b303tilly's review against another edition
4.0
This book was dense and it took me a while to read it, but I'm so glad I persevered! As a meditation on grief, it was excellent. Grief of the loss of a friend, a mother, a wife, a child...but more than that. Grief for the loss of a relationship, the grief that comes from misunderstanding, or from realizing that you missed something because you only looked at it from your own perspective. Hell, this even deals with the grief that comes from missing something you never even had to begin with.
erinbro1's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this novel. Nell Freudenberger populated Lost and Wanted with so many fully-realized characters. I cared about them all, and I won't soon forget about them. This story begins with a mystery, and it really could have gone another way, but the narrator is so grounded in reality and science that what ends up happening is so much more satisfying. Would recommend for anyone who enjoys slowly-paced novels with lots of character development.
schylermartin's review against another edition
3.0
An extremely slow burn of a book that builds in a gentle, emotional way. It’s worth the struggle, but sometimes the the story gets bogged down with science and logistics. A very satisfying read in the end though.
jbojkov's review against another edition
4.0
This book had a lot of elements that I enjoy- how science can sometimes have a mystical quality, complicated relationships between characters, a sense of suspense, and clear and compelling writing. The only thing I was disappointed by was the ending. Seemed a little rushed and caught up too much in the science aspect- leaving me with questions about the characters. But maybe the author did this on purpose in order to allow the reader to make up their own mind?
maureenmcc's review against another edition
3.0
Three and a half stars. This is a lovely, slowly unfolding book about two college friends whose friendship ebbs and flows after they graduate and move on with their lives, but who still maintain a connection. One dies somewhat suddenly, and the story is about that connection, and the sometimes mysterious ways in which people connect and communicate with each other, whether physically present or not. The main character is a physicist, so the story is told with a lot of physics concepts as backdrop and context, but you don't have to necessarily understand all of it. I enjoyed the story and thought it was well done.
purcellibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Helen is known for the theory she and her Harvard classmate developed explaining fifth dimensional physics in black holes, and has explained physics in best-selling books. She now works as a physics prof at MIT, raising her son Jack as a single mom. Helen’s bonds with Jack are a delight to read, and though Helen thinks doing math is easier than relationships, both are rich in the novel that is now in my top ten. The story begins when her college roommate and best friend dies after a long-term illness. The two women lived on opposite coasts. Charlie, a creative and impulsive African American, studied literature and theater, succeeding as a screenwriter and producer in L.A. Charlie’s husband and daughter move to Boston temporarily, and Helen gets unexplainable texts from her dead friend’s phone. This books is well-written, intelligent, and emotional in a way that resonates deeply.
katesville7's review against another edition
4.0
I would give this a 3.5 if Goodreads had half stars. Pretty good!
mayoroffailure's review against another edition
2.0
There are very few instances in my life where I have supported someone’s claim to false advertising. Whenever I’ve heard someone make a claim about a book or a movie or a game being false in the way that it was sold or marketed I generally lean more towards the notion that it didn’t live up to the expectations that that person placed upon it rather than some sort of foul play being the cause for disappointment. That being said, I have a strong feeling towards a claim that Lost and Wanted was misrepresented not only in the synopsis provided on the dust jacket but also in reviews and pull quotes from other sources.
When I came across Lost and Wanted on Book of the Month it seemed to be billed on the premise that it was about a woman whose friend that she had lost may not actually be dead, and that it incorporated scientific elements which could lean towards time travel. Furthermore, the book jacket used descriptions and pull quotes that used words like “searing” and “suspenseful” and continued to promote the story as a potential time travel mystery about the passing of a friend of a physics professor. When it comes to the blurb, a conflict is suggested that Helen, the story’s protagonist, finds the idea that time travel or some sort of paranormal explanation cuts against all that she believes in. In reality, the book has nothing of the sort that was described upon the dust jacket or by the outlets that are selling the book.
Perhaps the saddest aspect of this truth is that this principal conflict of a physics professor coming face to face with something that she can’t find herself believing in is a wonderful setup for a book that would have incredible potential. However, reality is often disappointing, and in the case of Lost and Wanted that intrigue of the deceased friend, Charlie, contacting Helen makes up less than five percent of the novel’s actual content. In fact, you could cut out that entire subplot and the book wouldn’t change. This fact gets to my biggest point about Lost and Wanted, there’s nothing actually going on, the book doesn’t really have a story or a plot that drives the characters forward. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I learned that the subplot about Charlie contacting Helen after her death was written in solely to give the book something to market, or was specifically chosen for emphasis by the publisher for the same reason.
In my past reviews, I’ve mentioned that a writer has to give their reader a reason to actually read the book, basic English classes would tell you that your paper or writing prompt has to have a “hook” and that it’s that opening hook that draws your audience into what you have to say. It isn’t enough to simply put words on the page, it’s the job of the author to give the reader a reason to actually read what those words on the page are. Lost and Wanted offers no intrigue or reason for anyone to read it, there is no hook that helps draw you in, and Mrs. Freudenberger never writes in a reason that would be sufficient enough for a casual reader to continue on past page fifty. Nothing of substance lies within the pages of this novel, it’s just ham-fisted social commentary and overly detailed scientific discourse where drama and conflict are supposed to be.
I remember listening to a podcast once where the two hosts were going through submissions to an old Harper Collins contest and reading out the different one or two sentence synopses that the writers had left for their work. After about twenty minutes of this, there was a break in the laughter and one of the hosts asked the other if everything on the site was “high concept bollocks” and then proceeded to ask if anyone had written a book about “some guy going about his life”. Now, I by no means wish to disparage slice of life content or say that the genre is generally bad, it’s not. However, Lost and Wanted is essentially slice of life in its purest form, rather than have an actual plot, it’s the ultimate actualization of what Simon was asking for on that podcast, except it’s a girl rather than a guy.
In lieu of having a high concept or thrilling plot a writer has to create some sort of vector with which the reader can enter the story and remain engaged with it, that’s why most slice of life books happen around a major event for the characters involved. Those events give the reader something to connect with and become invested in and it gives the writer something to mine for depth and engaging content. Normally, the death of a close friend would be something that would provide a lot of potential for an engaging story, grief and the process of losing someone is one of the things that can affect a human being the most, but Mrs. Freudenberger squanders the opportunity and writes almost nothing that takes advantage of the situation that Helen is in to affect the character.
The book jacket describes Helen and Charlie as great friends, and that Helen will be drawn into the “web” of their past to learn more about Charlie and what happened to her. However, we don’t ever really see any strong reaction or emotion to the passing of her friend until about page fifty, and Helen doesn’t really cry until almost halfway through the book. Moreover, I wouldn’t describe the protagonist’s behavior as matching someone who’s grieving, instead, she simply goes on with her life like nothing’s actually happened. Ultimately, that state of normalcy Helen is in makes Lost and Wanted what it is, and I would put forth the idea that a more fitting title would have been An indeterminate amount of time with Helen Clapp, because this book is like reading someone’s schedule. We read as she goes to work, interacts with her child, talks to her sister, helps her deceased friends’ husband and daughter, and that’s all the book is, over and over and over again. There was only ever one thread in the book that was interesting, and it was the backstory of how a predatory teacher affected Charlie’s life forever, but it’s short-lived and delivers no real catharsis.
Perhaps the biggest crime this book commits is the inclusion of obsessively detailed descriptions and conversations of physics. Now, for someone like myself, who actively enjoys reading about space and the science that governs the way it works, this inclusion doesn’t directly alienate me. However, it’s inclusion in the narrative clearly alienates most people, as many of the reviews for this book state that the inclusion of the science took away from their experience reading the book. These sections are incredibly common and ridiculously clinical in the way that they’re written and your average person who picks this book up without reading about it beforehand most likely won’t feel motivated to continue reading once they encounter a few of them, and the worst part is that the science holds no actual importance to the story.
If Helen’s main conflict was reconciling science with the fact that her friend was possibly still alive then it would have some justification for its prominent position in the narrative, instead, it comes across as complete filler to pad out conversations or to increase the book’s word count. I’ve spoken at length in my other reviews about how every inclusion in a novel has to have a justification and that it’s the individual importance of the smaller details to the overall story that will do much of the work in making a story great. These discourses in science go against that standard in a way that I’ve not seen in a long time, they not only offer nothing to the plot to justify their inclusion, but they make the book significantly worse.
The book doesn’t just lack a plot, it also lacks any characters with an arc. In any well-written book, the grand catharsis from the resolution of the main conflict should be supported by the individual changes that take place within the principal characters of the story. A hero who manages to defeat the villain and bring home the elixir can’t simply be the same person who set out on the call to adventure, there has to be some growth for a character to have a complete arc. Helen Clapp, however, feels no different at the end of the book than she did at the beginning, in fact, none of the characters really seem to undergo change. This isn’t for a lack of characterization either, this book characterizes Helen to death, so much time is spent making sure that we understand her entire backstory, her choices, and every single important detail. We hear the justifications that she has for her decisions and we figure out how she processes things and how she thinks, we know what changed her life for the better and what changed it for the worse, and yet she never actually changes further than the backstory we learned, she’s in stasis as a character.
It's not for lack of potential conflict either, it's simply that every situation she comes across has a clean solution or simply doesn’t bother her. The love of your life returns but is suddenly getting married? No issues, we had a joke about how I’d be his second wife. Your deceased best friend’s husband is moving in below you and the two of you are growing a relationship? No worries, there’s no sexual tension or temptation, I’m good. Your IVF child is wanting a father? We already discussed it, he’s fine. Your best friend dies? Well, we hadn’t really been in touch so I’m okay. You may have to go to the wedding of the man you still love? Nope, I have a conference in Europe right before and can’t afford both trips. Your deceased friend’s husband wants to move in below you but you already have tenants? Well, they have friends that just moved to New York that want them to move in with them and they want to terminate the lease early, no tough decisions for me!
The book has no tension, no drama, no plot, absolutely nothing. I only give the book two stars because the technical aspect of writing was well done. Mrs. Freudenberger’s syntax, grammar, word usage, and sentence construction were all very good. Beyond that, though the writing has no passion, no style, no real character, it feels cold and detached like it was written by some sort of Grammarly robot. In fact, for a book that is supposed to be written by its own main character I didn’t even realize it until she referred to herself. If you could write a book by committee, I imagine it would turn out reading something like Lost and wanted, only it most likely would have provided an actual plot. I genuinely challenge anyone to tell me what the plot of this book is, because it’s not about dealing with grief, it's not about being contacted by someone who’s supposed to be dead, I genuinely have no idea what I would say to someone if I was asked what the book was about.
If Simon Lane is still looking for a book that fills the desires he had while recording that podcast many years ago then this would certainly work. Otherwise, I can’t find myself being able to recommend this book to anyone, it has no substance and it gives you no actual reason to spend your time flipping its pages. After I closed the back cover I certainly felt lost and wanted another book.
When I came across Lost and Wanted on Book of the Month it seemed to be billed on the premise that it was about a woman whose friend that she had lost may not actually be dead, and that it incorporated scientific elements which could lean towards time travel. Furthermore, the book jacket used descriptions and pull quotes that used words like “searing” and “suspenseful” and continued to promote the story as a potential time travel mystery about the passing of a friend of a physics professor. When it comes to the blurb, a conflict is suggested that Helen, the story’s protagonist, finds the idea that time travel or some sort of paranormal explanation cuts against all that she believes in. In reality, the book has nothing of the sort that was described upon the dust jacket or by the outlets that are selling the book.
Perhaps the saddest aspect of this truth is that this principal conflict of a physics professor coming face to face with something that she can’t find herself believing in is a wonderful setup for a book that would have incredible potential. However, reality is often disappointing, and in the case of Lost and Wanted that intrigue of the deceased friend, Charlie, contacting Helen makes up less than five percent of the novel’s actual content. In fact, you could cut out that entire subplot and the book wouldn’t change. This fact gets to my biggest point about Lost and Wanted, there’s nothing actually going on, the book doesn’t really have a story or a plot that drives the characters forward. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I learned that the subplot about Charlie contacting Helen after her death was written in solely to give the book something to market, or was specifically chosen for emphasis by the publisher for the same reason.
In my past reviews, I’ve mentioned that a writer has to give their reader a reason to actually read the book, basic English classes would tell you that your paper or writing prompt has to have a “hook” and that it’s that opening hook that draws your audience into what you have to say. It isn’t enough to simply put words on the page, it’s the job of the author to give the reader a reason to actually read what those words on the page are. Lost and Wanted offers no intrigue or reason for anyone to read it, there is no hook that helps draw you in, and Mrs. Freudenberger never writes in a reason that would be sufficient enough for a casual reader to continue on past page fifty. Nothing of substance lies within the pages of this novel, it’s just ham-fisted social commentary and overly detailed scientific discourse where drama and conflict are supposed to be.
I remember listening to a podcast once where the two hosts were going through submissions to an old Harper Collins contest and reading out the different one or two sentence synopses that the writers had left for their work. After about twenty minutes of this, there was a break in the laughter and one of the hosts asked the other if everything on the site was “high concept bollocks” and then proceeded to ask if anyone had written a book about “some guy going about his life”. Now, I by no means wish to disparage slice of life content or say that the genre is generally bad, it’s not. However, Lost and Wanted is essentially slice of life in its purest form, rather than have an actual plot, it’s the ultimate actualization of what Simon was asking for on that podcast, except it’s a girl rather than a guy.
In lieu of having a high concept or thrilling plot a writer has to create some sort of vector with which the reader can enter the story and remain engaged with it, that’s why most slice of life books happen around a major event for the characters involved. Those events give the reader something to connect with and become invested in and it gives the writer something to mine for depth and engaging content. Normally, the death of a close friend would be something that would provide a lot of potential for an engaging story, grief and the process of losing someone is one of the things that can affect a human being the most, but Mrs. Freudenberger squanders the opportunity and writes almost nothing that takes advantage of the situation that Helen is in to affect the character.
The book jacket describes Helen and Charlie as great friends, and that Helen will be drawn into the “web” of their past to learn more about Charlie and what happened to her. However, we don’t ever really see any strong reaction or emotion to the passing of her friend until about page fifty, and Helen doesn’t really cry until almost halfway through the book. Moreover, I wouldn’t describe the protagonist’s behavior as matching someone who’s grieving, instead, she simply goes on with her life like nothing’s actually happened. Ultimately, that state of normalcy Helen is in makes Lost and Wanted what it is, and I would put forth the idea that a more fitting title would have been An indeterminate amount of time with Helen Clapp, because this book is like reading someone’s schedule. We read as she goes to work, interacts with her child, talks to her sister, helps her deceased friends’ husband and daughter, and that’s all the book is, over and over and over again. There was only ever one thread in the book that was interesting, and it was the backstory of how a predatory teacher affected Charlie’s life forever, but it’s short-lived and delivers no real catharsis.
Perhaps the biggest crime this book commits is the inclusion of obsessively detailed descriptions and conversations of physics. Now, for someone like myself, who actively enjoys reading about space and the science that governs the way it works, this inclusion doesn’t directly alienate me. However, it’s inclusion in the narrative clearly alienates most people, as many of the reviews for this book state that the inclusion of the science took away from their experience reading the book. These sections are incredibly common and ridiculously clinical in the way that they’re written and your average person who picks this book up without reading about it beforehand most likely won’t feel motivated to continue reading once they encounter a few of them, and the worst part is that the science holds no actual importance to the story.
If Helen’s main conflict was reconciling science with the fact that her friend was possibly still alive then it would have some justification for its prominent position in the narrative, instead, it comes across as complete filler to pad out conversations or to increase the book’s word count. I’ve spoken at length in my other reviews about how every inclusion in a novel has to have a justification and that it’s the individual importance of the smaller details to the overall story that will do much of the work in making a story great. These discourses in science go against that standard in a way that I’ve not seen in a long time, they not only offer nothing to the plot to justify their inclusion, but they make the book significantly worse.
The book doesn’t just lack a plot, it also lacks any characters with an arc. In any well-written book, the grand catharsis from the resolution of the main conflict should be supported by the individual changes that take place within the principal characters of the story. A hero who manages to defeat the villain and bring home the elixir can’t simply be the same person who set out on the call to adventure, there has to be some growth for a character to have a complete arc. Helen Clapp, however, feels no different at the end of the book than she did at the beginning, in fact, none of the characters really seem to undergo change. This isn’t for a lack of characterization either, this book characterizes Helen to death, so much time is spent making sure that we understand her entire backstory, her choices, and every single important detail. We hear the justifications that she has for her decisions and we figure out how she processes things and how she thinks, we know what changed her life for the better and what changed it for the worse, and yet she never actually changes further than the backstory we learned, she’s in stasis as a character.
It's not for lack of potential conflict either, it's simply that every situation she comes across has a clean solution or simply doesn’t bother her. The love of your life returns but is suddenly getting married? No issues, we had a joke about how I’d be his second wife. Your deceased best friend’s husband is moving in below you and the two of you are growing a relationship? No worries, there’s no sexual tension or temptation, I’m good. Your IVF child is wanting a father? We already discussed it, he’s fine. Your best friend dies? Well, we hadn’t really been in touch so I’m okay. You may have to go to the wedding of the man you still love? Nope, I have a conference in Europe right before and can’t afford both trips. Your deceased friend’s husband wants to move in below you but you already have tenants? Well, they have friends that just moved to New York that want them to move in with them and they want to terminate the lease early, no tough decisions for me!
The book has no tension, no drama, no plot, absolutely nothing. I only give the book two stars because the technical aspect of writing was well done. Mrs. Freudenberger’s syntax, grammar, word usage, and sentence construction were all very good. Beyond that, though the writing has no passion, no style, no real character, it feels cold and detached like it was written by some sort of Grammarly robot. In fact, for a book that is supposed to be written by its own main character I didn’t even realize it until she referred to herself. If you could write a book by committee, I imagine it would turn out reading something like Lost and wanted, only it most likely would have provided an actual plot. I genuinely challenge anyone to tell me what the plot of this book is, because it’s not about dealing with grief, it's not about being contacted by someone who’s supposed to be dead, I genuinely have no idea what I would say to someone if I was asked what the book was about.
If Simon Lane is still looking for a book that fills the desires he had while recording that podcast many years ago then this would certainly work. Otherwise, I can’t find myself being able to recommend this book to anyone, it has no substance and it gives you no actual reason to spend your time flipping its pages. After I closed the back cover I certainly felt lost and wanted another book.
3thingsaboutthisbook's review against another edition
3.0
📕I might be little biased. When you give me one of my favorite quotes and just when we managed to take photo of a black hole for the first time to prove owner of that quote was right all along: “People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”
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📗Also, people like us, who tries to explain all unknowns or uncertainties through science, tend to use science as solace in facing a loss. Like looking for answers to biggest questions around the reason of our existence and possibility of existence of our likeness in some other dimension, we look for signs of people from past and/or future in the ever growing universe. Just because of that stubbornly persistent illusion...
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📘This was a story of a physicist trying handle a loss of very dear friend of hers and trying to come to terms with it by looking for sign of her in the outer space. Might not be relatable for many, but worth reading
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📗Also, people like us, who tries to explain all unknowns or uncertainties through science, tend to use science as solace in facing a loss. Like looking for answers to biggest questions around the reason of our existence and possibility of existence of our likeness in some other dimension, we look for signs of people from past and/or future in the ever growing universe. Just because of that stubbornly persistent illusion...
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📘This was a story of a physicist trying handle a loss of very dear friend of hers and trying to come to terms with it by looking for sign of her in the outer space. Might not be relatable for many, but worth reading
grapestakes's review against another edition
1.0
DNF: I’ve been trying to read this book off and on for over a year. I must admit defeat.