. I enjoyed reading it, especially the beginning. But I felt unsatisfied after finishing it.

The ending was a bit non-climaxy, the coming together of all the different characters a bit too pat and there were too many floating pieces within the novel that didn't seem central to the plot.

There was a lot of very good writing in it, don't get me wrong. But I think that the author was trying a bit too hard to be clever. Then again, that's just my two cents worth.

At least it was an easy read and I enjoyed it more than I did Drop City.

Next on the list is David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas which seems interesting. Hopefully, it lives up to the hype.