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Dec 16, 2009

Melanie rated it:

Although it wasn't a very lengthy book (290 pages), I was amazed at how quickly I read it (I think it took 3 days). The story is immediately compelling: five-year-old Ellie disappears from her opulent Long Island hometown, destroying what little sanity her family has left and leaving her two older sisters to forever wonder what has become of her. Many years later, Caroline, the oldest sister, sees a picture of a woman she is sure is her missing sister and embarks on a journey in search of her. More...

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Jul 13, 2008

Kathy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Wormie rated it:

I don’t think anybody needs help in figuring out how to be lost, but at one point or another we may need help figuring out how to be found, or how to find ourselves. Amanda Eyre Ward’s book, How to Be Lost, is the story of a woman in search of her lost sister who eventually finds herself.

Caroline Winters in the oldest of three sisters. She and her younger sisters live a seemingly charmed life in New York. The family lives in a beautiful home in an expensive neighborhood, but behind More...

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Mar 09, 2011

adlin rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 29, 2007

Jaime rated it:

This book was a very quick, easy read. I would have liked to see more character development with several of the characters. Also, there were many parts of the book, other than the characters, that I was hoping for the author to expand upon that she didn't. I don't want to give details because it will ruin what there is to the book!

I am used to reading many books with very detailed description focused on character development. In a sense, the very things I wished for the author to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 14, 2009

Judy rated it:

I enjoyed this and found it an easy, quick read - I've been looking for those lately after getting bogged down in a couple of longer and more demanding books. I liked the style of writing, but didn't always find the story completely believable and don't think it will stick in my mind for very long.

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 02, 2011

Christie rated it:

My copy of Amanda Eyre Ward’s novel How To Be Lost came with an unusual guarantee: the publisher promised to refund your money if you didn’t like it as much as The Lovely Bones. I suppose at the time of its publication, comparison to the juggernaut that was The Lovely Bones would seem like high praise indeed. But I won’t be writing to collect my refund, thanks very much. I loved How To Be Lost and, in fact, I think I liked it even more than The Lovely Bones which, in my opinion, started off wit More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2010

K2 rated it:

I generally enjoy a first novel. I have no recollection how this book came to me, but there it was, and it was good read. It reads like a first novel but I see she has two other novels since this one so I will explore her writing further.

This is the story told by Caroline the eldest of three girls who grow up in a privileged suburban NY lifestyle, complete with alcoholic parents and parents who yell at one another often. The three sisters decide to run away to escape the emotional tu More...

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Jul 30, 2010

Rebekkila rated it:

Joseph and Isabelle Winters seem to have it all: a grand home in Holt, New York, a trio of radiant daughters, and a sense that they are safe in their affluent corner of America. But when five year old Ellie disappears, th fault lines within the family are exposed: Joseph, once a successful businessman, succumbs to his demons; Isabelle retreats into memories of her debutante days in Savannah; and Ellies's bereft sisters grow apart-Madeline reluctantly stays home, while Caroline runs away.Fifteen More...

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Sep 20, 2009

Sarah rated it:

Terrible writing. I recently heard the author Mavis Gallant say in an interview that she doesn't like reading her early writing because she used to be lazier about her language in a way that makes her cringe now. If Amanda Eyre Ward plans to continue her career as a novelist, she might want to start thinking about this sooner rather than later. Her prose is bland and artless. Sadly, so are her characters, each of which is a stereotype: the lonely mother who covers up her grief with overzealous c More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2012

Jennifer rated it:

Really cute story about a woman whose 5 year old sister went missing when they were young, and how suddenly her mom finds a picture in a magazine that looks like her, and hope is renewed again that she might be alive.

Caroline is in her early 30's and pretty lost in life--moved away from New York where she grew up to escape the memories of her father and her painful childhood, and the guilt she feels over her sister going missing. She has another sister, Madeline, and their relations More...

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Apr 23, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

I had no expectations coming into this novel and so was pleasantly surprised by how engaging it was (and by how off the description on the back). The lives of Caroline Winters and her sister, Madeleine are forever changed by the disappearance of their five-year-old sister, Ellie. The Winters live in upper class splendor but even before Ellie vanishes, there is darkness beneath the shiny facades. All this is revealed in scattered flashbacks.

The actual novel begins fifteen years lat More...

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Feb 10, 2012

shriekofnature rated it:

I am about a third of the way through this and wishing that I had chosen a different book. The dialogue is painful at times and generally disjointed. It feels like the author is trying way too hard to be clever. The focus is on one character out of about seven that need attention which leaves you not caring about any of them. No real sense of loss or need to do anything about the missing child.

****************

Finished. Sad to say the book did not get much better. I More...

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Oct 06, 2011

Laura rated it:

So, I feel bad giving this a 2 star rating, because it wasn't a bad book. But the wording was pretty accurate that "It was ok." I think of that as similar to "It wasn't bad." I really feel that someone else might enjoy it a lot more because rather than a kidnapping story it's a story about the main character's relationships with her family and those around her after her sister's loss. However, I don't feel that point was driven home cleverly enough. In her journey to find her More...

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Jan 31, 2011

Mary rated it:

Nothing is every the same for Caroline and Madeline after their 5 year old sister Ellie disappears on the afternoon that she and her sisters were planning on running away from their dysfunctional family.
Flash forward about 15 years when Caroline returns home for Christmas and her mother shows her a picture from a magazine of a woman she believes is Ellie. Should Caroline give up her poor excuse for a life and go off to Montana in a possibly futile search for Ellie?
Parts of this book More...

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Mar 09, 2010

Lindsey rated it:

The story was only somewhat compelling and I thought the book was poorly written, so much so that I thought anybody could have written it. The sentences were short and choppy, with very little nuance or style. The language tried to be descriptive but again, was overly bland and obvious. A high school student could have written this book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 05, 2009

Danielle rated it:

Wow, excellent book, goes straight to the top of my list (and the first book I've read in a while that I devoured). If I had started this at bed time, I would have read til 3 in the morning. As it was, I read it in one sitting on a long plane ride. Thanks Nadine for mentioning this book(and I'll return the LPL copy at the end of the week). I can't wait to read her first novel! And I hope she writes lots more. A terrific book about a women trying to come to terms with her dysfunctional fami More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 10, 2010

Leah rated it:

Good book. I like a mystery. I think the main character, Caroline was a little bit "typical" in the way she was portrayed as a woman who is tough and doesn't need here family or a man in her life, pushing people away. But, that's just a literary device that readers have to get used to--you don't always like the main character The mystery of the disappearance was interesting and I wanted to solve it. The use of letters by Agnes was awesome, very intriguing and a great tool in the book. More...

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Jul 06, 2011

Mary rated it:

I started and finished this book in one night. I have not done so in such a long time. Ms. Amanda Eyre Ward captured my attention with the first few chapters. There is a lot of flashbacks that help move the story along at a steady pace. It reminded me a bit of a lifetime movie that you happened to flip to and truly holds your attention to the very end. I enjoyed it for the most part, although at times I felt that some parts were rather rushed and was not a fan of how the ending. It just ended, j More...

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May 28, 2009

Kirsten rated it:

I liked this and it was a fast read. About a family which falls apart after the youngest sister of 3 disappears. Good characterization, and the stories from their childhood really shone. However, about half the book took place in Montana, and a lot of that part just didn't ring true to me (minor quibbles mostly, like - it's U of M, not UMT). And the book ends about 30 seconds *before* the actual resolution of everything - boo.

(Ward was a Williams grad - in my graduating class - t More...

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Feb 19, 2008

Stephanie rated it:

It was hard to get into this book and once I finally did, the ending was a complete let down. So if you don't mind crappy endings and slow starts, this book is totally for you.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Harsha rated it:

I quite really enjoyed reading this book. Although the story isn't extraordinary, it is quite well written and makes for a quick read. The narrative is very engrossing, while also quite successfully conveying the warmth that you ought to feel when reading about family and relations. I particularly enjoyed Caroline's flashbacks and her feelings towards her sisters, and also her thoughts about her mother after her death. I thought I would have liked to know Madeline and Ellie a little more. The en More...

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Mar 20, 2010

April rated it:

I haven't read a book in one sitting for a VERY long time! This book was the perfect quick read & evening escape I needed after a long week of work!

I loved the progression of the story & the use of type-style to shift the reader from one character or sense of time to another.

The mystery that unfolds is gentle and pulls the reader in page after page.

Usually the ending of a book is difficult for me ~ I tend to like A LOT of closure, but this ending allowed the reader More...

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Mar 14, 2009

Sara rated it:

Ok so I abosolutley loved this book he only thing I was dissapointed in was the curse words and the prostatution that was in a short part of the book it was about a 5 year old girl who ran away and 20 years later they see a picture in a magizine that they get this feeling is her so her eldest sister goes looking for her and every other chapter is a letter from a girl named agnus ( I think) and some of the chapters are flashbacks It was amazing I Really reccomend this book It was teriffic I would More...

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Nov 15, 2010

Alexa rated it:

It took me a little while to bond with some of these eccentric characters, but once I got more into the story, I quickly learned to appreciate them for who they are and what the past has done to them. Once I got a little more than 1/2 way through, I had major trouble putting the book down. I was determined to put the pieces together and solve the mystery behind the missing sister, Ellie. I was intrigued by Agnes’s letters and the book had me guessing about their significance to the plot. In More...

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Jun 22, 2010

Kathy rated it:

I agree with the reviewer on Amazon who said, "I might be one of the few who liked the ending. Actually, I hated the book in the beginning and thought it got better as it went along."

I thought the premise was intriguing, the impact of a child abduction upon a family. Three sisters, the youngest abducted at age 5, and the outcome in their lives as adults. (Plus the story of the parents.) The oldest sister goes looking for the youngest after seeing a photo in a magazine tha More...

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Jan 07, 2009

Tracie rated it:

A story about three sisters, Caroline who is a cocktail waitress in New Orleans, Madeline, pregnant, married and in New York and Ellie, the little sister who was lost when she was five years old. The book explores Caroline's journey to find her sister and herself. The book provides a few twists and surprises but the ending is trite, almost as though the author forgot to finish the book. My favorite line from the book (page 41): "When you are small, if you reach out, and nobody takes your ha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Melee rated it:

I wish the whole book (or at least more of it) had been told from Agnes' perspective <spoiler>(AKA Ellie, of course.)</spoiler> Her letters were my favourite part and I would have loved more. Perhaps even the inclusion of her correspondence with her "Alaskan hunk" would have been a wonderful addition? I just didn't care as much for Caroline's character.
The story as a whole was somewhat lacking... The writing could have been better, as well. But it was an enjoyable, qu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 13, 2010

Gene rated it:

Caroline Winters and her two sisters endure an early, heartbreaking split. I love this funky family: their feisty, beautiful, southern-born-and-bred mother, the sisters' affection for each other. Men figure prominently---and seldom well---in the Winters women's lives. There's a Dad to hate, a boyfriend to die for, and a heartache of a "betrothed." Caroline's New Orleans girlfriends support her terrifically and entertain the reader. How To Be Lost is really not about loss; it's abou More...

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Feb 18, 2008

Joy rated it:

Kinda odd.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

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