A book with a blue cover……
This is another book I swiped quickly from the new in section at the local library whilst changing over Noah’s books. That seems to be how I do it these days! Chosen purely for it’s blue cover was how this ended up being driven home, with no chance of the synopsis being attended.
Lost and Found is quite an intriguing book. It’s not a book that I would describe as compelling or innovative, rather it is fairly dreamlike and it tickled me. I say dreamlike 
because although the events in the book are described in real time they are not possible or plausible but somehow, very cleverly, are believable.
The story has three main characters; Millie, Karl and Agatha. Whilst Millie is the most obviously lost in the physical sense, having been abandoned by her mother after a terrible bereavement, she is also emotionally lost. As is Karl and Agatha who find themselves on a journey they both needed but didn’t expect to find themselves upon. For me the story was about Karl. I fell in love with him around page 96 where we learn his innermost thoughts and feelings. He is in a care home and knows full well he shouldn’t be here. He has too much more to give in life, too much life left in him and it erupts like a volcano, breaking free to change the course of his life. I wonder how many other elderly people have the same life crisis? Karl simply wanted to still matter, he wasn’t ready to fester, he needed to still be spontaneous, reckless, make people turn their heads. I loved his audacity from then on in the book- the way he describes what he wants from the rest of his life, the way he talks about sex on the train and the way he pursues his love interest. I would buy a book on the tales of Karl the touch typist. For me, he was the most ‘found’ in the story and I didn’t warm to the other characters much at all.
I really enjoyed Brookes ‘bluntness’ in writing and the concise , sharp sentences. They were to the point and suited the story. It didn’t need to be frilly; it isn’t a frilly story. I like how she made the characters frank with their speech, using swearwords and making candid reference to sex brought the book alive and made it more real because, lets be honest, who doesn’t have those kinds of thoughts, they just usually stay hidden. I did however find the lack of speech demarcations a little confusing at times. Probably only because I’m not used to this format.
Brilliant book after page 96 and fell in love with Karl. 3.75/5
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