Began reading: 28.2.2017
Completed reading: 5.3.2017
Overall rating: 3 stars
Millie Bird has been left behind in a department store by her mum.
Agatha Pantha hasn't stepped out of her house since her husband died, seven years ago.
Karl the Touch Typist has escaped from a nursing home.
Three lost people needing to be found. They just don't know it yet.
Lost & Found by Brooke Davis is a contemporary fiction novel that takes place in Australia. I purchased this book a while ago because of all the awards it had received, but I only just got around to reading it. I liked the book because it was somewhat nostalgic, but at the same time I felt that it was a little unrealistic. I’ll explain why a little later.
Millie Bird's father has died from cancer, and her mother has abandoned her in a department store. As she wanders around, looking for her mother, she meets Karl the Touch Typist. Karl has lost his wife, Evie, and has difficulty obeying instructions. Without Evie, he feels lost and alone; that is, until he meets Millie. Agatha Pantha has lost her husband and shut herself in her house, refusing to go outside for anything. She lives across the street from Millie, and when she sees Millie's mother running away with her daughter, Agatha decides to help Millie find her mum, by travelling around Australia. Along with Karl and Agatha, Millie comes across a range of people whom she teaches that death is inevitable but it's ok.
Millie Bird's father has died from cancer, and her mother has abandoned her in a department store. As she wanders around, looking for her mother, she meets Karl the Touch Typist. Karl has lost his wife, Evie, and has difficulty obeying instructions. Without Evie, he feels lost and alone; that is, until he meets Millie. Agatha Pantha has lost her husband and shut herself in her house, refusing to go outside for anything. She lives across the street from Millie, and when she sees Millie's mother running away with her daughter, Agatha decides to help Millie find her mum, by travelling around Australia. Along with Karl and Agatha, Millie comes across a range of people whom she teaches that death is inevitable but it's ok.
The novel was well-written, especially in relation to its pace and structure. It flowed well, and I was surprised at how easy it was to read. I wouldn’t say that it was a light read, as it explored death and grief, but I didn’t think that it was dense. Davis employed various literary techniques to give the book depth and intrigue. Humour was one of the key techniques that all three protagonists utilised. For example:
A teenage boy walks past them on the street. He has braces and pimples and wears his hat sideways. Probably thinking about masturbating, she says as they brush shoulders.
[…] What’s masturbating? the little girl asks. It’s what boys do to keep busy! Agatha says. What about girls? the little girl says. What about girls! Boys touch themselves, girls get themselves ready to be touched by boys. That’s it, that’s life! You should be writing this down! (p. 98).
There were also some great quotes, including:
…they ate together, slept together, sat together, breathed together – but had never been further apart (p. 53).
There’s an advertisement on the wall, a photo of a lady holding a sign that reads Old Can Wait. Agatha stands in front of it as though they’re facing off in a Western. The blond boy is still staring at Agatha. Old is not a choice! she yells at him. The boy begins to cry and his mother glares at Agatha. There’s no point keeping it from him, Agatha says, and sits down again (pp. 99-100).
Life decides what happens, not you! (p. 104).
Maybe when you let out your last breath, you let out everything, your memories and thoughts and things you wished you’d said and things you wished you didn’t say… (p. 137).
The start date and the end date are always the important bits on the gravestones, written in big letters. The dash in between is always so small you can barely see it. Surely the dash should be big and bright and amazing, or not, depending on how you had lived (p. 144).
Can you love and hate the same person? If you love them more than you hate them, will they forgive you? (p. 173).
More quotes from the book can be found here.
The plot was interesting, especially as Davis kept the balance between light and dark concepts. The protagonists travelled through Australia to find Millie’s mum, riding on the Indian Pacific train. I have always wanted to travel on that train, and I see it often when I’m at train stations, so to be able to read about the characters riding on it was pretty special. It was also fascinating to read about how Millie and Karl would spend their nights in the department store after it had closed. The way Millie used different sections of the store to keep herself entertained was so creative and adorable.
The use of realistic characters for protagonists was something that I need to applaud Davis for. Realistic characters give readers something to relate to – we could meet similar people on the street, or be friends with them. Millie’s inquisitiveness, Agatha’s aloofness, and Karl’s friendliness and sense of adventure seemed very realistic. Creating realistic characters can be challenging, but I believe that Davis did an awesome job. Not all authors can successfully make their characters realistic, but Davis managed just fine.
A good conclusion needs to provide closure, address the theme or themes, and maybe propose or indicate how the characters develop in the future. The conclusion for this book was decent, in that it provided some closure, addressed the themes of death and loss, and gave us an insight into the protagonists’ futures. I would have liked more closure, especially Millie’s reunion with her mother, but it was good enough so I can’t complain.
An author’s writing style has the ability to stand out, and I believe that Davis’s writing style definitely did that – but not in a good way. I noticed that I wasn’t the only person who thought this, as I have seen numerous reviews on Goodreads that mentioned the book’s writing style. The dialogue in this novel was not separated by quotation marks, nor was it placed in its own paragraph. At first, I thought that they were memories, as dialogue in memories or flashbacks tend to be in italics, but I don’t think that this is the case. The lack of quotation marks were confusing and irritating, as was the combination of dialogue with the rest of the narrative in the same paragraph. I never realised how much I appreciated quotation marks until I read this book.
I mentioned earlier that the characters, especially the three protagonists, were realistic. This was mostly due to their personalities, and being able to relate to them in some way. At the same time, I found them to be a little unrealistic. In particular, Millie – how can ANY seven-year-old be so obsessed with death? I was very concerned for her, as were a couple of other secondary characters. Similarly, Millie’s mother seemed very unrealistic. I know that she was grieving, but how can a mother ditch her daughter and disappear for (I’m assuming) years?
My favourite character by far was Agatha Pantha – her name is a plant. How cool is that?! Anyway, she was the most relatable, fierce, wise and flawed. I was surprised by how much I related to her – we both hate talking to people, both a little crazy and willing to help those in need. Millie was a notable character.
Like I said before, I want to know why Millie’s mother thought leaving her in a department store was a good idea. She was grieving, but leaving a child like that is horrible! I also want to know what happened when Millie reunited with her – did Millie’s mum apologise? Did Millie forgive her?
My favourite parts of the book were when Agatha threw the food onto her front lawn, and the cliff scene when Millie wanted to jump. When Agatha threw the food on the lawn, it was because she didn’t want pity. After throwing all of the food away, she sat on the steps of her porch, eating potato bake with her hands. To be honest, I think that this would be my way of grieving.
Recommendation time! If you like the If I Stay series by Gayle Foreman, The Memory Tree by Tess Evans, Nest by Inga Simpson, and Let Her Go by Dawn Barker, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes the This Is Us tv series, the Little Big Lies tv series, A Single Man, Magnolia, and Never Let Me Go.
Happy reading!
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