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    Once Was Lost
    Once Was Lost
    Once Was Lost
    Audiobook6 hours

    Once Was Lost

    Written by Sara Zarr

    Narrated by Sara Zarr

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy into the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reasons to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI, and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town goes missing, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam's personal one, and the already worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.
               
    In her third novel, acclaimed author Sara Zarr examines the coexistence of affliction and hope, and what happens when everything you thought you believed—about God, your family, and yourself—is transformed
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780307582324
    Once Was Lost
    Author

    Sara Zarr

    Sara Zarr is the author of six acclaimed novels for young adults, including Story of a Girl, The Lucy Variations, and Gem & Dixie. She's a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner. Her novels have been variously named to annual best books lists of the American Library Association, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, the Guardian, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library and have been translated into many languages. She splits her time between Utah and California. You can visit her online at www.sarazarr.com.

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    Reviews for Once Was Lost

    4/5

    159 ratings20 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I do like Ms. Zarr's stories. This one had some religious undertones without being preachy.
    • 3/5
      This was okay - thought provoking and contemplative, but I didn't really engage with the main character. The mystery of the missing girl ended too quickly without enough explanation. Not sure if this book will appeal to many teenagers.
    • 4/5
      Samara's mother is in rehab following a DUI, and her pastor father is struggling to maintain a veneer of confidence and normalcy in front of his parishioners. The family finances are strained to the limits, and Sam is facing a school year at the local public school, instead of the private school she has attended until now. She's also dealing with a crisis of faith, as she struggles to come to her own terms with God after realizing that her parents are not infallible. There's a lot on her plate, but when Jody, a 13-year-old girl from the church's youth group, disappears one Sunday afternoon from the quiet small-town shopping district, Sam's life grows exponentially more complicated. Suddenly, her father is stepping into the media spotlight as he comforts the shocked and grieving family and helps coordinate the search efforts -- all the while, spending a suspiciously large amount of time with the church's pretty, young, female youth pastor. Sam finds herself spending time with Jody's older brother, a boy she's always harbored a small crush on -- but can she trust him? After all, in cases of an abduction like this, it's often a close friend or family member who turns out to be the perpetrator...

      I liked this book well enough, but it has a few quirks that bothered me. For one thing, the book is split up by days, but the first day is actually the day before the abduction, and it's not a particularly significant day in Sam's life, either. The difference between the numbering of the days/chapters and the number of days Jody had been missing kept pulling me out of the story. Also, I was listening to the audiobook (read by the author), and I had trouble telling, sometimes, whether Sam said certain things, or just thought them. In the book, I'm sure formatting would make this clear, but it's an aspect of Zarr's writing that does not transfer well to the audio format. So, if you are interested in this story, I'd recommend picking up the book, not the audio.
    • 4/5
      I loved seeing the interplay between a girl from a religious family who doesn't know if she believes and her searching for it in herself, her friends, and her world among tragedies in the community and in her own home. There were definitely YA feels and conventions throughout the text, but it was very well done and I enjoyed it greatly. While most of it didn't feel new or unique, it was enjoyable and well written.
    • 5/5
      Zarr is an outstanding author, one of the best writing for young adults today. This is her third novel. When thirteen-year-old Jody Shaw is kidnapped in broad daylight, her abduction shocks the once secure town of Pineview and her church community. The disappearance provides a backdrop to Samara Taylor's personal drama—her mother's alcoholism, prompting a four-week stint in rehab, and her father's refusal to focus on anything other than his role as pastor to a congregation in need. Sam's wrestles with her faith in God's existence and questions her place in the world in this gripping, beautifully written story.
    • 4/5
      This was an ok book. Sam a girl dealing with her mothers DUI and sent off to rehab and being left alone with her pastor father who is never home and doesnt have time for her. When a girl in her community get kidnapped. Sam is left to deal with cooping and the depression she faces of not having her mother and wondering what ever happended to that girl.

      This book deals with questions of faith, forgivness, family and growing up.

      The book was a little slow but it kept my attention. I liked how she threw in affair towards the end to give the book some spice.
    • 4/5
      When personal tragedy collides with a local tragedy, Sam has to come to terms with her mother's recent DUI as well as the abduction of a girl she knows from youth group. The community rallies around trying to find Jody alive, but hope is fading as a week passes with no break through. With everyone focused on the abduction, Sam is left to deal with her own sense of loss and the one person she turns to for comfort is absent from her life. Doubts about faith, family, and forgiveness creates an internal turmoil within Sam that causes her to question everything she has ever known.

      The back and forth nature of the book between Sam's private hell and the public anguish over the missing girl makes for an interesting juxtaposition of narratives. One storyline compliments the other and without one, I think the overall story would have been rather one toned and bland. Both crises are life altering and horrific for any teen and Zarr captures that struggle completely with Sam's voice. This was definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in seeing a teenager process some very adult challenges.
    • 5/5
      When you're a pastor's kid, it's expected faith will come easily and your family will be better than others. But Sam's life is far from perfect. Her mother is in rehab after being arrested for a DUI and her pastor father seems to care more about his congregation then working out the issues at home. When a local girl disappears, Sam's personal crisis of faith boils over as she questions where God is in her life and why everything seems to be falling apart.

      Sara Zarr is one of my favourite YA authors as she repeatedly takes on serious issues without trying to tie them up with a neat bow. Life is messy in her books, and Once Was Lost is no exception. Sam has a lot of the same issues a fifteen year old girl has, with the added level of the pressures of being in the pastor's family and the increased level of observation that adds. Sam is sympathetic and her issues of doubt and faith are dealt with realistically while at the same time never feeling like the novel is trying to proselytize the reader. Instead, Sam's faith (or lack thereof) is just another element of her character. The overarching issue of the disappearance of the local teen girl, Jody, serves as a catalyst for a lot of the action in the novel and adds another element to the narrative and a hint of suspense to the plot. Another beautiful exploration of an issue that stretches beyond the YA audience.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book. It looked at the fallibility of Christian leaders in a symapathetic way. Also the renewing and developement of a childhood faith into something more. Y9+
    • 4/5
      This was a strong, quiet, understated book with a lovely main character--both contemplative and a bit rash, like myself as a teen. There's a very deep sense of the complexity of real conflict and the uncertainty of resolutions. And it made me want to hang on tightly to my children.
    • 4/5
      Once Was Lost is a book about faith. About losing it and finding it.

      Yes, I know how it sounds. Nothing can stop me from reading a book quicker than knowledge that I am about to delve into some "Christian fiction." I am not a religious person and dislike being preached at.

      But in this novel Samara's waning faith in God is similar to a non-religious person's belief in the good in the world. Sam feels hopeless. Everything seems to fall apart - her house, her family (Sam's pastor father is distant and neglectful, her mother is in a rehab and unapproachable), her friendships. The final straw is the disappearance of a 13-year old neighbor which forces Sam to lose faith in all the people around her. Is there anything solid in this world? Anything at all good? Anything worth holding on to? Anyone she could trust? Sam is lost and doesn't think that there is a point in it all, that there is anything worth believing in.

      What I liked the best about Once Was Lost is its subtlety. Writing books about depression, despair and loss of direction in life is a tricky thing. Many authors fall into writing melodrama. Zarr managed to write a nuanced, deep and touching story about depression without resorting to over-angsting and a story about faith without being preachy.
    • 5/5
      With her mother in alcohal rehab and her popular pastor dad preoccupied with their small town congregation, fifteen-year-old Samara feels emotionally abandoned. When a member of her youth group disappears and Sam's boyfriend is a suspect, the local tragedy overlaps with her personal one, and the already worn thread of faith in God holding her together begins to unravel.
    • 5/5
      This book tells a lot about a young girl who has hit misfortune. An awfully sad book, got me crying, but the plot of the story will be able to get anyone interested at first sight.
    • 3/5
      Sam's dad is an idolised pastor, her mother is secretly in rehab. But it's the disappearance of a girl from youth group that tops Sam over the edge, questioning her family and her faith.
      This is a quiet book but it never becomes predictable or clichéd. Sam is a likeable character, and easy to sympathise with, even when she's being ratty. I'd give this to fans of family crisis stories, rather than of kidnapping mysteries, the mystery is background to the real story of Sam's emotional journey.
    • 3/5
      Samara Taylor's family is anything but the perfect family people expect with her preacher father. Instead, her mother's been admitted into a treatment center for alcoholism, her father may be having an affair with her youth group leader, and her friendships are suffering. When a fellow teen goes missing, Sam starts to question everything she's known: her faith, her relationships, her outlook on life.
    • 5/5
      Kidnapping. Alcoholism. Loss of faith. Budding romance. Distant parents. Distant friends. Depression. All in a novel that's about as thick as my pinky finger. Sounds sort of awful, doesn't it? Luckily, this novel was written by Sara Zarr, who is more than capable of packing a lot into a slim volume - both in terms of content and emotional impact.In Once Was Lost, Zarr parallels the many small tragedies in one person's life with a larger tragedy in the community. Sam is hurting, and the religion that has been a comfort to her for so long has turned confusing and constricting. But where can Sam take her questions? Not to her dad, the local pastor, who seems to have time for everyone's crises except Sam's. Not to her youth group friends, who can't help seeing Sam as the pastor's kid and don't include her in social activities that Pastor Charlie might frown on. And certainly not to her mother, who hasn't called Sam once since being forced into rehab after a drunk driving accident.While Sam is dealing with her own difficult issues, a young member of the congregation goes missing. Jody Shaw's disappearance brings the church and town communities together in many ways, and Sam throws herself into the search efforts. While the mystery of what happened to Jody may seem like it would be the center of the book, in reality it acts more as a catalyst for Sam's personal issues. By pushing her dad even further into his work and bringing a sense of immediacy to Sam's questions about her faith, this tragedy becomes a major part of Sam's internal struggle. Perhaps the saddest and most fully realized part of Zarr's novel is Sam's relationship with her father. Every time Pastor Charlie dashes off to help a member of his congregation, leaving his struggling daughter to fend for herself in questions of faith and questions of what to have for dinner, my heart broke a little bit. Sam's pain is so obviously visible, but the person who has always been closest to her cannot see it - or chooses not to. It is no surprise to learn that Zarr grew up in a pastor's family - the difficulties Sam faces in the community and in relating to her dad are handled exquisitely in the novel. This seems to be a story that hits close to home for Zarr, and in writing it she has given us her best book so far.Sara Zarr on the web.Review copy provided by publisher at BEA.
    • 5/5
      This is only the second christian fiction book that I have read. This was amazing read for me at the juncture in my life. I have found what I have been missing and growing in my own spirituality, so this book was very enjoyable and inspiring for me at this time. I loved Sammy's character; she effectively portrays the wandering christian that is in need of guidance. She is the child that has been had the adult guidance, but now needs to re-evaluate and decide on the future of her own spirituality. In Once was Lost Sara Zarr created a world that is easy to relate and believeable. The sins and struggles that were previewed in this book kept it honest and humbling. Her ability to combined a entertaining young adult read with a lesson shows true talent. I look forward to see what else this author has to offer.
    • 4/5
      My Thoughts:
      The premise of Once Was Lost was actually quite heartbreaking. I'm not used to reading books dealing with depression because it hits close to home, but when I had the opportunity to read this ARC, I couldn't turn it down. A few months back I read Zarr's Sweethearts and absolutely loved it, so I knew I would enjoy anything Sara wrote. I've been trying to read books that don't have cliche plots or characters, and let me tell you, Lost did not disappoint. The characters were relatable because everybody, at some point in their life, has felt lost.
      Sam has no idea what's going on; with herself, with her family, or with her town. Everything gets turned upside down when the kidnapping occurs, and Sam feels useless. There's a struggle inside her that one can't help to relate to. What problem really demands her attention? Does she need to help find the girl, or is finding herself the first step in that direction?
    • 3/5
      Zarr's third novel is about a girl named Sam on the verge of a religious and personal crisis. Her mom has gone into rehab for alcohol addiction while Sam and her preacher father try to cope. When one of the local girls goes missing, Sam's Christian faith is tested.

      I loved Zarr's first two novels, but walked away with an empty feeling after reading this one. I couldn't really connect to any of the characters, especially Sam. I felt the characters weren't nearly as complicated or as interesting compared to "Story of a Girl" or "Sweethearts."

      And the ending... it really bothered me. I honestly rolled my eyes.
    • 4/5
      15-year-old Samara’s father is one of the town’s pastors, and her mother is a closet alcoholic who’s recently been admitted into rehab. However, Sam’s father won’t act like something’s wrong: he just continues to be the poster pastor for his church, and Sam is left with an ugly feeling of misunderstanding and loneliness.

      Then, a young girl from their church goes missing, and the whole town is in an uproar. Surely the girl’s family has it much worse than Sam’s personal misery, but when Sam tries to be the good daughter in this difficult time, she finds that it’s difficult for her to have faith the way she used to.

      Sara Zarr’s third novel is a triumph, a novel whose gentle pacing and complicated protagonist stole my heart. ONCE WAS LOST is the definition of YA realistic fiction: the characters are flawed, the ending’s not exactly perfect, and the course of the novel has its ups and downs—but together, they create a tale that resonates with you.

      Sara Zarr is not afraid to leave you with more questions than you have answers. The protagonist, Sam, goes through problems that seem both unique and yet completely relatable at the same time. The story is about the impact of a kidnapping on a church, but ONCE WAS LOST is more about Sam’s adolescent turmoil of not fitting in and feeling misunderstood and alone than it is about religion. Sam questions her faith, but in the end it’s about her faith in herself and her ability to come out alright in the end—a journey that everyone takes.

      Subtly complex supporting characters and stellar writing combine to make ONCE WAS LOST a success. Read it for a thought-provoking time—this one’s going to snatch up the awards.