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What Was Lost
What Was Lost
Author: Catherine O'Flynn
A tender and sharply observant debut novel about a missing young girl—long-listed for the Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, and The Guardian First Book Award In the 1980s, Kate Meaney—“Top Secret” notebook and toy monkey in tow—is hard at work as a junior detective. Busy trailing “suspects” and carefully observin...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780805088335
ISBN-10: 0805088334
Publication Date: 6/24/2008
Pages: 256
Edition: First Edition
Rating:
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 58

3.4 stars, based on 58 ratings
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

ilovecupcakes avatar reviewed What Was Lost on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
The premise of this book is interesting, but it somehow fails to deliver. My book club just read this, and we all agreed that this novel starts too slowly, which caused a lot of people to lose interest before the story really developed.

I do think that this could have been edited better; it is sometimes too descriptive without moving the story along. And the way that a lot of loose ends are conveniently and neatly tied up at the end is just an easy way out for an author. You can definitely tell that this is Catherine O'Flynn's first book.

To summarize: it's not the worst thing I've ever read, but it's definitely not the best either. In a word, this book is mediocre.
reviewed What Was Lost on + 11 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
This book was just ok for me. I had a really hard time getting into it, the story never really developed and it was kind of boring to me.
bothrootes avatar reviewed What Was Lost on + 207 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I just could not get into this book. It felt like I had picked up a preteen novel. I did not finish it but did jump ahead several times trying to find where it became interesting. It never happened.
reviewed What Was Lost on + 173 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Think "Harriet the Spy" for grown-ups. O'Flynn transports the reader to an "innocent" time of childhood imagination gone wild, and accurately captures as well the discontent and dismay of many young adults as well. The characters are interesting and the interweavings of the plot are neither far-fetched nor transparent. I couldn't put this down - had it read in less than 24 hours....
skywriter319 avatar reviewed What Was Lost on + 784 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
After hearing such good things about this novel, I was really excited about reading it. However, I was gravely disappointed. While the main character is a young teenager, the novel reads like a plodding, unexciting mystery filled with dull, overserious characters.
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VivaLaVole avatar reviewed What Was Lost on + 119 more book reviews
Just amazingly, astonishingly brilliant! And I don't say those words very often about a novel. So well-written and deftly plotted, but nary a word, nor twist of the plot, feels contrived or forced. It IS, ultimately, a book of sadness, but it is also a book of mysteries, of surprising humor, of heartache and surprises and imagination. Really a terrific read, with characters who will (at least for me) live on in my mind and heart. On of the best books I've read in 2010.


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