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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Loved this story. I read it over a few nights nursing Maeve in the middle of the night and thought of how I hope she doubts, questions, and comes back like Sammy, the book's main character, does.
I was so happy that finally this book had come onto my nightstand, via library holds. I loved Sara's previous 2 books so much, so I'm a bit disappointed about this latest one (but honestly, maybe it was just all the religious stuff that skeeved me out). Regardless, it's still a very well written book but it just didn't have the same impact or resonate with me as much. Sam is lost. She's questioning everything from god, to her parents to her friends yet most of the conversations are all done in internal monologues. She never let's anyone in nor does she vent out her anger...especially with her dad. Maybe that's what I was like at 15 but somehow I kind of doubt it.
This is a great little story about a girl struggling to understand the not so fun stuff going on in her life and wondering if everything she's ever believed in will hold up through it all or not.
This was an ok book. I really had to struggle through it because it was kinda slow.
Glad I found ONCE WAS LOST By Sara Zarr
Oh, Sara Zarr! I have been waiting all of my life for this book. This is the book I longed for when I searched the shelves of my local library; the one I could only dream of while perusing the big bookstore when we went to the city. You did it, although too late for the girl I used to be, the teens of today will find it. And love it.
In her latest novel, ONCE WAS LOST, Zarr shows the truth of growing up as a child of faith – one immersed in the church. Although my father wasn’t a pastor like the father in the novel, other relatives of mine were and our lives revolved around our religion. What Zarr does – through the eyes of the main character, Samara Taylor – is deftly illustrate the way a church family can simultaneously feel like a cozy comforter and a smothering blanket. Samara has to pretend all is right in her world, even with her mother secretly stashed away in rehab and her father keeping other secrets. When a tragedy strikes at the heart of the youth group, Samara finds the fabric of their lives ripped open and exposed.
It is appropriate that this book debuts during the Banned Books Week because there will surely be some short-sighted people who won’t see this book for what it truly is. It is not an attack against religion. ONCE WAS LOST is a beautifully written novel that accurately portrays the way a youth group is an extended family, the way the congregation treats their pastor, and the unconditional love that you can find. Although Samara, like most teens, has questions, the answers that she finds by novel’s end will lift your heart.
More than once this novel brought me to tears with its revelations into Samara’s life and I wanted it to go on and on. ONCE WAS LOST shows struggle and redemption, forgiveness and transformation. Sara Zarr is a decidedly skilled writer who weaves themes of family, love, and faith throughout a novel that families should embrace and discuss. Thank you, Sara Zarr for writing this novel. This is life. This is truth. This is what faith looks like.
ONCE WAS LOST on sale through Little, Brown and Company. Get a copy from an indie bookseller today!
Oh, Sara Zarr! I have been waiting all of my life for this book. This is the book I longed for when I searched the shelves of my local library; the one I could only dream of while perusing the big bookstore when we went to the city. You did it, although too late for the girl I used to be, the teens of today will find it. And love it.
In her latest novel, ONCE WAS LOST, Zarr shows the truth of growing up as a child of faith – one immersed in the church. Although my father wasn’t a pastor like the father in the novel, other relatives of mine were and our lives revolved around our religion. What Zarr does – through the eyes of the main character, Samara Taylor – is deftly illustrate the way a church family can simultaneously feel like a cozy comforter and a smothering blanket. Samara has to pretend all is right in her world, even with her mother secretly stashed away in rehab and her father keeping other secrets. When a tragedy strikes at the heart of the youth group, Samara finds the fabric of their lives ripped open and exposed.
It is appropriate that this book debuts during the Banned Books Week because there will surely be some short-sighted people who won’t see this book for what it truly is. It is not an attack against religion. ONCE WAS LOST is a beautifully written novel that accurately portrays the way a youth group is an extended family, the way the congregation treats their pastor, and the unconditional love that you can find. Although Samara, like most teens, has questions, the answers that she finds by novel’s end will lift your heart.
More than once this novel brought me to tears with its revelations into Samara’s life and I wanted it to go on and on. ONCE WAS LOST shows struggle and redemption, forgiveness and transformation. Sara Zarr is a decidedly skilled writer who weaves themes of family, love, and faith throughout a novel that families should embrace and discuss. Thank you, Sara Zarr for writing this novel. This is life. This is truth. This is what faith looks like.
ONCE WAS LOST on sale through Little, Brown and Company. Get a copy from an indie bookseller today!
2.5 stars
I don't recall Zarr's other books having such a religious element. A confusing summer for Sam, with her mom being in rehab, her dad being preoccupied with his pastor job and being lured by the youth program leader, and a missing sister of a friend. Sam tries to cope with all of the uncertainty in her life. My least favorite Zarr book so far, but others might enjoy the faith element.
I don't recall Zarr's other books having such a religious element. A confusing summer for Sam, with her mom being in rehab, her dad being preoccupied with his pastor job and being lured by the youth program leader, and a missing sister of a friend. Sam tries to cope with all of the uncertainty in her life. My least favorite Zarr book so far, but others might enjoy the faith element.
This one just doesn't compare to Zarr's other works and is especially weak in character. It's hard to root for Sam, even knowing that her life is tough because of the roles her parents have assumed, because she is self-absorbed and prone to tears at the slightest difficulty. Oddly enough, nothing seems to happen in the book besides Sam's sadness and the whole trope of being a misunderstood teenager. It also seems like a failed attempt to replicate a Sarah Dessen-like story: girl has hard home life, girl meets boy, boy seems unavailable but they kind of fall for each other and things kind of get better. Worst of all, the little girl who goes missing gets completely lost in the story; if the novel were a painting, whatever represents her absence would be barely visible in the background. I am really confused by the recent popularity of YA fiction that so blatantly questions religion without coming to any answers, as if the authors are afraid to take a stance on way or another, and if that's frustrating for me, then I worry for the generation after me who reads novels like these and thinks that a weird sort of complacency with one's self is perfectly fine.
Another great contemporary title from Sara Zarr, nicely read by her for the audiobook.
Sara Zarr's examination of imperfect parents continues with Samara's dad, a pastor who has no time for his wife and child. Plus, her mom's in rehab.
When an acquaintance goes missing and is believed to be lost, Sam feels lost. There are a lot of good levels of uncomfortable in this book.
When an acquaintance goes missing and is believed to be lost, Sam feels lost. There are a lot of good levels of uncomfortable in this book.