Rate this book

What We Lost (2013)

by Sara Zarr(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0316232181 (ISBN13: 9780316232180)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

review 1: I picked this up because it was the only book by Sara Zarr on the shelves at the library. I was kind of worried about the Christain themes, but if you're the kind of reader who usually avoids that kind of thing, don't worry: Once Was Lost treats faith as only one theme among many. It's a bit of a slow burn, but Sam's wry observations (like a hilarious bit on the overuse of exclamation points in promotional materials targeted at "the youth") kept me interested long enough for shit to get REAL. And damn but it gets real. The characters, for the most part, felt realistic, in large part due to the fact that every single one of them is flawed. The only reason this isn't a solid four-star for me (not that i read that much into the goodreads rating system) is that I felt hesitati... moreon in the ending. Even though Zarr does a great job giving the faintest impression of how things end for some characters, there are some things that could have really been dealt with more explicitly in the mystery storyline, given what kind of a character Sam is and the point she's at by the end of the novel.
review 2: I've liked most of Zarr's books that I've read but this one had a combination of factors that just didn't work for me. First of all, the main character is so self-absorbed. I know this is realistic for teenagers but it just got to be too much. And, secondly, this is a very Christian novel. If I had to sum it up in a sentence or two, I'd say its about how to maintain your faith through trials. And that just wasn't engaging for me. Finally, the main characters parents do not seem fully developed to me but rather a bit too much like caricatures: the father who is a pastor and the mother who is a drunk. less

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