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A review by crystalisreading
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
5.0
This book is really hard to review. I loved it so much, identified with so much of it. I can't necessarily call it brilliant writing--but then again, if the writing makes you feel like you're THERE the entire time, if you're angry at the difficult/ bad characters, and love the good ones, and don't care about the neutral ones...isn't that brilliant? I felt like Samara and Nick were especially well realized. And considering how completely irritated I was with Sam's dad and Erin, I suppose that they were pretty well realize too.
I'm definitely not a fan of present tense writing, but it took me several chapters into the book to even notice the tense. Instead I was sucked into Sam's world. Into loss and tragedy and faith and hope and confusion. I remembered how much being a teen in an unhappy family sucked. How heady those first feelings of love were, especially if it was an 'older boy.' The tragedy grabbed me too, the story with Jody's disappearance, and how it changed the whole town. I even liked the ending...it felt real. Not too perfect, not too sad and miserable. In one scene in the book, Sam finds a piece of art she'd done a few years earlier that featured the words "faith, hope, and love". and in the end, that's what you see. You may not understand why everything had to happen to get them there, but in the end, Samara's faith is her own. Her family is real people she can understand a little bit better, who seem to be working towards a resolution. and she has a steady, realistic love blooming in the background.
Also, I tend to be skeptical of religious novels, whether it's my religion or not. They tend to have an agenda, and be pushy and preachy. This WASN'T. It was one hundred percent about Sam, and her faith was an integral part of her life and the life of the community. But it all felt so organic, such a natural part of the story, that it made me love the story even more.
But wow, I really wanted to smack her dad! Not the least of which was for barring her from the internet and having her own email. He really needed to get his head out of his #$@.
I'm definitely not a fan of present tense writing, but it took me several chapters into the book to even notice the tense. Instead I was sucked into Sam's world. Into loss and tragedy and faith and hope and confusion. I remembered how much being a teen in an unhappy family sucked. How heady those first feelings of love were, especially if it was an 'older boy.' The tragedy grabbed me too, the story with Jody's disappearance, and how it changed the whole town. I even liked the ending...it felt real. Not too perfect, not too sad and miserable. In one scene in the book, Sam finds a piece of art she'd done a few years earlier that featured the words "faith, hope, and love". and in the end, that's what you see. You may not understand why everything had to happen to get them there, but in the end, Samara's faith is her own. Her family is real people she can understand a little bit better, who seem to be working towards a resolution. and she has a steady, realistic love blooming in the background.
Also, I tend to be skeptical of religious novels, whether it's my religion or not. They tend to have an agenda, and be pushy and preachy. This WASN'T. It was one hundred percent about Sam, and her faith was an integral part of her life and the life of the community. But it all felt so organic, such a natural part of the story, that it made me love the story even more.
But wow, I really wanted to smack her dad! Not the least of which was for barring her from the internet and having her own email. He really needed to get his head out of his #$@.