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    How To Be Lost
    How To Be Lost
    How To Be Lost
    Audiobook7 hours

    How To Be Lost

    Written by Amanda Eyre Ward

    Narrated by Carine Montbertrand

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Amanda Eyre Ward plumbs the depths of loss and captures the uplifting power of hope in this stirring novel. How to Be Lost is a devastating portrait of a family ravaged by grief-and by the very human longing to make things right again. Three sisters are on the verge of running away from home when the youngest, Ellie, disappears without a trace. Fifteen years later, sister Caroline finds that she might still be alive.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 11, 2011
    ISBN9781456125417
    How To Be Lost
    Author

    Amanda Eyre Ward

    Amanda Eyre Ward was born in New York City, and graduated from Williams College and the University of Montana. Her short stories have been published in various literary reviews and magazines. She is the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning novel ‘Sleep Towards Heaven’ and ‘How to be Lost’, and was named by the New York Post as one of five Writers to Watch in 2003. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, geologist Tip Meckel.

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    Reviews for How To Be Lost

    3.5/5

    316 ratings21 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      This book has interesting characters and settings. The author did a masterful job of leading in you in one direction and then surprising you the reader with the opening of the next chapter. Yet it unfolds in a realistic manner.
    • 5/5
      Loved it! Had a hard time getting anything else done, just wanted to get back to this book. Well written, emotional and all around great story. Favorite line : Maybe that's what love is, in the end: a shared illusion of safety.
    • 3/5
      I wanted this book to be about 10 pages longer...
    • 3/5
      I picked this novel up at a Friends of the Library book sale. When it actually came to reading it, I kept putting it off, thinking it would be depressing and sad. What it turned out to be was actually a study in hope. I like how the tale unfolded: back-story and two separate strands of current day. The story of three sisters, one of whom goes missing at age 5. Fifteen years later, the story starts again. It's also the story of choices and the way our live diverges every time we make one. It was a good book to cozy up with on a day when I really didn't feel like doing much besides reading.
    • 4/5
      Down to earth, simple book. Kept me turning the pages. Very realistic.
    • 4/5
      How to be Lost is the story of a family dealing with the disappearance of their youngest child. Joseph and Isabelle Winters appear to have a blessed life in Holt, New York. With three daughters- Caroline, Madeline, and Ellie- and a beautiful home they seem to have a picture perfect life. But behind closed doors Joseph is a heavy drinker and Isabelle is lost in the fantasies of her debutante days, before she married her Yankee husband. After Caroline is slapped in the face by her father, the girls decide to run away to New Orleans. They pack their things into the family's Oldsmobile and plan to leave after school the next day. But when Caroline and Madeline pull up in front of the elementary school to pick up five year old Ellie, she is not there waiting for them.

      After Ellie's disappearance Caroline moves to New Orleans, and Caroline stays in New York. Their father drinks himself to death and their mother spends her days writing in her journals about her days as a debutante. One Christmas things change when her mother shows Caroline a picture of a girl she found in People magazine. The girl looks like a grown up Ellie. Caroline decides to track down this girl. She loads up her car and goes on a road trip to Montana to try to find her missing sister and fix what she can of her broken family.

      I enjoyed this book. It was the type of book that I wanted to read every chance I had. I could not wait to find out if the girl in picture is Ellie or not. The portayal of the brokeness of this familty is raw and honest. Definitely a good read.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book although I had an almost 4 week lag during reading this which sort of complicated the already complex plot. I did follow the storyline pretty well but I'm sure I'd have enjoyed it even more had I read it in one fell swoop rather that in two increments. Nonetheless, I believe I will look for other books by this author
    • 4/5
      Fascinating! The story was engrossing and I could not put it down. I was only sorry that it didn't continue longer.
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful book! LIke many other LTers, I read it in a day and almost wish it had a sequal.

      This story takes place 15 years after the youngest of three sisters disappears without a trace. It's about relationships, about the lasting impacts of a traumatic event on a family. At the time of the abduction, Caroline (15) Madeleine (13) and Ellie (5) are very close with Caroline taking responsibility for her sisters since their father is an abusive alcoholic and their mother appears to be suffering from clinical depression. Fifteen years later, Caroline is a cocktail waitress, estranged from Madeleine; their mother is marginally functional and their father has died. Madeleine, now married and pregnant, wants to declare Ellie dead, but their mother is convinced Ellie is alive. Caroline decides to search for Ellie based on a photograph her mother has found in a magazine.

      The story is very well written; the plot has depth that raises this well beyond "chick lit" status. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      A woman goes on a quest to find the sister who went missing as a child - based on a blurry photo in People magazine. A good portrait of family dynamics and how they affect our lives.
    • 5/5
      This book grabbed me from the beginning & never let up the pace. I just wished it allowed for a more satisfying ending. It was frustrating....
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorite contemporary novels. The characters are absolutely believable, and teh story comes across as having just enough plot and just enought thought. It is flawlessly written, and comes together like a puzzle by the end of the reading. If you enjoy reading literary fictions or stories of families, this is a wonderful story that is nearly readable in one sitting. Enjoy.
    • 4/5
      Caroline Winters, wild child turned washed up New Orleans cocktail waitress, narrates this tale of a family torn asunder by the disappearance of her youngest sister Ellie. Ellie's disappearance dissolves the glue holding the already fragile Winters family together, as Caroline's guilt-stricken mother, Isabelle, dedicates all her resources to finding her missing daughter. Caroline and her sister Madeline, each believing they are somehow responsible for Ellie's disappearance slowly drift away from each other.

      When Isabelle dies, Caroline sets out on a cross country trip determined to find her long missing sister. Through Caroline's trip, mysterious letters from the desk of one Agnes Fowler, and glimpses into Isabelle's past Ward reveals the secrets that run deep in the Winters family.

      Ward's story reveals the answer to the mystery of Ellie's disappearance in bits and pieces from many different angles giving the impression that the reader is figuring out the mystery on their own instead of being handed it on a silver platter. Ward vividly portrays the effects of the disappearance that last far beyond the actual event and the toll taken on each member of the family from not knowing whether Ellie is alive or dead. With the loss of Ellie, the members of the family lost parts of themselves as well as the bond that held them together. Their journey back to themselves is beautifully rendered here and makes for a very rewarding read.
    • 4/5
      It’s possible I read “Missing Mom” by Joyce Carol Oates too recently to judge “How to Be Lost” on its own merits. Both involve a family tragedy (and in the book’s main timeline) that leaves a mother on her own and leaves her daughters (the good daughter and the daughter who is adrift) trying to define their relationship with her and with each other.

      The aspect of “How to be Lost” that was most powerful to me was the description of the three girls in their youth – trying to raise themselves and pretend as if they had parents. (They do – but the dad is an abusive alcoholic and the mom only dresses the part). My parents were divorced at an early age and as the oldest, I felt like I was raising my brother and sister sometimes. That responsibility and forced maturity of a child is powerfully described here and brought back some strong memories. This type of family situation creates a whole new bond with one’s siblings – which in my case has been a wonderful one. I’m not sure if I would say the same for Caroline’s situation.

      Beyond that – I felt like the plot followed pretty standard lines – will the family ever truly start to heal, will Caroline be able to move forward in her life, will Ellie be found… and I wasn’t surprised by the ending. Still – I enjoyed Ward’s prose a great deal – I am not one for flowery descriptions. Also – I was lucky enough to read the book in one sitting – turning the pages faster as I reached the end.

      Though I did like the way Ward uses flashbacks, letters and first person narrative to give more depth to the story – I felt like the book was strongest when the reader was hearing Caroline’s voice. The letters from Agnes never really rang true for me – I thought parts of them were cheesy and I just didn’t buy into the sexy pictures.

      All in all – it was a good read. I enjoyed the book and was I ever going on a trip and wanted a good book to take on the plane – I would pick up one of Ward’s.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book and now want to read everything she's written. She also makes me want to write.
    • 4/5
      How to Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward is a lean, cinematic novel that can easily be read in one sitting. The novel is organized into a series of first-person narratives, letters, and flashbacks. There are multiple story lines with shifts in place and time. Ward’s writing is sparse: there are no unnecessary scenes. The telling is easy and captivating, but this can be deceptive. Ward’s clean, efficient prose demands attention.

      In this story, we read about Joseph and Isabelle Winters, two parents sunk in despair, alcohol, and disappointment. They are lost to themselves, each other, and their children. The parents’ isolation has gut-wrenching effects on the lives of their three children: Caroline, Madeline and Ellie. Despite all the bad, there is enough good left in this family for each girl to thrive. When the girls are 16, 13 and 5, tragedy strikes. Ellie, the youngest child, disappears—probably abducted. This shatters the two remaining girls and further destroys what little remains of the parents’ lives.

      The book begins 15 years later. Joseph has passed away and Isabelle is a mere shadow of the woman she could have been. The family is estranged. The girls reluctantly gather at their mother’s home for Christmas. Madeline’s psychologist has recommended that she “bring closure” to the disappearance of her little sister by pronouncing Ellie legally dead. The mother and Caroline are against it. They still hold hope that Ellie is alive. The mother compulsively combs through magazines looking for photographs that might reveal Ellie as a 20-year-old woman. One magazine snapshot in particular has Isabelle captivated, and she shows it to Caroline.

      Eventually, Caroline takes off on a cross-country trip to find the woman in the photograph. Along the way, we meet more fascinating lost souls, and through flashbacks, letters, and dream sequences, we are whipsawed through mysterious, seemingly unrelated story lines dealing with other lost souls. The reader is propelled through the novel in ever-deepening suspense—always a little off-balance—trying to figure out where all these story lines are going. Eventually they converge in an ending that does not surprise as much as it unfolds—quietly promising and fully satisfying.

      This is a book that you will keep remembering long after you put it down. The characters demand rethinking—some are mere outlines necessary for plot development; others are deeply drawn and achingly real. Virtually all are lost souls. I found that I really cared about these people, even the ones sketchily drawn. Long after I finished, I found my imagination on fire. Perhaps this is what the author intended—that the reader participate in the story telling by creating their own back-stories and futher plot resolutions. I like that—an author demanding the participation of the reader. I will definitely look for more work by this author in the future.
    • 4/5
      I liked the premise of this book and the way it was written. However I was a little disappointed with the ending. For me, it was a little hard to get invested in the characters at first but once I did I didnt want to put the book down. Then it just sort of ended, right when things were about to get even more interesting.
    • 4/5
      I just wanted to keep reading. That is the sign of a good book when you don't know how many hours have passed because it is so intriguing. I like how the author put the story together, and made you solve the mystery instead of just telling us what happens to the kidnapped sister.
    • 4/5
      I started this book yesterday and finished it a day later. This book was an extremely quick read, but I enjoyed it. It was the first book in a long while that I actually was looking forward to reading. The main character, Caroline is one of three sisters. When they were younger, the youngest, Ellie, vanishes one day without a trace. Her father since has passed on, her mother refuses to move into the future, and her sister Madeline is ready to declare their loss sister dead. But Caroline refuses to let go of the hope that her sister is alive. And when her mother spots a picture in a magazine that looks just like the missing Ellie, Caroline's heart leaps and she decides to take a chance to find out once and for all if her sister is truly gone. I really thought this was a great story, a quick one but a great one.
    • 4/5
      In her second novel, Amanda Eyre Ward more than makes good on the promise of literary talent on display in 2003's Sleep Toward Heaven. It's rare that I'd put an author on a year-end "Best of" list two years in a row, but here's Ward making a repeat appearance with an engaging story populated by vibrant characters. Sticking with the theme of women on the verge of nervous revelations. In Sleep Toward Heaven, we read of a death row inmate, a widow of one of her victims and a prison doctor whose lives all converge as the hour of execution nears. Here, in How to Be Lost, we meet Caroline Winters on a quest to find her five-year-old sister who disappeared 15 years ago. Her search takes her from New Orleans to upstate New York to Montana as she gradually realizes that what she finds in the dingy barrooms of Missoula may not be what she bargained for. Ward subtly, skillfully shows us that even the most broken, tumultuous family can be healed over time.
    • 4/5
      A quick read and a very 'snapshot' look at a number of difficult subjects. There is both a lot of depth and a great deal unsaid about the same topics. A deft writer like Ward can carry this off. Although, I definitely was left thinking about what REALLY happened after the story ended.