The Loss of All Lost Things

A collection of short stories, The Loss of All Lost Things is both gripping and compelling. While none of the fifteen stories ran longer than about 20 pages, each felt as complete and was as fleshed out as an individual novel should hope to be. Author Amina Gautier has certainly found the secret to writing short fiction, as even when the subject was dark and haunting, it was also incredibly beautiful.
As the reader mourns the losses- friendships, loves, childhoods, even children, there’s still something oddly comforting about each one. Written from a variety of voices and about a variety of different topics, the common theme, loss, is something everyone can identify with in some way. Whether it’s a loss we’ve experienced told back to us eloquently from a point of view we wish we could articulate, a loss we fear spelled out in a haunting worst case scenario, or a loss we’ve caused someone else to feel given back to us from another perspective, each story resonates differently yet profoundly with the reader.
It was entirely too tempting to read The Loss of All Lost Things in one sitting, and yet I found myself putting it down simply to prolong the experience of reading it for the first time. This is, to me, the mark of a truly great book, and I will certainly be passing this one along to friends and family.