Lost: A Novel

I found myself utterly disappointed with Gregory Maguire's LOST. The writing is pedantic and downright boring. Maguire seems to profit from making intelligent readers feel smug because they pick up on some semi-obscure literary reference. I had a difficult time getting through the book out of sheer boredom, but kept plodding through knowing it had to get better. It didn't.

The reader is unceremoniously dumped into the midst of the life of a character (Winnifred Rudge) who is unlikable from the start, and who, unfortunately, does not gain any likability throughout the course of the book. She is an unglamourous schlub (that part doesn't bother me so very much) who acts childish and whiny, who hides from her own life, and who, quite frankly, has a "damning" secret that isn't even very interesting (that part DOES bother me). By the middle of the book, I didn't even care what happened to her-- I was sort of hoping that a chimney top would fall on HER head and save me any more of her dismal existence.

The narrative is choppy and vague in parts-- and the attempt of the author to write a story that is chilling and clever is completely lost on this reader. The "ghost" story angle was laughable. Winnie's journey to self-awareness was wearisome and slow, and the supporting characters were left under-developed and flat.

This was my first Maguire novel-- I seriously hope the others are better. I won't be buying any more of them.

Ugh. This book took me almost 4 months to read. It wasn't because I'm a slow reader, it was because I had no interest in the story. None. Zero.

As always, Maguire finishes up the story with just a few pages left. But NO, like his other novels, you can't just skip to the end of a Maguire book to catch the end of the story. You have to read the whole dang thing for it to make any sense (which Lost barely did anyway).

I'm being generous with the 2 stars, ONLY because the Rudge/Dickens story line and Ritzi (the fruitcake fortune-teller) kept me slightly intrigued. Other than that, Lost went on and on and on about mind-numbing subplot after mind-numbing subplot.

Back to the same recommendation I had after reading Confessions: READ WICKED INSTEAD. Sorry, Maguire, this story doesn't get an A from this reader.

Let's see...we have Ebenezer Scrooge, Peter Pan's Wendy, Jack the Ripper and a host of other characters and references from books of old England. What could be more fun than that? The first time I went to London, I had the most profound feeling of being surrounded by spirits of dead writers. The combination of the British Museum and Westminster Abbey infused my head with Milton, Virginia Woolf, Dickens, and many others. They kept interjecting as I wandered the streets of London. But I digress.

Lost stirs up all these long-dead scribes, not to mention a serial killer and had me wondering who or what was lost. The story unfolds slowly and carefully. The protagonist is troubled, and everything she encounters seems to just exacerbate her discomfort. What is wrong with Winifred Rudge is not clear until the last quarter of the book. Her actions are inexplicable. Her disposition is tinged with anger. She comes off as a distracted bystander who has a lot on her mind but can't resist butting into everyone else's business. She's not the most likeable person. Yet, she is interesting. What is driving her? How does it all tie together? What's really going on?

Well, I'm not going to tell you.

The book is worth a read. All of Gregory Maguire's books should be read. He's one of the most exciting writers alive in the United States today. Cheers.

I really tried with this book. Tried to like it, that is. I wanted to appreciate the contradictory narrative stylings: the book is both innovative and traditional, Dickensian and urban.
In "Lost" Maguire tries too hard. The crux of a good ghost story is it's simplicity. In scripting this tale set in London, and bringing up the notions of practically every popular British writer's works (as well as British history with Jack The Ripper), and setting his characters in the ranks of Carroll's Alice, Barrie's Peter Pan, Dickens' Scrooge, Maguire writes his doom. The book becomes self-indulgent. Sure, this all may sound good to the writer, and one is certain he enjoyed writing it, and reading it, and thinking how clever his ideas are - but I can't digest these words.
I am giving this book two stars, because of the "novel" idea. Read Maguire's other books instead. He can be an excellent wordsmith. Just don't use this book as an example. Do yourself a better service by picking up Dicken's Christmas Carol. Bah...Humbug!

Yes, yes I have read Wicked & Stepsister. Yes Wicked is one of my favorite books. But this review is about Lost. And that is exactly what it is.
It wasn't until the last 1/10th of the book that I got interested in the story at all. And even that didn't last, as I thought the ending was dreadful. This book does not live up to the storytelling and writing that Gregory Maguire is known for. The story is halfhearted and not fully explained. Many of the long, rambly descriptive paragraphs in the book are confusing and leave the feeling that Maguire has either lost his mind himself or has lost grasp of the English language all together.
I finished Lost feeling cheated and disappointed. Lost does not live up to it's own author.

A lot of people seem to have read _Wicked_, tried _Lost_ and been terribly disappointed. I found the book actually MORE satisfying than _Wicked_. 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 others prefer it, is that _Wicked_ 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 with a ghost story of sorts in the present day, and the world is not there for us at the start. 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.
I found _Lost_ to be wonderful reading and highly recommend it.

I loved Wicked (and the sequels). I have reread Confessions of An Ugly Stepsister multiple times. I enjoyed Mirror, Mirror. However, Lost has me fantasizing about buying a hardback copy, hunting down the author (whom I normally greatly admire) and bludgeoning him unconscious with his own published work. Every time the plot starts to stumble into something remotely resembling an amusing or engaging story, it deflates, leaving you wondering what the point of spending several hours of your time on this drivel actually is. If I were able to give this a negative star, I would. The last book I hated this much was Cormick McCarthy's The Road, which I also found to be a giant waste of my time (however, in Macguire's defense, I didn't dislike this QUITE as much, though it was close). Don't buy either of them: there are so many better books out there to read.

What happened to the Gregory Maguire who wrote "Wicked"? Surely, this book wasn't from the same author ... but, of course, it was. This book was erratic ... it almost seemed like an amateur wrote it grasping for a storyline. I kept thinking that this book would have to get better or at least make sense, which it never did. The main character is a reporter, then there was something about Ebenezer Scrooge, a ghost in the wall, an orphanage in middle of a snowy desolate area, loving cousins ... I mean, what is going on? If you want a good book by this author, read "Wicked" or "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" but, please, save your time and skip over this book entirely.

Undoubtly Maguire is an amazing writer but this novel surely did not captivate me. I couldnt get through it i was so bored with it. I held out farther than i should have thinking it might pick up and become interesting. Much more of a mystery novel than any of his other books which are much more fantasy based.

However, to his credit, i do believe that this style was based on another book or writer's style of writing. I do not have the book beside me to verify, but i would not recomend unless you like a novel that takes a long time to piece together and rather slow process of character/plot development.

I muddled through "Lost" for a month before finally finishing it, thoroughly unsatisfied. The main character is so idiotic that I couldn't sympathize with her. Her actions and the actions of the surrounding characters are not the least bit believable, given the course of events. The big interesting question - What is the knocking behind the wall? - is the central and most driving plot point for a short while. It is then ignored for most of the rest of the book, only to be offhandedly explained away with little enthusiasm.

(SPOILERS BELOW)

I'm really taken aback by intense negative opinions people have of this book. This is the third book by Maguire I have read and while I thoroughly enjoyed the others (Wicked, Confessions) I thought Lost was by far his best work. He continues his theme of fiction being a result of real life stories that are distorted by artists, but in Lost Maguire expresses this theme in a new and unique way.

It's true that this book is not an easy read. For the first 250 or so pages, it is not clear where the story is going (or if it is going to go anywhere at all). But then Maguire begins revealing pieces of the puzzle until it all falls gloriously into place.

It's also true that the main character is hard to connect to emotionally. Maguire has chosen to make the center of his novel a character who is cut off emotionally (not only to those around her, but even to herself). She has buried her feelings as completely and deeply as the haunted shroud is buried in her family home. But it is NOT true that Maguire gives us no reason to care about her. The revelation that she is bearing the guilt over her role in the death of an innocent is what connects her to the ghost of the shroud and the ghost of her ancestor (and ultimately to the world at large).

After I finished this book, I immediately went back and re-read the opening section. At first read, this section did not seem to fit in at all with the rest of the novel, the story of the car crash and the meeting of potential adoptive parents appeared to be out of place. When I re-read it, I realized how Maguire sets up all the themes and motifs of the novel in these opening pages.

In short, if you are looking for another Wicked, you won't find it in this book. Lost is to rest of Maguire's work what Sunday in the Park with George is to Sondheim's work, or Mullholland Drive is to David Lynch's work. A mystery that is solved not through plot, but through revelations of character.

At first I was disappointed with "Lost." It has a slower start than Maguire's other novels and, at first, it did not seem to be a revision of a classic tale. The book concerns Winifed Rudge, a children's book writer and distant relative of the man claimed to be the basis for Dickens' character Scrooge. When we first meet Winifred, she is a fairly dislikable character. She has no sympathy to spare for anyone; there is no generosity in her. In fact, at one point in the book, another character refers to her as "Winnie-the-Scrooge." This is the point of the book. Rather than retell the story of Scrooge in Victorian times, Maguire has placed his Scrooge in modern times and asks some pertinent questions. What makes a person a Scrooge? What is it like to be a Scrooge? How do you stop being a Scrooge? As usual with Maguire's books, the answer to these questions is very interesting and unexpected. It is a novel well worth reading.

Having read the previous reviews, I took them with a grain of salt and decided to try the book for myself. What a mistake that was.

I'm sure the writng style appeals to some, but not me. All, I mean all, of the characters are dysfunctional or broken in some way. The main character is not likeable in any way. She's got issues and baggage and takes the joy out of anything in the story.

You'll be reading how a character is in a book store and someone starts talking out of the blue, but the character responds like a conversation has been going on, and you're left wondering if the publisher skipped a page.

There's nothing mysterious, haunting, chilling, creepy, or even mildly interesting about this story. At one point she prys a few nails part way out of a wall only to see them get pulled back in. The characters who see this happen get freaked but the way its written, you're wondering to yourself, 'why do I care?'.

This book is an wandering, dull, clueless waste of time and money. Believe what the other reviewers say.

After WICKED and CONFESSIONS, I bought this book without hestitation. Unfortunately, it failed to meet the expectations created by the earlier books. While filled with Maguire's characteristic delightful prose, the story felt forced and incompletely developed. I never gained that willing suspension of disbelief. The fine prose carried me along, and my positive feelings about the earlier work left me hoping that the book would improve. In the end, I felt dissatisfied. A friend asked, "What's it about?" All I could say was, "I dunno, exactly." I fear Maguire didn't quite know either.

I bought this book with some trepidation. The abstract sounded interesting enough, but there were so many negative reviews, especially here. However, I thought I would give it a chance - as I am doing with all of Gregory Maguire's books. I loved Wicked and Son of Witch, and, this may shock you, I also loved Lost.

I think it's hard for some people to get into because it deals with things of the paranormal (i.e. ghosts). Like all of Maguire's books, the reader needs a suspension of disbelief. I know that to some, Wicked isn't a good book - mostly because they have a set view on how the characters are and act based on The Wizard of Oz (and not even the book, the movie). However, once the reader gets passed preconcieved notions, Maguire's books are intensely fascinating, and quick reads.

I got Lost only three days ago from the store, and I didn't start it until late the next day (I was in the middle of The DaVinci Code at the time). But I finished it this morning. It captivated me, mostly because Winnie is not a perfect person. She has a lot of character flaws, but they make her real and loveable. What got me was, as I was reading, I kept expecting the book to become droll and boring, as so many reviews had stated it would. Most claimed there was an interesting beginning, but that they lost interest soon after. This never happened for me. There was no point in the book where I thought, "Gee, this just is boring now." As with most good books, I was sad to see it come to an end.

So, essentially, what I'm trying to say (in a long-winded fashion) is, please, don't pass over this book just because of its reviews. It deserves a chance, and I'm glad I read it.

Lost disappoints on every level. From the scarcity of a plot (200 pages of Winifred Rudge feeling sorry for herself, the rest of them everyone telling her she feels sorry for herself), the failed attempt at a convincing tie-in to the Dickens Scrooge character, fluffy, contrived dialog, shallow characters with comic-book level histories and cliche tragedies, to an ending that is...well, not an ending. Instead, the last page happens to arrive before the climax. What is labeled as a ghost story contains 15 pages of actual ghostings.

Maguire attempts in Lost to leave behind the fairy-tale parodies that made him famous and offer a book where the characters are more real. Ironically, he offers a book where the characters are less real than their fantasy counterparts.

For better novels with a similar tone and subject matter, find a John Irving novel and leave this one on the shelf.

"Wicked", "Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister", and "Mirror Mirror" were all decent books, but "Lost" is just plain God Awful. It failed to keep my interest constantly. It was a fight to get through this book (I don't know why I even bothered to finish it.) The whole story line was just a hodge podge of ideas thrown together. The story of the book within the book (about Jack the Ripper) must have been added to fill a few more pages as it was a pointless waste of time. Although I enjoyed the first three books from Maguire, I doubt I would waste my time and money of a fifth book, seeing that the fourth book "Lost" was so incredibly BAD.

"Lost" is aptly titled, because the reader feels lost for the first two thirds of the novel. In the final third, you discover some answers, but find they weren't really answers worth knowing. This novel is written in the third person but the point of view is first person, which leaves the reader feeling confused, muddied, and, well, lost. While I realize this may have been the point, it really doesn't work here. Finally, I don't think the author really understands women, which is unfortunate, since the protagonist and many of the characters are female. They all end up feeling underdeveloped and stilted, caricatures of real women. Their dialogue is inexplicable in some cases, and often downright rude for no apparent reason. Frankly, I was very disappointed. Get this one from the library if you must read it, or wait for the paperback. Better yet, take out your copy of "Wicked" and re-read that instead.

Maguire's obfuscatory writing style and disconnected plots actually worked pretty well in his three other books, based on well-known stories. Without the underpinning of those plot lines, though, his writing is too haphazard to make much sense. It doesn't help that his main character is almost a blank slate. There is so much unsaid throughout the book, and events seem to mean nothing and go nowhere. Worst of all, the mysteries don't entice the reader; they're just annoying and boring. I enjoyed the other three books, but this one is work to get through. Stick to the other three and avoid this one.

Gregory Maguire previous novels were amazing reads, so naturally i was excited to read his newest novel. His main character Winnie is one of the most unlikable characters that i've ever read, and not because I was supposed to. The reader is supposed to start off not liking her, but in the end she's somehow redeemed...but she isn't. The characters in "Lost" are disjointed and not fully developed (much like the preceeding paragraph).

The plot of the book was never fully developed either, and the end was abrubt and unsatisfying. If you've never read any of Maguire other novels, stop right here and pick up one of his other books. This novel does not do him justice, infact its hard to believe its even written by the same author as "Wicked" or "Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister".

I loved Wicked. But I was completely and utterly lost with this book. There were so many loose ends and no reason why certain things were even introduced. I've read "a christmas carol" many times. Since this was included in the book, to read first, I thought there must be some sort of twist or direct connection to the book. Red Herring. I read all the way to the end because I just knew there was some reason to do so. There wasn't. I haven't been this let down by a favored author in a very long time. I think there were a lot of directions this book could have gone to tie together things that were introduced. As a matter of fact, there were some great ideas that could be the beginning of many different stories. This was just a waste of my time.

Gregory Maguire has a fascinating command of the English language, and a real knack for developing deep and complex characters - something that alone makes this book worth the read. However, this is not the "Wicked" or "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" treatment given to "A Christmas Carol", despite what the cover (and familiarity with the author's other popular works) might suggest. If you go into this expecting that, you'll be sadly disappointed.

On its own merits, without the context of the rest of Maguire's works, I would probably give this a rating of "4". However, I felt betrayed as a reader. There were teasing elements to suggest that this might be a twisted fairytale of sorts, like Wicked, but ultimately any fantastic elements in the book are just red herrings.

I think a disclaimer is warranted to warn the unwary reader; I felt deceived, hence a final rating of merely "2".

Similar to other reviewers, I started this book with high hopes since I have enjoyed all of the other books I have read by Gregory Maguire. Sadly, I came to the conclusion that he was under a deadline to write it (projecting that feeling onto the main character who has writer's block) and just wrote the book as a stream-of-consciousness brainstorm. It never solidifies into a cohesive storyline.

My recommendation would be: don't let Lost turn you off from other Gregory Maguire books! I've loved Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and Mirror Mirror. I've just picked up Son of Witch and I'm already caught up in it.

I've been an the store customer since the beginning of the site (when they just sold books) and this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review. Why? Because this is just a bad, bad book. Thoroughly unsatisfying from the first word to the last.
I bought Lost after picking up Wicked and really enjoying it (saw the musical, too and - while I generally hate musicals - I enjoyed that). I was a huge fan of how Maguire took a very familiar fictional world and essentially wrote a character-based history book for it. I thought it was amazing that he could take a story everyone knew so well and construct ANOTHER story around its characters that still kept you guessing from page to page. My expectation with Lost was similar. Based on the jacket copy, I expected an intricate story that merged the fictional world of Dickens' Christmas Carol and the non-fictional world of the Jack the Ripper mystery into a fantastic tapestry of quasi-fiction. Boy, was I wrong.
From the first page, you expect Maguire to cast his net out onto you, dragging you into the story (whether you want to or not!) via characters and events that are just too tantalizing in their vague familiarity. Since the book is - according to its jacket copy - an amalgam of Christmas Carol mythology and Jack the Ripper theories, you expect these connections to be made quickly and you want there to be some central story that ties them together. But these desires are for naught.
Maguire spends the first 1/2 - 2/3 of the book building and shaping our vision of Winnie, the protagonist (or, semi-confusingly, Wendy, the character in a book Winnie is attempting to write). Let's forget how contrived the whole "book about a writer writing a book" premise is. Maguire's implementation of this idea - via differently-fonted text - is clumsy at best. But that's not even the worst part! The protagonist, Winnie, is someone I simply didn't care for from the first description of her. And when I say "didn't care for," I mean I REALLY didn't care. I didn't hate her (which, of course, would be the opposite of loving her). I simply didn't care. And that doesn't change throughout the whole book! You keep on waiting for Maguire to reveal something about her that will make her a sympathetic character, but it never happens. By the time he employs some clichéd device about some tragedy that happened to her in her past, you just don't care. Like being blindfolded at a surprise party thrown for you only to discover there are only 2 people you don't really like in front of you.
Onto the writing of the book. I thought the story in Wicked was solid and so forgave Maguire the self-indulgent and long-winded prose that consumed so much of the book. But in Lost, the story isn't strong enough to support such indulgences and they bulge out of it like malignant tumors. His too-many analogies are bristling with the insecurity of the guy at a party who drops Nietzsche quotes to make people think he's smart. The similes are equally inaccessible and seem to account for a full ½ of the book's pages. Character development is lop-sided (i.e., John and his girlfriend) and the exposition - which would have been overbearing with the most economical writer - is simply laborious under the weight of Maguire's desire to show you just how smart he is.
If you're breaking your cherry on Maguire's work with Lost, then you may not be so sensitive to the issues I just raised. But, after reading the marketing material for Lost, you'd at least expect a story that compellingly mixes the mythologies of Ebenezer Scrooge and Jack the Ripper And on this score, you, too, would be disappointed. A disappointment that's only compounded for people who've read Wicked and expect a similar handling of familiar mythologies. A Christmas Carol and Jack the Ripper figure - at best - tangentially into Lost's story. Further, Maguire makes no attempt to connect the two (regardless of what the jacket copy tells you). Dickens' and Jack the Ripper's stories serve only to prop up the author's flaccid attempt at a parable. If the Ripper and Dickens were still alive today, they'd undoubtedly be sending Maguire a letter (return address: From Hell) chastising him for so horribly abusing the stories they worked so hard to write.
Maguire's Lost lives up to the name (a title an un-established writer's agent would forbid him to use because of its unending abuse by critics). Character development, story, and historical & literary allusions are all so weak as to be simply boring. If you're looking for a story that combines these stories, you can stop looking because it hasn't been written yet. If you're looking for something that deals even tangentially with these subjects...you can stop looking because it hasn't been written yet. If you're simply a Maguire fan looking for another good Maguire book, you can stop...because it hasn't been written yet!

After having read his previous two novels, I was excited to get my hands on this one, especially with the premise outlined on the dust cover. However, it really didn't live up to it. "Lost" ended up being one of those books that you think about two days after you finish it, and you can't really remember what exactly happened. There were a lot of good ideas, they were just never fully realized. Check out Maguire's other novels instead.

This was my third book by Gregory Maguire to read (after completing Wicked and Son of a Witch).

Lost presents an interesting story:

It starts off with a car wreck in America which the main charecter, Winnie, is delayed in getting to a meeting of Forever Families. From here Winnie travels to London to do research for her new novel about Jack the Ripper's ghost.

Upon arriving in London, Winnie discovers that her cousin John is missing...

This novel becomes involved and grasps the reader's intrest early on, however, after arriving at the end of this 300+ page novel one feels a little empty handed...As with many of Maguire's novels i find that after accomplishing reading the work too few of the plot lines are brought to an end.

I have read both Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. I found them both unbelievably good and quite entertaining and well written.
When I read this book, I was profoundly dissapointed. The story dragged and dragged, the settings were indistinct, and it seems that the first 40 pages served absolutely no purpose. The characters are dry and work against their 'personalities'.
I struggled through reading this book. The only reason I gave it 2 stars is because I like the author.

I read the synopsis and thought this book sounded like it had a great plot. That is if the book had ended in the first hundred pages. It started wandering after that and I wasn't sure where the author was trying to go. This is book was difficult to follow. I did not enjoy it one bit. I doubt I would read any other books by this author.

I loved Confessions and think Wicked was brilliant- so much detail, passion and suspense. I couldn't wait to read Lost! What a disappointment. It reads like a romance novel at times. I felt like he had to get something to the publisher and wrote this the weekend before. He is a better writer than Lost! Read Wicked instead (or again) and skip this one. It will only turn you off to a great writer that needs to get back to what he is good at.

I can't believe how poorly this book is reviewing. Maguire is an incredibly talented writer who I just suppose is a bit too over the heads of readers who were expecting something related to a reality series. He weaves a captivating story and is writing style is truly entrancing. If you have any taste at all, you will love this book.

I was thoroughly disappointed with this book. Having read "Wicked" and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister", I was looking forward to reading another of Maguire's imaginative works. However, "Lost" seems to be just that. Nothing really fits together in this novel, and Maguire had the opportunity to develop the Scrooge storyline wonderfully, but instead chose to go with an unknown ghost and theme of incest. It was, by far, the worst novel I have read this year.

Fortunately, Wicked was my first Gregory Maguire reading experience and he quickly became a personal favorite with True Confessions and Mirror Mirror, and Son of a Witch more recently. Also fortunately, I hadn't started with Lost. Definitely my least favorite of his novels I felt like it lacked the description, creativity and strong storyline that I love about his other books. For those of you who were unfortunate enough to choose this as your first Gregory Maguire read, please try again with any of his his others and you will not be disappointed.

This was abit of complicated Gregory Maguire book in my opinion. It was still good, you know the possible dealing with Jack the Ripper. It was a little out there kind of book. It was hard to follow in some parts, but still a relatively good read. I would suggest borrowing it from someone than buying it though.

I enjoyed Wicked, and my daughter and I like those of Maguire's children-oriented works that we've read, but this one "lost" me. I took a few stabs at it, but it just didn't hold me enough to even finish -- and I almost never give up without finishing a book I've started. Other reviewers have commented that Maguire keeps the reader too distant from the characters and the story, and that he brings in perhaps too many elements to keep the story well focused; I must agree with that. He brings in (jumbles together?) many things and, though I'm generally tolerant of picking through the strands of complicated knots, I wasn't held enough to see the possible payoff as worth the effort. It wasn't terrible (as far as I read), but if I'm going to do the work of slogging through a tough read, there needs to be enough I like that it doesn't seem too much of a chore.

Gregory Maguire quickly rose to fame with his apparently creative look at the Wicked Witch from Oz when he wrote Wicked. Since then, more books distorting or looking at fairy tales differently have been written (including a sequel of sorts to Wicked due out this year) by Maguire. After hearing about the novel and the musical Wicked, I decided I would check out Maguire and see if I would enjoy him. The bookstore was out of Wicked but they did have Lost.

I almost wish they didn't. Not just because I didn't like the book but because it made me almost not want to read Wicked.

I did not care for this novel. Lost was interesting in the beginning but it quickly lost any sort of momentum as it progressed. It begins with an eye-catching scene of a car accident that the protagonist Winnie sees and tries to help. Then it quickly moves to an adoption service Forever Families and we briefly meet families both in the traditional and non-traditional sense who are in the process of trying to adopt. Then we're off to England where Winnie is supposed to meet her step cousin and "friend" John Comestor. But when she arrives, he's nowhere to be seen, the house is being worked on, there's a loud pounding coming from the chimney, no one wants to really talk to Winnie and weird things are happening.

The problem for me was that Maguire seemed to gloss over everything. He keeps the reader distanced from the characters. Not once did I feel like I got to know Winnie. On one hand this was partially intentional as Winnie herself is a very distanced character who retreats into her writing when faced with a situation she doesn't want to acknowledge. Ironically enough, the one area that Winnie was a bit too revealing involves a "plot twist" I guess. I hate to call it so because it is the ONLY thing that was concretely and blatantly obvious.

But on the other, Maguire's own writing was distant, glossed over details so that I had to reread passages to make sure I wasn't missing things. Its as if Maguire is attempting to write in the vein of minimalism. I love minimalistic novels when done correctly. I'm an avid reader, I read a good two books or so a week on average and nothing grates on me more when I have to reread something because the writing was vague. I don't know how to convey this point, exactly. Some of my favorite novels are vague, but effectively vague. They let you decide how to view the plot and don't hold you by the hand. It's as if Maguire was trying to do this, trying to write a post modern or minimalistic novel and failed. Does that make sense?

Part of the problem is also that Maguire is trying to balance too many balls at once. Because not only is all of the things above happening, but there's also the story of Jack the Ripper's remains that may or may not be a part of the story, the fact that Winnie's ancestor may or may not have been the basis for Scrooge, the fact that Winnie may or not be crazy, her cousin may or may not be dead and the whole place may or not be haunted. That's a lot of may or may nots to have in a novel that's 335 pages long.

I do think Maguire could be a decent author. He has a way with metaphors and similes that do well in conveying either symbolism or what is actually happening. The problem, for me, was that there was not a spine to this novel. It felt as if it were trying to be too many different things at once and the story got away from Maguire. I do want to try another of his novels because I do think he probably is a good author; there were some great passages and sequences that were highly entertaining and weird. For instance, the neighbor living downstairs with the cats and who has to leave herself notes was perfect. Great character and a great sequence. The problem is that the plot as a whole left much to be desired.

The end result to me was such a wishy-washy mess that when all of the story threads "came together" I didn't care. The last third of the novel I read to have a conclusion and get it over with, not because I genuinely cared. It's hard to care about a character you don't ever get to know. The end result is that I should have listened to the reviews here instead of the critical praises saying "A brilliant, perceptive, and deeply moving fable about loss...". I'd recommend you do the same. Here's hoping Wicked is much better.

I enjoyed Wicked, and my daughter and I like those of Maguire's children-oriented works that we've read, but this one "lost" me. I took a few stabs at it, but it just didn't hold me enough to even finish -- and I almost never give up without finishing a book I've started. Other reviewers have commented that Maguire keeps the reader too distant from the characters and the story, and that he brings in perhaps too many elements to keep the story well focused; I must agree with that. He brings in (jumbles together?) many things and, though I'm generally tolerant of picking through the strands of complicated knots, I wasn't held enough to see the possible payoff as worth the effort. It wasn't terrible (as far as I read), but if I'm going to do the work of slogging through a tough read, there needs to be enough I like that it doesn't seem too much of a chore.

Gregory Maguire quickly rose to fame with his apparently creative look at the Wicked Witch from Oz when he wrote Wicked. Since then, more books distorting or looking at fairy tales differently have been written (including a sequel of sorts to Wicked due out this year) by Maguire. After hearing about the novel and the musical Wicked, I decided I would check out Maguire and see if I would enjoy him. The bookstore was out of Wicked but they did have Lost.

I almost wish they didn't. Not just because I didn't like the book but because it made me almost not want to read Wicked.

I did not care for this novel. Lost was interesting in the beginning but it quickly lost any sort of momentum as it progressed. It begins with an eye-catching scene of a car accident that the protagonist Winnie sees and tries to help. Then it quickly moves to an adoption service Forever Families and we briefly meet families both in the traditional and non-traditional sense who are in the process of trying to adopt. Then we're off to England where Winnie is supposed to meet her step cousin and "friend" John Comestor. But when she arrives, he's nowhere to be seen, the house is being worked on, there's a loud pounding coming from the chimney, no one wants to really talk to Winnie and weird things are happening.

The problem for me was that Maguire seemed to gloss over everything. He keeps the reader distanced from the characters. Not once did I feel like I got to know Winnie. On one hand this was partially intentional as Winnie herself is a very distanced character who retreats into her writing when faced with a situation she doesn't want to acknowledge. Ironically enough, the one area that Winnie was a bit too revealing involves a "plot twist" I guess. I hate to call it so because it is the ONLY thing that was concretely and blatantly obvious.

But on the other, Maguire's own writing was distant, glossed over details so that I had to reread passages to make sure I wasn't missing things. Its as if Maguire is attempting to write in the vein of minimalism. I love minimalistic novels when done correctly. I'm an avid reader, I read a good two books or so a week on average and nothing grates on me more when I have to reread something because the writing was vague. I don't know how to convey this point, exactly. Some of my favorite novels are vague, but effectively vague. They let you decide how to view the plot and don't hold you by the hand. It's as if Maguire was trying to do this, trying to write a post modern or minimalistic novel and failed. Does that make sense?

Part of the problem is also that Maguire is trying to balance too many balls at once. Because not only is all of the things above happening, but there's also the story of Jack the Ripper's remains that may or may not be a part of the story, the fact that Winnie's ancestor may or may not have been the basis for Scrooge, the fact that Winnie may or not be crazy, her cousin may or may not be dead and the whole place may or not be haunted. That's a lot of may or may nots to have in a novel that's 335 pages long.

I do think Maguire could be a decent author. He has a way with metaphors and similes that do well in conveying either symbolism or what is actually happening. The problem, for me, was that there was not a spine to this novel. It felt as if it were trying to be too many different things at once and the story got away from Maguire. I do want to try another of his novels because I do think he probably is a good author; there were some great passages and sequences that were highly entertaining and weird. For instance, the neighbor living downstairs with the cats and who has to leave herself notes was perfect. Great character and a great sequence. The problem is that the plot as a whole left much to be desired.

The end result to me was such a wishy-washy mess that when all of the story threads "came together" I didn't care. The last third of the novel I read to have a conclusion and get it over with, not because I genuinely cared. It's hard to care about a character you don't ever get to know. The end result is that I should have listened to the reviews here instead of the critical praises saying "A brilliant, perceptive, and deeply moving fable about loss...". I'd recommend you do the same. Here's hoping Wicked is much better.

a product of the same author who write "Wicked"? It doesn't seem so, but it's true! I am not a regular reader of fantasy, but I could not put "Wicked" down! "Lost" really lived up to it's title--too much meandering, unlikeable characters...read Maguire's other three novels before you turn to this one!

I'm perplexed by the negative reviews of this book. I found it completely haunting and made me wish Maguire would write more novels that aren't based on fairy tales.

This book, Wicked and Son of a Witch are Maguire's best efforts from my perspective.

If you have not ready Gregory Maguire's first two novels, by all means treat yourself to the joy that is "Wicked" and "Confessions of a Wicked Stepsister." If you have read them both and cannot get enough of this author, borrow a copy of "Lost". The saved purchase price will perhaps lessen the stinging disappointment that is "Lost". Twenty pages into this book I still had hope. Halfway through the book, I struggled against premature disappointment. Twenty pages to go and I am melancholy for the real Gregory Maguire.

Both of Maguire's previous adult fictions kept me enthralled. Each one I read from start to finish in one sitting. I love his work and highly anticpiated Lost and will continue to wait for his next work. This story of a woman searching for a fictional character finds more than she was expecting in her English ancesteral home. She grapples with physical apparitians as well as her own mental ghosts. Maguire tells his stories in a way that peaks the curiosity and keeps you reading for more!

Perfect title becasue that is what should happen to this book. Like most of the reviewers here this was not my first experience in the world of Gregory Maguire and like most here I walked away extemely disappointed. The story telling was dry, sometimes baffling, and the characters never developed into anything more then names on paper. If this is your first taste in Maguire's world don't be discouraged, gived Wicked and it's sequel a shot, they are far superior books.

Gregory Maguire is a very compelling and interesting writer. I loved Wicked and will read it again and again. Ugly was not nearly as captivating. Lost I can't quite get through. I've been reading it for quite some time and it just hasn't enveloped me - dare I say, yet? I'm still reading Lost and if my opinion changes I will write another review.
Plea to the Author:
Gregory - please go back to your 'Wicked' style!

I thought this work was pathetic compared with Maguire's other works. I had become a big fan, but I had to struggle to get through this novel that had so much potential. Several teaser plot lines were set up, but none of the interesting ones were followed. What a shame.