Scan barcode
lizaroo71's review against another edition
3.0
Richard Sutton is ready to sell his dry cleaning business. The only taker is an industrious young man named Akeel. Richard agrees to train Akeel for a year before handing over the business.
The story the gives us a glimpse of the patrons of the dey cleaners. Really giving us a peek into the various residents that live in the area.
The conversations between Richard and Akeel are about everything from race to parenting.
The room referred to in the title is never fully explored, but I get the sense that those things left behind are sometimes better off where we left them.
There isn't much of a plot to this book, but the writing is good enough to make you a part of the setting. I could begin to visualize this particular corner on a London street.
The ending is ambiguous which is a bit frustrating.
The story the gives us a glimpse of the patrons of the dey cleaners. Really giving us a peek into the various residents that live in the area.
The conversations between Richard and Akeel are about everything from race to parenting.
The room referred to in the title is never fully explored, but I get the sense that those things left behind are sometimes better off where we left them.
There isn't much of a plot to this book, but the writing is good enough to make you a part of the setting. I could begin to visualize this particular corner on a London street.
The ending is ambiguous which is a bit frustrating.
dinahrachel's review
slow-paced
3.0
Lovely detail about L ndon and the neighbourhood but what happened about the stuff in the room? It was so tantalising at the beginning with the wedding speech - I was expecting the whole plot to unravel from connections between the lost things. As the connections between characters were revealed that is absolutely where I thought we were headed so it was a big let down when that didn't happen and I didn't really want to know what had happened with his mum. I guess that puts the reader in the same position as Akeel?
alexrafinski's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Robert has owned his dry cleaning business for almost his entire life (it was his mother's before that) and he is now retiring. The book follows him handing over the shop over the course of about a year to a young Asian man, also from London. This isn't a novel where plot is important - chapters briefly follow other people who visit his shop, and we also learn about Robert's life through flashbacks, reflective passages etc. Robert has a couple of secrets which are eventually shared. It is a gentle read with the occasional moment of violence (drug related or discrimination). I'd describe it best as an interesting and enjoyable meander through the life and mind of a now old person who has lived his entire life in one place and who lost his family along the way
mazza57's review against another edition
3.0
I am finding this a most difficult review to write. Overall i enjoyed the book which focuses on Robert's last year as the owner of a dry-cleaning store and his hand over to Akeel. However there are more characters than you can shake a stick it. Indeed, the first 30-40% feels like an introduction to the people of South London and definitely shows the lack of a storyline. Despite all this the author has a skill of taking you along one path and providing little twists at the end. She unreels Robert's and Akeel's characters slowly and with real depth. Eventually all the plot line come together and you begin to see where the book is leading. Despite all this i never felt like putting the book down or not to finish there is something that keeps you wanting to read more. In the end it is a cleverly written book with a twist to the ending. This is the first book i have read by Stella Duffy I could be tempted to more but I am seriously torn as to how to rate this one in the end i have gone for 3 stars but it so easily could have been 4
elicia98's review against another edition
3.0
Set in contemporary south London, this novel follows Robert Sutton as he goes about his daily life running his dry cleaning business, he knows his customers extremely well, having ran the place for 40. When Robert decides to move on and sell his business to Akeel, a young and eager British Muslim, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the two. As Akeel learns his trade, the two men begin to open up and share their hidden lives with one another. The novel also follows many other individuals of the street; the homeless drunks on the corner, the lonely old lady who can’t remember where she lives, the various men and women who come in and out of Roberts shop, all of which intertwine and connect beautifully with each other.
This novel illustrates the bustling streets of London perfectly; telling the story of the comings and going’s of its residents and its frantic affairs. Both Robert and Akeel are likeable characters; Duffy’s intricate writing style gives even the most stubborn individuals
a streak of warmth and beauty. Despite this, I found it difficult to follow the excessive amount of characters, and would have preferred more focus on the two main characters. Not a lot happens in this novel; there is no unexpected plot twist, no heartbreaking tragedy, yet it somehow manages to hold the readers attention as we sail through the conventional narrative of London life. Duffy highlights the loneliness that comes with old age and the passing of time, giving it a melancholic undertone. Although it was a slow and slightly anticlimactic read, i did find it to be insightful, and the way Duffy leaves us with two alternate endings is the perfect conclusion to such an ambiguous novel.
This novel illustrates the bustling streets of London perfectly; telling the story of the comings and going’s of its residents and its frantic affairs. Both Robert and Akeel are likeable characters; Duffy’s intricate writing style gives even the most stubborn individuals
a streak of warmth and beauty. Despite this, I found it difficult to follow the excessive amount of characters, and would have preferred more focus on the two main characters. Not a lot happens in this novel; there is no unexpected plot twist, no heartbreaking tragedy, yet it somehow manages to hold the readers attention as we sail through the conventional narrative of London life. Duffy highlights the loneliness that comes with old age and the passing of time, giving it a melancholic undertone. Although it was a slow and slightly anticlimactic read, i did find it to be insightful, and the way Duffy leaves us with two alternate endings is the perfect conclusion to such an ambiguous novel.
mcnorton4's review against another edition
Some beautiful writing but just wasn't doing it for me.
balancinghistorybooks's review against another edition
3.0
I decided, after quite enjoying The Hidden Room but not getting on at all well with London Lies Beneath, that I would give Stella Duffy one last chance. Thus, I borrowed The Room of Lost Things from the library. I was not pulled in straight away, but did find myself becoming more interested after a few pages, and almost engrossed a couple of chapters in.
The real strength for me here was the way in which London is portrayed; I miss the city dearly, having studied there for an entire year, and now being a whole country away from it. Duffy goes into so much detail about different boroughs; London, wonderfully evoked in all of its grit and glory, essentially becomes a character in itself, arguably the most important one in the novel. I admired the way in which everything revolved around something as dull and suburban as a dry-cleaning shop, too; it worked very ell as the novel's focal point. The structure is clever yet simple.
I did find my attention waning after a while though; whilst the main thread of story featuring Robert and Akeel is interesting, some of the secondary characters had stories which felt quite repetitive after a while. This is my favourite of Duffy's books to date, but I still wasn't blown away by it.
The real strength for me here was the way in which London is portrayed; I miss the city dearly, having studied there for an entire year, and now being a whole country away from it. Duffy goes into so much detail about different boroughs; London, wonderfully evoked in all of its grit and glory, essentially becomes a character in itself, arguably the most important one in the novel. I admired the way in which everything revolved around something as dull and suburban as a dry-cleaning shop, too; it worked very ell as the novel's focal point. The structure is clever yet simple.
I did find my attention waning after a while though; whilst the main thread of story featuring Robert and Akeel is interesting, some of the secondary characters had stories which felt quite repetitive after a while. This is my favourite of Duffy's books to date, but I still wasn't blown away by it.
alexclare's review against another edition
5.0
This is a wonderful book. The level of detail given to the tiny things makes them exquisite. A glorious weaving of details through and through again, I was really sorry when I finished it. Great.
funktious's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful book. One of the best London books I've read (blows A Week In December right out the water) and just a lovely book about lives, just everyday lives, and friendship. Loved it.
zefrog's review against another edition
3.0
Set over a year, The Room of Lost Things is the sweet and tender story of an unlikely friendship, but is ultimately about the great chaotic melting-pot that is London. It is also very much about Londoners, their lives, dreams and struggles, and how they mostly find ways to rub along together.
Loughborough Junction, where the central dry-cleaning shop and its room are located, is an odd place. Despite having a train station and being fairly central, it's a nonentity on the London map. One of those liminal areas between areas so numerous in London. It's not quite Brixton, it's not quite Camberwell and it wouldn't have a name of its own if it weren't for the railway. It is somewhere thousands of people will pass through every day on the train and on buses but not somewhere they will stop or even talk about. Yet for Duffy, and consequently for the reader, it becomes emblematic of London at large.
The book is poetic and highly evocative, particularly of south London. This was an added draw for someone who knows the area and all of Duffy's hinted descriptions of the city charmingly resonated with me, but I'm not sure how well this would play with people who don't know the Camberwell area, at least a little.
The writing style is very distinctive and I sadly found it stilted and jarring at times. It didn't always flow smoothly for me and as such got in the way.
I had also difficulties with keeping track of the secondary characters. Most of the book is focused on and dedicated to Robert and Akeel (who are interesting and well rounded characters). The others appear very sporadically and almost separately from the main narrative; the link being that they are known to Robert and are almost all customers of the shop.
The Room of Lost Things is an unprepossessing story, where in the end very little happens, but it somehow sweeps the reader along, grabs them and doesn't quite let go. Until the end, that is, which was rather a let down; Duffy being unable or somehow unwilling to make up her mind on how to finish her story. She gives us two contradictory endings instead.
The book is not really about the room of its title, which is where Robert (the owner of a laundry) and before him, Alice, his mother, store the detritus that customers of the dry-cleaning business leave in their pockets. This plays only a small part in the narrative but I think Duffy tries to mirror that room with her book to turn the book into a version of that room.
In the end this is what Duffy wants to tells us: that London is like a room of lost things that are brought together randomly to form some inchoate whole. An endearing paean to London.
Loughborough Junction, where the central dry-cleaning shop and its room are located, is an odd place. Despite having a train station and being fairly central, it's a nonentity on the London map. One of those liminal areas between areas so numerous in London. It's not quite Brixton, it's not quite Camberwell and it wouldn't have a name of its own if it weren't for the railway. It is somewhere thousands of people will pass through every day on the train and on buses but not somewhere they will stop or even talk about. Yet for Duffy, and consequently for the reader, it becomes emblematic of London at large.
The book is poetic and highly evocative, particularly of south London. This was an added draw for someone who knows the area and all of Duffy's hinted descriptions of the city charmingly resonated with me, but I'm not sure how well this would play with people who don't know the Camberwell area, at least a little.
The writing style is very distinctive and I sadly found it stilted and jarring at times. It didn't always flow smoothly for me and as such got in the way.
I had also difficulties with keeping track of the secondary characters. Most of the book is focused on and dedicated to Robert and Akeel (who are interesting and well rounded characters). The others appear very sporadically and almost separately from the main narrative; the link being that they are known to Robert and are almost all customers of the shop.
The Room of Lost Things is an unprepossessing story, where in the end very little happens, but it somehow sweeps the reader along, grabs them and doesn't quite let go. Until the end, that is, which was rather a let down; Duffy being unable or somehow unwilling to make up her mind on how to finish her story. She gives us two contradictory endings instead.
The book is not really about the room of its title, which is where Robert (the owner of a laundry) and before him, Alice, his mother, store the detritus that customers of the dry-cleaning business leave in their pockets. This plays only a small part in the narrative but I think Duffy tries to mirror that room with her book to turn the book into a version of that room.
In the end this is what Duffy wants to tells us: that London is like a room of lost things that are brought together randomly to form some inchoate whole. An endearing paean to London.