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A Quieter, More Somber Novel from Zarr Oct 25, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)
After John Green and Barry Lyga, the gods who reign over the Eden-esque world of YA Literature with iron fists (well, not iron fists, so much as skilled pens, but you get the picture), Sara Zarr is the best in her genre. With her first two novels, Story of a Girl and Sweethearts, she introduced beautifully flawed and subtly heroic characters that stayed in my head and, as cheesy as it sounds, my heart long after I put the books down. I anticipated her third novel, Once Was Lost, expecting to devour it in a day or two, cursing myself afterwards, wishing I had cherished the excellence. But, even though it's a short novel, it took a while.
It's a cliche complaint about a book, but the novel is, ahem, hard to get into. I'm not even sure if that's a flaw of the book, though. Our protagonist, the depressed and, well, lost Samara spends most of her time alone, thinking. She thinks about God, she thinks about her mother's alcohol abuse and subsequent departure for a rehabilitation clinic, she thinks about how her father (the pastor of her church) knows how to talk to everyone in the congregation except her, and she thinks about the young girl in her church who has gone missing. We get to known Sam very deeply, so much so that some parts of it read like a diary. Her complaints about her father get repetitive, but instead of this being annoying, it builds the tension in their relationship very nicely. I'd be interested to see some of the friendships between Sam and her youth group friends had been fleshed out, especially with Daniel, but I do think the book, as it is, works well. It's a lot quieter that Zarr's other novels.
Loss of belief and just the idea of being lost in general are the motifs that run through this book, and man, they're great. Every character is lost in their own super tragic and real way, but the thing is, this doesn't seem shoehorned into the plot. How often do you get one of those books that make it painfully obvious that, in some way, all the characters' situations are relevant to the theme? Too often, for me at least. This book is subtle about it, and that is one of the reasons it's as good as it is. It's a slow burn, yeah, and it does lack the little humorous moments and the strong connections between the protagonist and the supporting cast that Zarr's first two novels had, but that is all in favor of the somber mood. I can't say I enjoyed it as much as the other two, which I loved... but I did like it. A lot. It's intelligent, risky, and so painfully true to anyone who has ever felt lost, whether it be a disconnect from a once strong faith, a situation with a family member, or... really anything. The book and its themes are universal, and while it might take a bit more patience to get down to the meat of the story, it's worth it.
8/10
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Believer or not, this book is excellent Aug 20, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)
As a pastor's kid, Samara Taylor is supposed to have a good relationship with God and an unshakable faith. But a lot of things in her life have made Sam a doubter. With her alcoholic mom in rehab after a DUI and her father more concerned with his congregation and appearances, Sam can't help but feel as if God doesn't exist. And that feeling is only compounded when a local girl is kidnapped, turning her whole community upside down.
Once Was Lost is a blunt novel of faith and what happens when everything you believed in is changed irrevocably. Sam is a very convincing and relatable character that readers will be able to connect with on any level, especially as her doubt about her beliefs is something that nearly ever person has confronted at least once in their lifetime. She brings up issues that some people may not think about, like not being included with friends because of her beliefs and who her father is. Zarr also does an excellent job at portraying the tense setting as the whole town deals with the kidnapping and fear begins to control others and accusations are slung left and right.
The best thing about Once Was Lost though is that it doesn't concentrate on the all of the things that go wrong, like the kidnapping, Sam's mother's DUI, or inappropriate relationships, but rather examines its affect on Sam and her faith. Once Was Lost isn't a hugely dramatic novel full of twists and turns, but it is a gripping, sometimes heartbreaking look at how ordinary people learn to deal with a less than perfect world. Zarr's latest book is an excellent, non-preachy look at faith and religion that any reader, believer or not, can enjoy.
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Endearing characters, smart answers Jul 24, 2009 (2 of 3 found this helpful)
With Sam's mom in rehab and her dad still smiling his professional pastor smile from the pulpit, Sam begins to wonder what is true. Then when a girl from her church is abducted, Sam begins to fear everyone, including God, but finds that the one person she trusts is the prime suspect in the abduction case.
Although the child-abduction-leads-to-questioning-God theme feels somewhat cliche in Christian literature, thanks to the popularity of The Shack, Zarr's excellent characterizations make Once Was Lost stand on its own merit--each character is dynamic and believable. While she doesn't attempt to answer the Big Questions as explicitly as in The Shack, she does answer them in her own subtle way, concluding that people make mistakes, and God is still there.
Once Was Lost is romantic, suspenseful, thought-provoking, warm, sensitive, and psychologically intelligent. The plot is not all that creative and is sometimes predictable, but the details and sentiment totally redeem the story. Now that I've finished the book, I almost miss these characters--I feel like I know them: their personalities so accurate, their spiritual struggles so honest.
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Quiet and thoughtful Nov 19, 2009
Sara Zarr took inspiration from the Elizabeth Smart disappearance and ran with it to a completely different place, filled with authentic experience and emotion, one that speaks to adults and young adults. It's a novel about faith and doubt when the world intrudes upon already shaky ground, inevitable during the coming of age years, recurring in the adult ones. I believed in the characters, have known people like them, saw bits of myself in several. This isn't light reading, but I was engrossed and never felt preached at during the journey of self-discovery and faith seeking. This isn't a Christian novel, per se, but handles the questions and concerns better than many of the books published specifically for that market. Overall, it is about losing the safety of childhood and discovering one's own faith along the way. Zarr doesn't offer easy solutions or trite answers, but they are real ones, at least for this character and I was fully invested in all of them by the end of the book.
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Interesting story line, some nice twists... Nov 19, 2009
Fifteen year old Sam (Samara) is the pastor's kid, but her life is far from exemplary; it's full of doubt and confusion. Her father is "Mr. Popular," the pastor with all of the answers, able to help everyone but his own family. But Sam's family is in debt, they can hardly afford for her to attend private school, things around her house are broken, her relationship with her Dad is strained, and her Mother is in rehab. Sam wants to believe in miracles, and wants her Dad to reach out to her, and for him to confess to the town that their family is far from perfect.
All of this plays out along with an abduction of one of the church's youth members, Jody. While suspicion is cast on those closets to Sam, she is sent to live with a family friend until the panic subsides, allowing her Dad to assist during this difficult time. But Sam has her doubts about why her Dad has send her away.
Overall I enjoyed the storyline for its originality, but sometimes I felt like the writing was a bit too wordy. Don't get me wrong, Sara Zarr is a good writer, and to be fair, I received an Advanced Readers Copy that was still in the editing phase. I just felt that the writing could have been cleaner. The other issue I had was with the two storylines: 1. Samara's troubled life, and 2. the abduction of Jody. The two blend together, but Jody's abduction happens so quickly I could hardly connect to the storyline and felt almost distracted by it.
One thing I will give the author huge credit for, is the ability to bring out the emotion of being fifteen; a time when things aren't as simple as they used to be, when you're reaching out to connect with your family but all you see is everything that's wrong with it.