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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
I'm really glad I started on Sara Zarr's novels. Once Was Lost is not only an emotional read, it feels extremely real too. Even though Sam is the daughter of a pastor, she's having her crisis of faith. While the novel does touch on God a little, I didn't feel like it was a religious book at all. Sam is pretty much a very normal teenager with the exception of having a very non-communicative father. I truly felt bad for her and honestly, if her dad were a little more verbose, maybe things wouldn't have been so bad between them.
Once Was Lost is a novel about flaws. Every character is flawed here. Sam's father, obviousl. Sam herself is flawed. Her mother is flawed too; even the town's people, who feel that it's their prerogative in telling how Sam's family can live their lives financially just because they are the ones who give offerings to the church. But amongst all that, there is hope in this novel. When a little girl is stolen from their small town, I think readers will feel really absorbed into the story and want to know what happened.
Something different about Once Was Lost is that there isn't a romance in it, nothing that really stuck out anyway, which is great because this novel is just really about the characters themselves. If you're a fan of Sarah Dessen, this is definitely a novel that you can enjoy. I'm very excited for Sara Zarr's new novel, How to Save a Life. :)
Once Was Lost is a novel about flaws. Every character is flawed here. Sam's father, obviousl. Sam herself is flawed. Her mother is flawed too; even the town's people, who feel that it's their prerogative in telling how Sam's family can live their lives financially just because they are the ones who give offerings to the church. But amongst all that, there is hope in this novel. When a little girl is stolen from their small town, I think readers will feel really absorbed into the story and want to know what happened.
Something different about Once Was Lost is that there isn't a romance in it, nothing that really stuck out anyway, which is great because this novel is just really about the characters themselves. If you're a fan of Sarah Dessen, this is definitely a novel that you can enjoy. I'm very excited for Sara Zarr's new novel, How to Save a Life. :)
Sara Zarr has a way with realistic stories - she makes them gritty enough to feel firmly based in reality, without turning them into after school specials, despite the issues she addresses. In this story, we've got an alcoholic mother, a pastor father who takes better care of his parishioners than his daughter, an abducted teen. Zarr tells her stories clearly, in a way where you aren't wowed by any specific sentence, but you believe in the characters and their world. This quality also holds true for her reading of the audiobook - she doesn't make any attempts to do voices or inject extra drama into the story, but speaks clearly and lets her words speak for themselves.
The plot seems to center around the search for the missing girl, and this creates great tension and suspense, but since we hear the story from Sam's perspective, the story is much more about how this affects her, and how the issues raised by the abduction trigger issues in her own family. Her father's emotional distance is heightened by his involvement in assisting the family of the missing girl, and there are emotional parallels between her mother's time in rehab and the how the missing girl's family deals with the situation.
I was happy to see that Sam's faith is dealt with realistically and not dismissively. She truly struggles with her faith and doubts, and there are no easy answers - not something you see everyday in a YA novel. Highly recommended to any teen looking for a solid, realistic novel.
The plot seems to center around the search for the missing girl, and this creates great tension and suspense, but since we hear the story from Sam's perspective, the story is much more about how this affects her, and how the issues raised by the abduction trigger issues in her own family. Her father's emotional distance is heightened by his involvement in assisting the family of the missing girl, and there are emotional parallels between her mother's time in rehab and the how the missing girl's family deals with the situation.
I was happy to see that Sam's faith is dealt with realistically and not dismissively. She truly struggles with her faith and doubts, and there are no easy answers - not something you see everyday in a YA novel. Highly recommended to any teen looking for a solid, realistic novel.
3 1/2 stars
While I can now say unequivocally that I am a committed Sara Zarr fan, this one is probably my least favorite of hers. Like her other novels, it’s well written and replete with honest, bare emotion, but for some reason I didn’t connect with this one completely. For me, her books belong in two categories: there’s the more bristly, damaged, and difficult category for Story of a Girl and Sweethearts, and then there’s the melancholy but hopeful category for How to Save a Life and this book. Me being me, I prefer the horribly difficult category. But I strongly suspect that this novel and her latest will be the most popular among readers. So, if you are one of those folks who didn’t quite like Story of a Girl because it seemed too depressing, then I would give this one a try.
Still, Sara Zarr is one of my favorite writers of contemporary YA. She’s the kind of writer who, if I were a bit less mature, might make me want to say, “In your face Australia!!”
Sam is a teenage girl isolated by her status as the Pastor’s daughter. She lives behind an image of the good girl, the devout Christian, the perfect daughter in the perfect family. But in reality, her mom is in court-suggested rehab and her dad, the perfect young and hip Pastor, doesn’t have time to notice that she’s alive. Even her friends keep her at an arm’s length. When a terrible tragedy occurs, the people of her small town are shaken, and Sam begins to question her own faith.
This is a book about faith, but not just simple religious faith. It’s about faith in the people around you, in your family. It’s about that childhood realization that parents are just extremely flawed people like everyone else, and they will make horrible mistakes. I kept going back to the title of this book while reading it, to the lyrics of Amazing Grace: “I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” Reading this book makes me consider those words in a new light, because as much as this book is about regaining what once was lost, it’s also about having your eyes opened. Sometimes that’s empowering, and sometimes that means losing something that can’t ever be regained.
I think that this book is also about repression and denial. Sam keeps everything – her anger, grief, jealousy, and doubt – bottled up inside. And it’s clear that she’s learned this behavior from her mom, the perfect housewife who drinks to get through the days and from her dad, the perfect Pastor whose life is actually falling apart. It seems like by the end of this book, nothing has really changed for Sam in that respect (although I did see growth in both of her parents). She never does tell her mother or her father or anyone how she really feels. And I think that would have been completely realistic (and yet another example of the ambiguous endings that I’ve grown to know and love from Sara Zarr), but the ending itself just feels too…resolved. In my mind, Sam was heading down a path of depression and a possible addiction of her own someday if she didn’t learn to open up to someone. But the ending seems to be telling me that everything’s going to be alright, and that just doesn’t add up for me. I guess I was looking for more catharsis, with an ending that neat. Maybe I feel like happiness demands a price.
Perfect Musical Pairing
Mumford & Sons – Hold on to What You Believe
Ah, it’s been a nice run of Sara Zarr and Mumford & Sons, hasn't it? Now I just have to wait for her to write another book.
I think that this is a love song primarily, but when I listen to it I think about Sam and her mother. Those were the parts of this book that affected me the most. Sam is so fundamentally a little girl who misses her mother terribly, and that reached me as both a mother and a daughter. I also love this verse of the song:
“But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight”
While I can now say unequivocally that I am a committed Sara Zarr fan, this one is probably my least favorite of hers. Like her other novels, it’s well written and replete with honest, bare emotion, but for some reason I didn’t connect with this one completely. For me, her books belong in two categories: there’s the more bristly, damaged, and difficult category for Story of a Girl and Sweethearts, and then there’s the melancholy but hopeful category for How to Save a Life and this book. Me being me, I prefer the horribly difficult category. But I strongly suspect that this novel and her latest will be the most popular among readers. So, if you are one of those folks who didn’t quite like Story of a Girl because it seemed too depressing, then I would give this one a try.
Still, Sara Zarr is one of my favorite writers of contemporary YA. She’s the kind of writer who, if I were a bit less mature, might make me want to say, “In your face Australia!!”
Sam is a teenage girl isolated by her status as the Pastor’s daughter. She lives behind an image of the good girl, the devout Christian, the perfect daughter in the perfect family. But in reality, her mom is in court-suggested rehab and her dad, the perfect young and hip Pastor, doesn’t have time to notice that she’s alive. Even her friends keep her at an arm’s length. When a terrible tragedy occurs, the people of her small town are shaken, and Sam begins to question her own faith.
This is a book about faith, but not just simple religious faith. It’s about faith in the people around you, in your family. It’s about that childhood realization that parents are just extremely flawed people like everyone else, and they will make horrible mistakes. I kept going back to the title of this book while reading it, to the lyrics of Amazing Grace: “I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” Reading this book makes me consider those words in a new light, because as much as this book is about regaining what once was lost, it’s also about having your eyes opened. Sometimes that’s empowering, and sometimes that means losing something that can’t ever be regained.
I think that this book is also about repression and denial. Sam keeps everything – her anger, grief, jealousy, and doubt – bottled up inside. And it’s clear that she’s learned this behavior from her mom, the perfect housewife who drinks to get through the days and from her dad, the perfect Pastor whose life is actually falling apart. It seems like by the end of this book, nothing has really changed for Sam in that respect (although I did see growth in both of her parents). She never does tell her mother or her father or anyone how she really feels. And I think that would have been completely realistic (and yet another example of the ambiguous endings that I’ve grown to know and love from Sara Zarr), but the ending itself just feels too…resolved. In my mind, Sam was heading down a path of depression and a possible addiction of her own someday if she didn’t learn to open up to someone. But the ending seems to be telling me that everything’s going to be alright, and that just doesn’t add up for me. I guess I was looking for more catharsis, with an ending that neat. Maybe I feel like happiness demands a price.
Perfect Musical Pairing
Mumford & Sons – Hold on to What You Believe
Ah, it’s been a nice run of Sara Zarr and Mumford & Sons, hasn't it? Now I just have to wait for her to write another book.
I think that this is a love song primarily, but when I listen to it I think about Sam and her mother. Those were the parts of this book that affected me the most. Sam is so fundamentally a little girl who misses her mother terribly, and that reached me as both a mother and a daughter. I also love this verse of the song:
“But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight”
Once Was Lost is about Samara (Sam) Taylor who's life starts to unravel after her mom goes to rehab after getting a DUI and he father who is the paster at the local church gets to interested in the church and forgets to take care of her.His family.
And after a girl in her town get kiddnapped she really starts to lose faith in things and why she believes what she believes.
This book really hit me hard,part of because how i have dealt with some of the things mentioned in this book and were with losing faith in what she believe,basically talk the talk walk the walk.
I don't know about other people but in this book and in Sara Zarr's other books its like i can really see this happening and some of the stuff that goes on in her books have happened to me or to close friends.
Overall this is an amazing book that isn't overloaded with things like faith which a lot of books kinda like this have.
And after a girl in her town get kiddnapped she really starts to lose faith in things and why she believes what she believes.
This book really hit me hard,part of because how i have dealt with some of the things mentioned in this book and were with losing faith in what she believe,basically talk the talk walk the walk.
I don't know about other people but in this book and in Sara Zarr's other books its like i can really see this happening and some of the stuff that goes on in her books have happened to me or to close friends.
Overall this is an amazing book that isn't overloaded with things like faith which a lot of books kinda like this have.
I usually avoid the faith-y reads, but I really liked this one since it got into so much more than that. A lot to dive into, including family, loss, and the meaning of community/togetherness.
I feel like I've been giving a lot of things threes, and the span of enjoyability for those books goes all over the place. I would have given this one a three, too, but instead I bumped it up to a four to try to get it out of that big spread.
I liked how this dealt with religion, but how that wasn't all it dealt with. The religion was tied up in everything else, which I think is the point. It was a quick story that encompassed a lot of different people at different points in their lives. I would have liked to see some expansion on the relationships between everyone and the protagonist, but that would have made for a longer book, and the brevity here serves the story well.
I liked how this dealt with religion, but how that wasn't all it dealt with. The religion was tied up in everything else, which I think is the point. It was a quick story that encompassed a lot of different people at different points in their lives. I would have liked to see some expansion on the relationships between everyone and the protagonist, but that would have made for a longer book, and the brevity here serves the story well.
"Now I think that miracles are things that happen in stained glass, and on dusty Jerusalem roads thousands of years ago. Not here, not to us. Not when we need them."
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr is the story of Samara aka Sam, a pastor's kid who can't help wishing she was anything but. What's the point of being a pastor's kid when it doesn't stop your mom from ending up in rehab after a DUI, or your father from ignoring you in favour of listening to everyone else's problem? It's a time in Sam's life when she could really use a miracle, but it's also a time when God doesn't seem to be listening. Things get worse when Jody, a girl from Sam's youth group, goes missing and then there's the youth group leader Erin who may or may not have a thing for Sam's father, all at a time when Sam's not even sure what she believes in anymore.
Once Was Lost is a story which is told in the subtleties, in Zarr's ability to capture the tiny details which make life so scary and beautiful. Sam is a relatable and likable main character, and it's easy for the reader to understand how come she feels so alone in the world and why she is questioning her faith. Unfortunately, Sam's father Pastor Charlie never really seemed like the amazing guy he was supposed to be, although perhaps that is in part due to the fact that Sam doesn't see him that way either. Overall, I felt that the book was okay, the story moved slowly and in the end I still didn't feel invested in the outcome. There's nothing wrong with Once Was Lost, but then again, there's nothing incredibly amazing about it either. ***
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr is the story of Samara aka Sam, a pastor's kid who can't help wishing she was anything but. What's the point of being a pastor's kid when it doesn't stop your mom from ending up in rehab after a DUI, or your father from ignoring you in favour of listening to everyone else's problem? It's a time in Sam's life when she could really use a miracle, but it's also a time when God doesn't seem to be listening. Things get worse when Jody, a girl from Sam's youth group, goes missing and then there's the youth group leader Erin who may or may not have a thing for Sam's father, all at a time when Sam's not even sure what she believes in anymore.
Once Was Lost is a story which is told in the subtleties, in Zarr's ability to capture the tiny details which make life so scary and beautiful. Sam is a relatable and likable main character, and it's easy for the reader to understand how come she feels so alone in the world and why she is questioning her faith. Unfortunately, Sam's father Pastor Charlie never really seemed like the amazing guy he was supposed to be, although perhaps that is in part due to the fact that Sam doesn't see him that way either. Overall, I felt that the book was okay, the story moved slowly and in the end I still didn't feel invested in the outcome. There's nothing wrong with Once Was Lost, but then again, there's nothing incredibly amazing about it either. ***
Ever since her mom went to rehab and a girl from her church went missing, Samara has been questioning whether or not there is a God. Samara's doubts are complicated by the fact that her father is the pastor of a church, who seems to have the time to help everyone except her. Though it was a little slow at times, this was a good book, especially for people who can relate to struggles with parents and faith.
This book felt infinitely longer than it actually was. Boring, windy, and not all that interesting or convincing. Just...meh.