February | 2019 | Librarian Wannabe

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE

I received The Lost Night by Andrea Bartz as an advanced copy a couple months ago. I am notorious for signing up for ARC giveaways, forgetting what I signed up for, and then being totally shocked when a book arrives. “Hmm, I don’t remember signing up for this…”

The Lost Night was one of those books. I am sure I read the back cover when it arrived to refresh my mind, and it definitely is a book I would have signed up for (I mean, obviously, since I did.) For whatever reason, it has been sitting in my TBR pile and getting pushed back each time because the cover made me think it was some sort of dystopian-type book of which I somehow forgot I wasn’t a fan.

Cue up mid-February with The Lost Night having a debut date of March 5. Time to at least attempt to read this thing. And I am glad I did. This is definitely not a dystopian novel, but rather a thriller-type that I typically enjoy (as the back cover specifies through the synopsis. Facepalm.) So, that being said, here we go with the review…

Five friends in New York City enjoy going to parties and concerts, getting drunk, and doing other stupid things that all twenty-three year olds enjoy. Everything is fun and games and occasional work, until one night, one of the friends commits suicide while the others are drunk at a rooftop concert. Edie is found dead in her apartment that she shares with Sarah, Alex, and Kevin, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Lindsay, the only friend who did not share the apartment, and the narrator of the story, started distancing herself almost immediately after Edie is found dead. Lindsay tells her story of her and Edie’s friendship, and how it was seemingly on the rocks the night of Edie’s death, and debates having a friend break-up with Edie but never gets the chance to confront her before her death.

Fast forward to ten years later, Lindsay finds out that Sarah has moved back to New York City and they meet up for lunch one afternoon. The topic of Edie arises and Sarah makes the comment that she never believed Edie’s death was a suicide. Sarah has suspected she was murdered for ten years, but didn’t have any evidence to prove it. She also recalled the night of Edie’s death very differently than Lindsay does. Sarah’s claims make Lindsay rethink everything she knows, or think she knows, about that night, and soon delves into old photos and emails trying to uncover what really happened.

I thought I had this mystery pinned down to whether it was suicide or murder, and who was involved, if anyone. Welp. I was wrong. Again. (It really is a good thing I’m not a detective; a lot of innocent people would be in jail for things they didn’t do.) I was surprised by the outcome of this books, but then again, I wasn’t. The plot twist is one that I should have seen coming since I read so many thrillers, and yet, I was surprised.

The downfall to this book, however, was that it felt a bit repetitive through most of the story. Lindsay calls someone, tells them what she is thinking regarding Edie and the night she died, what did they know that could possibly help her, hack some emails and clean up videos with the help of her friends Tessa and Damien, dead end, start over. I do think that this would be similar to a real-life process of a friend or family member trying to solve a loved one’s death that was ruled suicide but they felt was murder. I think the whole process would be repetitive, going over everything again and again until something new emerged. To an extent, I appreciate the author portraying Lindsay’s search into her friend’s death. But, I also felt a little bored at points and felt myself trying to read faster or skim a few pages until something else was going on and the book picked up speed again. That would be my only “complaint” in this story, and I feel kind of silly even saying that since it was how the story unfolded.

Overall, I gave this book 4 stars. It was not quite as intense as other thrillers I like to read, it felt like it was lacking/boring a bit in the middle, there really wasn’t a “big reveal” in the plot. The story and the writing was pretty good, and I enjoyed the story overall. I will be looking forward to other books by this author in the future.

-Brooke

Coming at you from my office/guest bedroom, blog post attempt 2.

Here we go again. Guys, I’ve already written this post once and there is nothing worse than having to repeat yourself.

I’m reading “Where Am I Wearing” by Kelsey Timmerman – a book club pick from our non-blogger member, Amber. I’m so grateful to this book. I haven’t finished it yet, but it has reminded me how important and captivating nonfiction is. I think I have this idea in my head that nonfiction is the dry, simple sentences of homework assignments past. The “read this paragraph and summarize the life cycle of a flower” type writing, and it isn’t.

Nonfiction tells the stories of real people and real things, it highlights our heroes and infamous criminals, it spotlights humanity and sheds light on injustices. (Hey guys, turns out I’m better at getting my words together the second time around).

The garment industry – what do you know about it? Probably not much, other than a vague thought that surely YOUR clothes aren’t made through child labor in sweatshops. Well this book covers just that. Timmerman travels to Honduras, Cambodia, China, and Bangladesh to find out just who is making his favorite articles of clothing. Producer and consumer finally meet and it’s not quite an easy pill to swallow.

Here we’re introduced to Arifa, Nari, Ai, Zhu Chan & Dewan, Amilcar, and many others who make up the garment industry. The lowest rung of the ladder. The people who are clearly doing the most work and getting paid far less than they deserve. A book that talks about the positive and negative aspects of globalization. How does a boycott of Bangladeshi clothing impact the people of Bangladesh?

When you’re reading this, you’re learning, you’re becoming more aware, certainly less self-involved. And it’s made me think of the ways I know I can help. One of those is through micro-loans. The organization I’m familiar with is Kiva, check out their website and learn even more about how your small investment can make a big change for people all over the world. Do you know of any other microloan companies you trust and use? Share with us! Surely I can forgo $25 out of my monthly budget to help out someone else, it’s a loan, not even a donation, so I’ll be getting that back.

Do us both a favor and see if a micro-loan is something you can do once a year, twice a year, heck, even once a month!

And next, go check out this book and be captivated by Timmerman and his subjects’ story.