The Lost

Raised on a diet of adventure books and dreams formed via glossy brochures, under the questionable influence of his father. A nameless man moulded by the desires to pursue a dreamed life of exploration, faces endless physical and emotional challenges amidst the reality of life. Conflicted by failure and shame, his story becomes a third person poetic anti-travelogue filled with vignettes that give him a rationale and reason for his life. A wayward brother hovers on the periphery and a neglectful mother is barely noticed. Told in 4 parts, each one beginning with a letter written to his father, as the man, gradually losing hope, discovers the life he continually strived for doesn’t go the way he thought or hoped, erupting into a series of unfulfilling but emotionally crippling events. As the realisation dawns on him that none if it was for himself, all of it was to please a father who didn’t seem to care, with his life passing by with no real effect or meaning he finally accepts the need to be the author of his own story. This is a story told in terse prose, staccato chapters, and punctuated with music references, letters home, and of all things, the game of cribbage, The Lost, at its length and gravitas, is a potent hit of contemporary fiction that reads like a travelogue for the existentially adventurous.