Lost: A Novel [Hans-Ulrich Treichel] on leondumoulin.nl *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Not since The Reader has a work of fiction so stunningly evoked the.
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Four months later, they married. The literary power couple eventually settled down in the English countryside, had two children, and dedicated themselves to their work. We were like two feet, each one using everything the other did. But in the summer of , things started to fall apart. Unhappy in the English countryside of Devon, Plath also discovered that her husband was having an affair.
At the end of the summer, the couple separated and Plath moved to London with the children. The affair was a devastating blow to her personal life, but it gave Plath a burst of inspiration. Many of the poems in Ariel were written following her separation and explored this aspect of her life. And then there were her plans to use this traumatic experience as the basis of her second novel.
On August 10, , Plath wrote an urgent reminder in her calendar: Plath would change it to DoubleTake before settling on Double Exposure. We know that Plath did start the book, although reports on her progress vary. That manuscript disappeared somewhere around But Crowther says Hughes cited the number of pages at around 60 to 70 in other accounts, and his sister Olwyn once wrote in a letter that only two chapters had been finished.
Plath herself was thrilled with her progress. But these bits and pieces of Double Exposure give us only a glimpse of the writing that once—and may still—exist. When it comes to her formal writing, Plath is primarily regarded for her poetry, but she herself held novelists in higher regard. Until she was confronted by seemingly supernatural forces that more or less haunt the apartment complex she shared with a distant cousin, Winnie was possibly more content with dwelling on her her inner life than forming any other kind of meaningful relationships outside her cousin John.
It's not to hang around, but to disappear--to clear the air for the living. Once the living had discharged their duties to their dead relatives and companions, they could go back to living a full life. The goal of a ghost is to dismiss it and leave the living to have a full life without guilt or undue grief. There is so much meta material in this novel that could baffle and excite readers from the get-go. I was really enthralled with Winnie's voice both as a character, and as a writer writing another fictional character's thoughts.
Maguire applies enough humorous tones in a lot of the earlier scenes of this book that kept me chuckling. I was engrossed with the escalation of events which started off funny then creepy and then disarmingly disturbing. To describe Lost as a horror story with supernatural elements would not be sufficient since I don't think the novel's purpose was to incite fear and suspense. If it was, then Maguire certainly should have done better because any sense of danger and urgency was not sustained throughout the rest of the book.
In fact, the plot started meandering. The things that amused me and got me curious about it suddenly became the very things that annoyed me by it. It almost felt as if the more I learned about the mysteries surrounding the place of haunting, the less I became determined to solve the riddles which cluttered the exposition. Winifred also started getting under my nerves.
I found her clever and funny in a lot of ways at first, but after a while--when she still insisted on being so closed off and reticent even to readers--her actions and private thoughts stopped being an immediate concern of mine. I started to feel just as detached as she was about her own life. She just started making less sense as the book went on.
The concept that one of Winifred's ancestors was actually Charles Dickens' inspiration for the character of Scrooge from A Christmas Carol was intriguing. The idea that Winifred created an obvious self-insert in her character Wendy who is searching for Jack the Ripper is just as compelling.
However, Maguire was simply unable to weave these two concepts together in a way that's cohesive and interesting. After two hundred pages or so, my attention for the story started to dwindle until I could barely keep up with whatever stunning revelations were unfolding--and I don't even think there were. Lost was just one of those books that seem to be a worthwhile reading at first until it proved to be a disappointment.
It's always sad when you find a book you could hardly put down when you began reading it a hundred pages in, and then as you progress your first impression about it changes for the worst, until you'd find yourself wanting to put it down instead. That's how I would summarize my experience for this book.
I could still recommend it, but it's probably the least Gregory Maguire book that one could immerse oneself in. View all 3 comments. Apr 25, Lee Tracy rated it it was amazing. A lot of people seem to have read Wicked , tried Lost and been terribly disappointed. I hope that you will give me a chance to sell you on Lost because I think that you will enjoy it if you give it an honest chance.
I read the book in the space of a two day business trip, and purposely begged off of social stuff and went to the airport four hours early so I could sit uninterrupted and read it. I think one of the benefits of Wicked that made o A lot of people seem to have read Wicked , tried Lost and been terribly disappointed. I think one of the benefits of Wicked that made others prefer it, is that it takes place in a world we are all familiar with.
We have a world already in our heads, a world that Maguire then manipulates and redraws in novel and jarring ways. In Lost , however, we are presented something much more rewarding, at least for me -- a ghost story of sorts in the present day. It is the real world, but viewed through a unique and interesting lens.
Maguire presents us with just as complex and ambivalent a heroine here as in Wicked. There are two narrative voices -- that of Winnie, and that of Winnie's character, Wendy, in the novel that Winnie is trying to write. As we all know, all characters in all works of fiction are in some way distillations of the author and friends and life. Plot points and locations are often taken from real life and manipulated to fit the story, and we learn most important information about Winnie's real life and real wounds through her attempt at a novel.
It is a very simple but very effective technique, especially because Maguire's book is also a meditation on the way we construct narratives from our lives, both about ourselves and our place in the world, and about ghosts and the nature of haunting in our lives. We journey with Winnie from contemplating the usual canned ideas of ghosts-- that ghosts with unfinished business are haunting the world, unable to move on to the next world, lost in this one. And we move to a much deeper understanding of ghosts, and of Winnie.
In Lost , there is unfinished business, there is haunting. And not just by ghosts. Nov 07, Faith rated it it was ok. This is another of those books that I find very difficult to describe. I didn't hate it, but I'm not so sure that I liked it, either. I found the protagonist to be very unlikeable. In fact, there was only one character in the book that I truly and unreservedly liked, and he only came in sort of near the end.
Yes, there were reason that the protagonist had the personality she did, and those reasons came out very near the end. I just don't even know what to say about it. It's sort of about a write This is another of those books that I find very difficult to describe. It's sort of about a writer who's traveled back to visit her cousin in England, planning to stay with him in his flat on the top level of the family house. When she arrives, he's mysteriously vanished, and all her attempts to find out from his office, his friends, and his girlfriend are met with stone walls. There are two workmen there who seem to believe the place is haunted.
She is very abrasive, brusque--definitely not someone I'd want to hang out with. The book she's supposed to be writing isn't going all that well, either. And what's the deal with that, anyway? The protagonist in her book has traveled to London, and there's some bosh about her and the ghost of Jack the Ripper, and then they're in Romaniait's a little hard to follow. Her ancestor was allegedly Charles Dickens' model for Ebenezer Scrooge. I never did figure out how that was supposed to work into the whole framework of the story, despite a letter that the cousin reads to her at the end of the book.
What Maguire was trying to do here I cannot fathom. It's not his best book. Sep 13, Stuart rated it really liked it. Here, for the first time, Maguire tries to create a wholly original novel as opposed to one centered around re-interpreting a classic tale by another author. Though Dickens and Jack the Ripper echo in the text, along with some sly references to Stephen Sondhiem, the book is mostly about an aging single woman who desperately wants a child coming to terms with the fact that the man she loves doesn't love her back and that mother hood may be something she will only ever experience vicariously.
When her tortured soul connects with a medieval ghost the book takes interesting twists and turns, presenting us with some wonderful characters and creepy moments. Wendy, the main character, is interesting enough to follow despite being a wet blanket and there is an unexpectedly subtle ending that leaves you feeling satisfied despite its vague ambiguity as to if Wendy will ever achieve her happy ending. Truly, an under-praised novel, worth reading by fans of Maguire and lovers of ghost stories in general. Jul 11, Americanogig rated it did not like it.
This is the second book I've read by Gregory Maguire and I must say question mark because I just don't understand the point. His book Wicked must have been extraordinarily different, i.
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The one supposedly about Snow White and this one supposedly having something to do with Scrooge left me feeling cold. I never finished the one about Snow White and I leave this one regretting I did. I had to force my way through the bad turn of phrase and plodding plot only to find he would not even This is the second book I've read by Gregory Maguire and I must say question mark because I just don't understand the point. I had to force my way through the bad turn of phrase and plodding plot only to find he would not even impart a satisfactory ending.
It may as well have ended mid-phrase. Stay far, far away from this if you love good literature! Mar 15, Shrina rated it it was ok. Definitely not one of Maguire's best. I had high expectations after reading his other books, and was absolutely let down. First of all, the story has too much of everything: The story wanders all over the place and doesn't quite deliver much of anything after all the wandering.
Second of all, I wanted to punch out the protagonist. She is a sim Definitely not one of Maguire's best. She is a simpering AND caustic, whiny little ninny. She apparently tried to adopt a child and the child died before she could get there. And that is the big tragedy that torments and nearly destroys her. I have two children, and yes, it is a horrible tragedy when any child dies, but I don't get the connection here. The death of the child doesn't seem to me an appropriate reason for the emotional torture she puts herself through it nearly kills her. She seems to be tormented because she likes being miserable.
Anyway, I would recommend that people skip this book, and read his other fabulous stories: If you must read Lost, please read it after you read the other books. Lost is not a good representation of what Maguire can deliver to a reader. My review is specifically for the audiobook.
I have this book as a printed edition; it's even signed by the author. It's a lovely, amazing story, and like so many of Maguire's novels, not anything I would have expected. Lost is the story of Winnifred Rudge, a children's novelist working a novel for adult readers. Something is clearly wrong with her; the novel opens with her attending an information meeting about international adoption--and she gets kicked out when the staff recognize her name and My review is specifically for the audiobook.
Something is clearly wrong with her; the novel opens with her attending an information meeting about international adoption--and she gets kicked out when the staff recognize her name and occupation. The next day, she leaves for London, where she plans to research her novel about Wendy Pritzke, a woman obsessed with Jack the Ripper. On arrival, Winnie learns that her host, her cousin John Connister, is strangely absent. He's having renovations done on his apartment, and the workers don't even know where he's gone. Winnie is concerned--especially when all of John's friends refuse to answer her questions.
The situation in the apartment is odd; the workers have removed part of the pantry wall, and now they can hear strange noises behind the wall. The first half of the novel is a slow buildup of tension involving the wall and the noises. Winnie makes friends easily, but she constantly drives them away from her as well.
She's somehow separated from her life, and she constantly asks herself "how would Wendy Pritzke respond to this? She has no connection to real world any longer.
It's only as we read more scraps of her novel about Wendy Pritzke that things begin to come clear. As with many Maguire novels, the supernatural bleeds slowly into the real world, requiring no suspension of disbelief as we gradually accept the individual events and growing sense of unease. Jenny Sterlin does an excellent job reading the book. I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks, so I can't really compare her performance to that of other readers.
I do think that this novel requires additional patience and attention than that given to most audiobooks. Before I listened to this book, I had read my printed copy. I knew the outcome, and I knew the format of the book. It contains a number of visual cues to explain just what you're reading, such as writing the Wendy Pritzke manuscript in another font looks like Courier New. In the audiobook, the narrator changes her voice when reading the manuscript, but the change is subtle. Both the manuscript and novel are written in third person omniscient, and it can occasionally prove confusing as the book rapidly--and without transition--moves between the characters.
Sterlin did an excellent job with this book, but I have to say that I wouldn't necessarily recommend this audiobook to a novice listener unless he or she were familiar with the novel.
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Jan 04, Emily Ann Meyer rated it really liked it Shelves: I can't remember where, but somewhere along the line, I got the impression this was a retelling of Rip Van Winkle. This was, unlike Maguire's other novels, not really a retelling of anything. The story itself was really sort of a grown-up coming of age story -- only throw in ghostly possession, a bizarre intra-familial love triangle, and a secondary Roman I can't remember where, but somewhere along the line, I got the impression this was a retelling of Rip Van Winkle.
The story itself was really sort of a grown-up coming of age story -- only throw in ghostly possession, a bizarre intra-familial love triangle, and a secondary Roman a Clef being drafted by the protagonist within the primary novel. It was fascinating and compelling - Maguire's intelligence and fluidity with words came through here more than in any of his retellings.
There were a few issues that were never fully explained and while I found the secondary novel to be interesting insofar as the clues it provided to the protagonist's motivations, after a while by the point at which I'd figured out the 'mystery' it began to detract from the real story. Feb 25, Davida "Davi" rated it did not like it Recommends it for: And this promised to be some kind of supernatural historical thriller. I did push through and discover why the characters would lie to each other like that, but at that point I really didn't care.
When the plot finally turned into a real ghost story, I was just pushing through because I had nothing else to read. I am so glad I didn't pay for this book. Apr 29, Diane rated it liked it. I loved both and was excited to read Lost, even if it seemed like it wouldn't be sticking to our original assumptions of Maguire's twisting of stories we grew up with.
Well, I was sorely disappointed throughout. I love the stories of the past, but often hated the writing. I could never really get in touch with the characters presented to me. Lost does that and so much worse. The book itself Lost Is Right! All the ingredients are there but the liquid went sour. I like the techniques he uses to weave a story and get you interested but it seems to just crumble at the seams. His characters are hardly likable what with their 'better than you' dialogue and their unrealistic quality.
Perhaps that was intentional, though. Why do I say this? Our main character, Winifred, weaves stories as a novelist and seems to cuddle with fairytales that she and we grew up with. Those same fairytales have that unrealistic quality so I'm divided on that issue. However, the story itself is an overlapping debacle that goes nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It's truly difficult to grasp onto anything that Winnie is doing or why.
Eventually reasons are given but most don't make up for previous actions. Gratefully it is an easy read and a quick one at that. I would also hazard to mention that Maguire's humor truly keeps the story going and the link-up's between characters of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and the delightful Scrooge was probably the most fascinating thing about this novel.
I would not recommend it as a first Maguire read since it may put you off from reading the much better works he has put out. I can simply say that you should proceed with caution. Jun 04, Colleen rated it it was ok Recommends it for: Jack the Ripper enthusiasts, those thinking about becoming psychotic writers.
I was attracted to this book because I absolutely loved the conceit of Wicked-- take a well-known, despised, yet intriguing character and explain her point of view. Kind of like "The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs," which was told by the wolf, and is one of my favorite picture books. The jacket left me feeling woozy with the thought that I could again feel the thrill of gaining new insight into a previously underappretiated character: Dickens being like complicated, intricate candy I was attracted to this book because I absolutely loved the conceit of Wicked-- take a well-known, despised, yet intriguing character and explain her point of view.
Dickens being like complicated, intricate candy to me, I was hooked. Additionally, as I am considering venturing into writing myself, I loved the questions Macguire raised, like What is the true identity of a novelist?
Lost by Alice Lichtenstein
Do they have a true personality, or are they just an amalgamation of their characters? Unfortunately, I didn't get what I expected. I found Maguire brought in too many disparate themes, including poltergeists, possessions, Jack the Ripper, and Scrooge, without bringing substantial depth or increased understanding of the main character, novelist Winifred Winnie Rudge. Still, Maguire does several things right. First, his vocabulary is impressive.
As one of those totally dorky readers who writes down and later looks up new vocab words, I can attest that I went through nearly a full book of post-its. Second, the plot structure is interesting. As the main character reveals more and more about her past, her characters in her head?
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Ultimately, however, I wasn't invested enough in the characters to give this book more than two stars. May 09, Amy rated it it was ok Shelves: This is my least favorite of all of Maguire's books. It seems that Maguire's talent is breathing new life into someone else's tale, and when he decided to wander a little more into his own space, he wasn't quite sure how to do it.
The ghost aspect of it all just got ridiculous too, I really couldn't suspend me belief long enough to really get This is my least favorite of all of Maguire's books. The ghost aspect of it all just got ridiculous too, I really couldn't suspend me belief long enough to really get into it. My mom had highly recommended this book to me, and it might have partially been just the lack of meeting the high expectations I'd been given that really hurt the book in my view, but it's certainly one that I won't recommend nor pick up for myself again. Mar 18, Becky rated it it was ok. I was expecting similar to Mirror Mirror or Wicked Witch.
But this story does not take up the Scrooge story and tell the wonderfully different perspective of another character within the old stories. No, this is a new story only using the Scrooge story as an excuse to begin, to exhist. If I lay aside my expectations, I still am not impressed. Within the story is another story - the main character is a writer therefore she goes into "episodes" where she is not paying attention I was disappointed. Within the story is another story - the main character is a writer therefore she goes into "episodes" where she is not paying attention to anything around her because she is narrating her own book within her head.
I found it distracting and did not add to the plot.
I kept waiting to be hooked but instead, found the apprehension of the hook turned into the expectation of the end, all too happily to come. Nov 15, Shaina rated it did not like it Shelves: I took it back to the store. It was so boring. Stay away from this one. Apr 10, Mom gayheart rated it did not like it. I can't remember when I quit reading a book when I was halfway through, but I quit this one!
I just didn't like it. I couldn't understand where the author was taking me - unless he was trying to portray one of the most pitiful characters in all of fiction - that of Winifred Rudge. Feb 07, Chad Bay rated it it was ok. I had just finished reading Wicked and thought this would be another fun, dark fairy-tale-turned-upside-down page turner.
The plot began to fizzle as the main character, Winnie, literally wanders in circles in London and I gave up any interest in seeing if her story would ever resolve. A few weeks ago, I thought I'd try again. What I think Maguire does really well: I LOVE his narrative voice. Just a few pages in, you get a picture-perfect sense of who the main character is, how she talks, how she perceives the world, and what her world looks and feels like.
I remember feeling this way with Wicked, too, that Maquire just has a magical way with words and really can describe an old store front for paragraphs at a time with such detail and a strong sense of style I remember with Wicked, too, getting to the middle of the book and feeling like Maquire was just spinning his wheels, having built up such an intricate plot and then needing to wander through Oz and Munchkinland and everywhere else before the story could pick up steam again and race to the conclusion.
LOST has the same problem There's about pages or so in the middle of the book in which nothing significant seems to ever happen. It's beautifully written, and I found it to be the perfect book for reading on the bus to and from work to pass the time, especially considering the story's atmosphere London, in winter was the perfect dreary counterpart to my own dreary Chicago this time of year. But unending descriptions of drizzly historic urban cities does not a FULL novel make, in my humble opinion.
That being said, I'm glad I finished the book this time. The story was not what I thought it would be, and once I got through to the end I can see how most of the book was necessary to resolving Winnie's story.
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In this particular context, though, it all felt a bit stretched and jumbled. Even at its close, I feel like maybe I missed something, or that now that I've finished it I need to start over from the beginning to put the pieces back together now that I've seen the bigger picture. But I don't think I will.
Nov 26, April rated it it was ok. This is the first book by Gregory Maguire that I've read. It was perhaps not the best one of his books for me to have picked to read first, when Wicked , After Alice , and Son of a Witch are all still waiting on my TBR shelf. I can't deny that I was pulled into this story, which speaks to Maguire's skill as a writer given that the story was very bizarre, all over the place, and in many ways, dreamlike.
I had a difficult time following parts of it, which in part is why I waited several days to write This is the first book by Gregory Maguire that I've read. I had a difficult time following parts of it, which in part is why I waited several days to write my review. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it - I don't think I liked it but at the same time, I didn't absolutely hate it.
Lost was more confusing than anything else, yet avoided eliciting many strong emotions. The plot was everywhere. There was, at the beginning, a lot about Scrooge and Charles Dickens. This petered out further through the book. There were elements of Peter Pan and Jack the Ripper as well, of loss and obsession, of passion and depression, of madness and some gore. There was something to do with a ghost, but that became even more confusing when it felt that it was becoming clearer.
There was a journey to France and a written journey to Romania, that we find out was more than just a story. There was a blizzard - real or just fiction? If you found it difficult to follow my last paragraph, you know how I felt reading Lost. Perhaps I'm being facetious, but I felt very lost throughout it. Not always in a bad way, but not always in a good way either, since I'm not exactly sure that I found what I had lost by the time the book was over.
Would not really recommend. Honestly I feel very ambivalent about this book - I don't feel that I wasted my time reading it but I also don't feel that I gained anything by reading it.
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An overall "meh" sensation. I love Gregory Maguire, but this!? Jul 10, Erin rated it liked it. Not his best work Aug 21, Meredith White rated it it was ok. I got my hands on Gregory Maguire's Lost and knew that I should read it prior to Wicked, only so that I would be able to put my full attention into the series instead of sidestepping it to read Lost. Besides, I figured that this would be a quick, engaging read, especially after I had read Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.
This book was frustrating, annoying and I was far from engaged until the very end. Need I got my hands on Gregory Maguire's Lost and knew that I should read it prior to Wicked, only so that I would be able to put my full attention into the series instead of sidestepping it to read Lost. Needless to say, this book was disappointing to me, in more ways than one.
I can't remember reading a book that didn't give me a point to consider, a lesson of morality or philosophy perhaps, and I suppose that Lost was the first book for me. I was asked "Why even finish it? Maybe it would get better at the end? Consequently, this review will be short. I walked away with more 'to-don'ts' than 'to-dos', some of which I noticed the immediate need to change in my own life: First, I felt as if I was constantly 'missing something'.