The Keeper of Lost Things: The feel-good novel of the year

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From about the 10% mark, I knew that this book was probably going to be a one star, and I couldn't wait for it to be over. Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles—Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September. Hogan has seamlessly plotted two separate stories, each just as entertaining, while weaving the imagined stories of the lost items throughout. She then added more than a few eccentrics, a feisty spirit and a sweet innocent by the name of Sunshine whom you will come to love, and gave us a story brimming with wit, wisdom and charm galore. I listened to the audio version of The Keeper of Lost Things and the narrators were fantastic. There are two story lines, with the present day story featuring Laura, divorced, treated badly by her ex-husband, feeling like she spent years letting her parents down, now working happily as an assistant for Anthony Peardew, a successful writer and a keeper of lost things. Heavy on Anthony's heart, aside from the fact that his fiance died many years ago, before they could get married, is that he lost something very dear to her the day she died. That loss, both losses, led him to the obsessive and meticulous collecting of lost things, cataloging them and caring for them, in the hopes that his lost thing would be found and cared for also. When Anthony dies, he leaves everything to Laura, with his last wishes being that she attempt to find the owners of the lost things and that she befriend his neighbor, Sunshine.

The ending is especially perfect. It brings lots of tears, laughs and smiles, which probably made lots of folks on the trail I walk wonder what was going on with me. There is a compelling, magical appeal to this story, not in the literal sense, but it added a pleasant ambiance of imaginative goodness. This is a feel-good story with a sweet and pleasing ending that I am happy that I read though. Would recommend! The story about to begin, will lead us into an universe where characters are knots merged in a web -- people crossing at due timings, showing that nothing happens by chance in this mysterious whole where we all interact, complementing each other, towards an incognito purpose -- something undefined, we feel bigger then us, where all those crossing paths will hopefully gain a common sense!...

There is another couple whose story starts the day Anthony's fiance dies, all those years earlier, and their platonic love is just as strong as the love Anthony and his late fiance had for each other. Over the years they share their lives with Douglas and then Baby Jane, beloved dogs that rule the roost and eat a large amount of pastries. The treatment of the dogs, the way their people love them so deeply and share their days with them, is just another part of the story that worked so well for me. Anthony Peardew collects lost items, catalogues them and stores them in his study hoping one day the thousands of objects will be reunited with their rightful owners. Knowing he is dying he bequeaths his house and all the lost treasures, to his assistant and friend Laura, the one person he knows who will carry out his wishes. However, unforeseen repercussions trigger some unanticipated series of encounters. As the threads of the story gradually pull together, questions are answered, lives are changed and the lost are found.

A ghost, an abundance of eye rolling but beautiful coincidences, some lovable characters, especially a young woman named Sunshine.

This novel was very unexpected- I not only mean the novel itself— but my enjoyment of absolutely EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. I consider myself to be a modern woman —- I rarely tap into an appreciation for people’s sentimental tchotchkes. I ‘did’ ......tap into my appreciation for the smallest ‘lost things’. Silly me! Darn....where is that hair clip I lost- which I use to love? Would one of you please return it to Westgate Ave. in San Jose? Thank you, kindly! I loved the unusual and funny names the author used in her book and the individual characters are definitely unique and perfectly suited to her stories. I adored teenager 'Sunshine' who had Down Syndrome or as she calls herself a 'dancing drome', she was the star of the book for me, witty, honest without censor and with a very special gift indeed. I started to really worry about the book when it became clear that there would be no shift in the narrative voice whatsoever - and what I mean by that is that, when the little 'stories behind the items' were included, they were narrated in the exact same manner as the text that had come before it, with Laura in centre stage. Given that they were supposed to have been written by Anthony, this was a grievous mistake. I studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College which was brilliant, but then I came home and got a 'proper' job. I worked for ten years in a senior local government position (I was definitely a square peg in a round hole, but it paid the bills and mortgage) before a car accident left me unable to work full-time and convinced me to start writing seriously. It was going well, but then in 2012 I got cancer, which was bloody inconvenient but precipitated an exciting hair journey from bald to a peroxide blonde Annie Lennox crop. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was The Keeper of Lost Things. Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. His wife died many years ago. On the day she died, on the way to meet her, Anthony lost some precious item that she gave to him and made him promise to always keep with him. Anthony was distraught at loosing his wife and also the one item that would keep his promise and keep him close to her. So, in turn, he began to collect things that others had lost, hoping to return those items to them. He meticulously documented the items he found, eventually writing stories about them. Laura, who is completely lost, after marrying a dolt of a husband she probably never loved, comes to be Anthony's housekeeper at a wonderful home. When Anthony passes, he leaves the house to her and a condition, that she begins to return the lost things to their rightful owners. And so begins this wonderful tale. Throw in a small little love story, a wonderful neighbor Sunshine, a girl with disabilities, and you have such a heartwarming story. But there is also another interweaving story line - Eunice, who has lost something and lost the love of her life (literally). But Eunice has also found something and these two stories come together.

He gives these *things* a home, and respects their history. He catalogues the exact place and moment he found them in hopes to one day reunite even one of them with their rightful owner. I wanted to love this more than I loved it, but there is an essence that I really did love. Sometimes, I can read a book where the ending seems to just wander off into a future and it seems natural, right, but this fell just a little short for me. Objects spread among red roses, each of them enclosing a beautiful sad story -- roses with thorns -- fictions grazing anonymous truths -- episodes of someone’s real life.Ever since I finished it, I've been puzzling over why this novel irked me so, because I do enjoy the occasional light and fluffy book. Was it the simple writing? The one-dimensional characters? The bad dialogue? The poorly constructed mystery? The too-sweet ending? The house that Anthony leaves to Laura is named Padua and without a doubt, there is the supernatural presence of Anthony's late fiance in the house and garden. Sunshine. a lively, clever, serious, delightful nineteen year old woman with Downs Syndrome, has a supernatural connection with Therese, despite never meeting her when she was alive. In fact, Sunshine just seems to know a lot of things about Therese and also about the owners of the lost things. The narration of her character had me seeing her so vividly, making her one of my favorite characters in a book full of touching characters. Not to be forgotten, is Freddy, the hunky gardener who allows Laura to think of love again, and Carrot, the mistreated stray dog, who knows that he is loved and safe, in his new home. Perhaps, when all is said and done, it is not only for the things we do well, but it is also with our imperfections for which we are loved. That said, many of my book friends loved this one, and I can see why. I’d still recommend giving this a shot when you’re in the mood for a gentler read, if only to witness its generous amounts of creativity. Hope you enjoy! However, the narrative is simply appalling. The author force feeds, I mean spoon feeds, the reader ad nauseum.