The Keeper of Lost Things

The Keeper of Lost Things

  - Ruth Hogan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There is an inherent sense of mystery in finding an unusual object lying in an unexpected place – it prompts one’s mind to wonder who did it belong to, how did it come to be lost where it was, did its loss cause much pain to the owner? Imagine restoring a lost object to its distressed owner and their joy at finding it again, and it feels almost magical. A perpetual sucker for nostalgia that I am, this tale of loss and redemption held a great appeal for me.

I loved the basic concept of this book – where Anthony Peardew casts himself into the role of The Keeper of Lost Things, after losing his most cherished possession. He finds a purpose in life in collecting the objects lost or forgotten or abandoned, hoping to reunite them with their owner, and in the meanwhile, creating poignant stories around them. Near the end of his life, he hands over his house as well as his purpose to his housekeeper-assistant Laura.

In a parallel storyline, a publisher Bomber and his assistant Eunice navigate the life as best of friends. This story spans a long duration, and is related in snippets of significant events, skipping years where presumably nothing of note happened. I loved this story for its nuances, despite having only a marginal link to the main story (though as readers we realize that it will eventually converge towards the central theme).

I found it quite engaging the way the book is structured – alternating between the two story lines, with Anothony’s past revealed in memories, Eunice’s story taking relevant leaps in the time, and the entire narrative interspersed with the intriguing stories about the lost items. It was perhaps these stories that I found the most compelling part of the book. Initially I thought that the stories were the ones imagined by Anthony, though later I concluded, from the stories where the items were restored to the owners, that these were the actual ones.

However, it did not turn out to be a great read that I expected it to be, considering that it was nominated for Goodreads choice award for fiction. I have two major issues with it, that I think prevented it from being the tender, uplifting tale it could have been.

First is the cheesy and unnecessary romance between Laura and Freddy – it really adds nothing to the story except emphasizing the damsel-in-distress syndrome. Imagine the positivity it would have exuded if Laura and Sunshine were each-other’s support system, and started to look forward to their lives without the supporting cast of a male pillar-of-strength.

The another is the supernatural angle, that felt as if the author tried too hard to work up a magical realism thread. I do not mean special ability of Sunshine to feel the emotions from the lost items, which in fact was a nice touch to add. But the theatrics of Theresa’s ghost can be taken out without diminishing the story in any way; rather, it would emphasize the impact of the rest of the things.