Review: We Are Lost and Found

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I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t really know how to start this review, because I feel like I just have so many things I want to say, so I’m just going to go for it and hope that it doesn’t look like a mess of words. 

We Are Lost and Found follows Michael, a high school student in the early 1980’s. It’s a coming of age story, a slice of life, and a bit of historical fiction all rolled up into one. The book is told through Michael’s perspective as he navigates the year of 1983. He’s hiding the fact that he’s gay from his parents to avoid getting kicked out of the house like his older brother Connor, he’s trying to figure out how to love someone amidst the AID’s crisis that’s sweeping the nation, and he’s figuring out his music, his passion, and who he is. 

 

There is a lot that goes on in this book, but the way that it was written makes it come across in a way that isn’t overwhelming. The book is narrated from Michael’s perspective in a series of vignettes. The whole book is very stream of consciousness, there is not a single quotation mark used to signify dialogue used throughout the entire book. 

Personally, I loved this way of storytelling. It was refreshing and I felt like it worked really well with the plot and the characters. I think it gave us another way to understand Michael’s character, and I really enjoyed that. 

I loved that Michael had a little community supporting him throughout the book. Michael’s gay, and though he’s not out to his parents and in his school, he does have the support of his two best friends and his brother.

Michael’s brother Connor, who was kicked out of the house after high school when his father found out that he was gay, regularly keeps in touch with Michael. From meeting up for dinner, or going to the club together, they always keep in touch even though Connor is estranged from the rest of his family. Throughout the book, they always had each other’s backs, so if you’re looking for some A+ sibling representation, this is the book for you. 

Another major plotline of the book follows the AID’s crisis. Throughout the book, you really get a sense of what it was like to live during that time period, from the specific news articles to the educational pamphlets mentioned. The book was written in a way that really gives you a window into what it was like to live back then. I wasn’t alive in the ’80s, but I still feel that I got a really good grasp of what the climate of the time was like. 

At the end of this book, there were two fantastic afterwords by people who experienced what is described in the book firsthand, and who were (and still are) involved in the AID’s movement. 

Everything I have to say about this book is 100% positive. I had a great time reading it, I loved the characters, the plot, and how the book so masterfully transported the reader to another time period. 

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Are you planning on reading this book? What’s a book that you read that has awesome sibling representation? Do you like historical fiction?

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