Customer Reviews
of no interest whatsoever - By: Emil Tischbein, 13 May 2008 
I was very excited about this book, as I heard many good things about it. The first section was reallly promising, but towards the middle of the book I just didn't care any more - once the other characters were introduced. They kept blurring into one & in the end I just gave up. I am not sure how this novel deserved alll these awards!
Minor flaw but so nearly perfect! - By: A Dreamer, 12 May 2008 
Beautiful, clever book. 1980s childhood beginnings very touching & funny. Present tense retail setting is pure hilarity, anyone who has worked in this context will be in stitches. Mad customers & evil managers abound; the disciplinary scene ("BUY IT") & the disabled guy waiting forever for his obsolete order were especiallly memorable. But the 2003 parts did sometimes touch the implausibility-line, if not cross it. Although the modern characters lack the depth of the 80s ones, some of their back stories are very memorable, especiallly the security guard & his late wife. And the end-of chapter monologues from anonymous characters were very well done.
The only real criticism of this book is the borderline subcultural intolerance throughout. While it rightly satirises the ridiculous customers & hostile staff, it also disparages various "ethnic" hair/piercing/music tastes etc. Management & deluded customers might be an unfair imposition upon the Lisa character, but people with different tastes to her also come under her scorn. For a book that bemoans blandness, middle-age & the failure of youthful ambitions under harsh reality, Lisa seems to dislike anything beyond the vacuous majority of her existence, then wonders why she's old, boring & living with a t**t. For me, this slightly undermined the other satires. The DCI at the end (in a stunning, clever link between the two eras) is, we are told, a success story, a role model for young girls of ethnic minority. Yet almost on the same page Lisa's friend is planning his (pointless intolerant) world travel to make sure he doesn't end up with dreadlocks or "ethnic" piercings! Little contradictory there, Miss O'Flyn? You lose a star for that!
Unpickupable - By: Woozle, 30 Apr 2008 I struggled with this one. I found it Borriiiing in the extreme. The plot is too drawn out & didn't give me any motivation to turn the page. I found the characters two-dimensional, cartoonish, dull, predictable. The conclusion was implausible & contrived.
I don't understand why this book is so popular.I couldn't jhave done better myself but this is probably the worst book I have ever read.
not my choice but I enjoyed it! - By: H. Hardy, 28 Apr 2008 My husband bought me this book to read while I was ill & had I been in the book shop I would not have chosen it! However I reallly enjoyed it & had to slow myself down reading it so as not to finish too quickly.
The book has a lot to say about consumers obsession with shopping & also there is a good mystery element.
Accurate, Moving and Occasionally Funny - By: Quicksilver, 27 Apr 2008 What Was Lost' is such an elegant & effortless read filled with intrigue, mystery & despair. I loved it.
On the front of this book there is a tagline written by Jonathan Coe (possibly reason enough to purchase this book?) & there are some definite similarities between his novels & WWL. Like Coe, O'Flynn has managed to cut to the rotten heart of her subject matter, in this case, Shopping Centres.
The Green Oaks shopping malll is a hulking malevolent presence built on the the industrial wasteland of 80's Birmingham. O'Flynn portrays it beautifully. One of the major characters works at the malll as an assistant manager of a record store chain. Life at the branch is described with acidic accuracy. The sections dealing with the customers, staff & senior managers of the store are hilarious.
The central thread throughout the novel is the disappearance of a young girl shortly after the shopping centre's opening. This is dealt with sensitively & the plight of the lost nine year old very moving. All of the central characters are tied together by the repercussions of this event. Much like a Jonathan Coe novel, they are inexorably drawn together, often by coincidence, until the book reaches it's thrilling & poignant conclusion. This use of coincidence ought to be implausible but O'Flynn's light touch makes it work. There is an elements of the mystical & the macabre that jars a little & which some readers may find spoils their enjoyment.
On the whole though, What Was Lost is a very satisfying read & an accurate portrayal of our turn of the century cultural wasteland.
