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Table of Contents
About The Book
On a cold January morning Susan leaves her husband alone for a few minutes and returns to find him gone. Suffering from dementia, no longer able to dress or feed or wash himself, he has wandered alone into a frigid landscape with no sense of home or direction. Lost…
Over the course of one weekend, the massive search for her husband brings Susan together with Jeff, a search and rescue expert and social worker preoccupied with his young wife’s betrayal. In Jeff’s care is Corey, a mute eleven-year-old boy who has been abandoned by his family after accidentally setting a tragic fire. As the temperature drops and the search and rescue effort threatens to become one of search and recovery, they each confront haunting memories and difficult choices that will have an unexpected impact on their collective future...
From the intersection of these three lives emerges an arresting portrait of the shifting terrain of marriage and the devastating effects of physical and psychological damage. Written in spare, beautiful prose, Lost explores the lengths we will go to take care of someone, and the ways in which responsibility, love, and sorrow can bind people together.
Over the course of one weekend, the massive search for her husband brings Susan together with Jeff, a search and rescue expert and social worker preoccupied with his young wife’s betrayal. In Jeff’s care is Corey, a mute eleven-year-old boy who has been abandoned by his family after accidentally setting a tragic fire. As the temperature drops and the search and rescue effort threatens to become one of search and recovery, they each confront haunting memories and difficult choices that will have an unexpected impact on their collective future...
From the intersection of these three lives emerges an arresting portrait of the shifting terrain of marriage and the devastating effects of physical and psychological damage. Written in spare, beautiful prose, Lost explores the lengths we will go to take care of someone, and the ways in which responsibility, love, and sorrow can bind people together.
Reading Group Guide
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This reading group guide for Lost by Alice Lichtenstein includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Summary
The search for a missing man suffering from Alzheimer’s brings together three strangers in a small town: Susan, the man’s wife and sole caretaker; Jeff, a search and rescue expert; and Corey, a young boy abandoned by his family for accidentally setting a deadly fire. This intensely emotional story explores how far the bonds of blood, friendship and love can be stretched. With eloquent, spare prose, Alice Lichtenstein paints a compelling portrait of the ways people become lost and found again.
Questions for Discussion
1. In the opening scene, Corey discovers Christopher’s body in the woods. As readers we learn that a man has been found – dead – even before we know how or why he became lost. Why do you think the author decided to begin the novel this way? How did it affect the way you read the rest of the story?
2. How did you react to the scene at the end of the first chapter? Was Susan a willing or unwilling participant? Do you agree with the way she describes what has happened: that “she has fulfilled Christopher’s deepest wish—that no being has ever wanted anything more”?
3. How would you characterize Jeff and Leanne’s relationship? The author writes: “she’d always said he’d rescued her. He was her shining knight. No. She’d never said that. He’d wished she had. A fantasy he could not rid himself of no matter how hard he tried”. Why does Jeff want see himself as Leanne’s savior? Does she want or need to be saved?
4. Lost provides two portraits of marriage: Christopher and Susan’s and Jeff and Leanne’s. Compare the two relationships and the accounts of how each couple met. What draws them together? How do their relationships change? What critical choices affect the course of each marriage, and how do they play out over time? Which scenes best illustrate the strengths of each marriage?
5. When the fact of Leanne’s miscarriage is revealed, did it affect your understanding of her character and her relationship with Jeff? Did Jeff’s actions – deciding to go out on a call after she asked him to stay – change your opinion of him?
6. Susan grapples with guilt and regret over actions past and present. What are they? In what ways does her assumption of guilt belie her scientific persona, her insistence on facts? How does she seek atonement?
7. Throughout the novel, the author shifts points of view between Susan, Jeff and Corey. How did this affect the pacing of the book? How did the different points of view change the way you learn about the characters and about the events of the search and rescue? How might the book have been different if it was narrated solely by Susan or Jeff?
8. Discuss the theme of caretaking and who takes care of whom in Lost. In which instances is caretaking fulfilling and in which a burden? Is it sometimes--or always-- both? When does the burden become too great? How do the caretaking relationships shift throughout the novel?
9. Why does Corey ultimately set fire to Christopher’s body? What does fire mean to him? Does it always mean the same thing?
10. When Jeff asks Susan if she loved Christopher, she responds “we got lost together once in a rain forest. On an island. We were totally and completely lost, but we survived.” How do you interpret her answer? How does it relate to her marriage? To Christopher being lost in the snow?
11. Susan is a woman who makes controversial choices. In her career, in leaving Princeton to care for Christopher alone, in adopting Corey. Do you think she chooses wisely? Did you identify with her? Why or why not?
12. Consider the last passage of the book describing Corey’s memory of riding a roller coaster with his brother and seeing his mother waving at him proudly. Why do you think the author chose to end the story with this striking memory?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. How many members of your group know someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s? If they are comfortable with it, have those members share some of their experiences. Do you see any similarities to the experiences portrayed in Lost?
2. During your meeting, have each member recount a memory of being “lost,” either literally or figuratively, and the effects of that experience.
3. The novel makes several references to the Greek tragedies Antigone and Oedipus, including the book’s epigraph. Look up summaries of these plays or read them and discuss the thematic significance of these references. Why do you think the author chose to incorporate them? How do they shape your understanding of Susan, with whom they are often associated?
Summary
The search for a missing man suffering from Alzheimer’s brings together three strangers in a small town: Susan, the man’s wife and sole caretaker; Jeff, a search and rescue expert; and Corey, a young boy abandoned by his family for accidentally setting a deadly fire. This intensely emotional story explores how far the bonds of blood, friendship and love can be stretched. With eloquent, spare prose, Alice Lichtenstein paints a compelling portrait of the ways people become lost and found again.
Questions for Discussion
1. In the opening scene, Corey discovers Christopher’s body in the woods. As readers we learn that a man has been found – dead – even before we know how or why he became lost. Why do you think the author decided to begin the novel this way? How did it affect the way you read the rest of the story?
2. How did you react to the scene at the end of the first chapter? Was Susan a willing or unwilling participant? Do you agree with the way she describes what has happened: that “she has fulfilled Christopher’s deepest wish—that no being has ever wanted anything more”?
3. How would you characterize Jeff and Leanne’s relationship? The author writes: “she’d always said he’d rescued her. He was her shining knight. No. She’d never said that. He’d wished she had. A fantasy he could not rid himself of no matter how hard he tried”. Why does Jeff want see himself as Leanne’s savior? Does she want or need to be saved?
4. Lost provides two portraits of marriage: Christopher and Susan’s and Jeff and Leanne’s. Compare the two relationships and the accounts of how each couple met. What draws them together? How do their relationships change? What critical choices affect the course of each marriage, and how do they play out over time? Which scenes best illustrate the strengths of each marriage?
5. When the fact of Leanne’s miscarriage is revealed, did it affect your understanding of her character and her relationship with Jeff? Did Jeff’s actions – deciding to go out on a call after she asked him to stay – change your opinion of him?
6. Susan grapples with guilt and regret over actions past and present. What are they? In what ways does her assumption of guilt belie her scientific persona, her insistence on facts? How does she seek atonement?
7. Throughout the novel, the author shifts points of view between Susan, Jeff and Corey. How did this affect the pacing of the book? How did the different points of view change the way you learn about the characters and about the events of the search and rescue? How might the book have been different if it was narrated solely by Susan or Jeff?
8. Discuss the theme of caretaking and who takes care of whom in Lost. In which instances is caretaking fulfilling and in which a burden? Is it sometimes--or always-- both? When does the burden become too great? How do the caretaking relationships shift throughout the novel?
9. Why does Corey ultimately set fire to Christopher’s body? What does fire mean to him? Does it always mean the same thing?
10. When Jeff asks Susan if she loved Christopher, she responds “we got lost together once in a rain forest. On an island. We were totally and completely lost, but we survived.” How do you interpret her answer? How does it relate to her marriage? To Christopher being lost in the snow?
11. Susan is a woman who makes controversial choices. In her career, in leaving Princeton to care for Christopher alone, in adopting Corey. Do you think she chooses wisely? Did you identify with her? Why or why not?
12. Consider the last passage of the book describing Corey’s memory of riding a roller coaster with his brother and seeing his mother waving at him proudly. Why do you think the author chose to end the story with this striking memory?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. How many members of your group know someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s? If they are comfortable with it, have those members share some of their experiences. Do you see any similarities to the experiences portrayed in Lost?
2. During your meeting, have each member recount a memory of being “lost,” either literally or figuratively, and the effects of that experience.
3. The novel makes several references to the Greek tragedies Antigone and Oedipus, including the book’s epigraph. Look up summaries of these plays or read them and discuss the thematic significance of these references. Why do you think the author chose to incorporate them? How do they shape your understanding of Susan, with whom they are often associated?
About The Author
Photograph by Sonya Farrell
Alice Lichtenstein graduated from Brown University and was named the Boston University Fellow in Creative Writing, where she earned an M.A. She has received a New York Foundation of the Arts Grant in Fiction and has twice been a Fellow at the prestigious MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. She is the author of The Genius of the World. Alice has taught at Boston University, Wheaton College, Lesley College, and the Harvard University Summer School. She now teaches at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York.
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (March 9, 2010)
- Length: 256 pages
- ISBN13: 9781439171677
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Lost eBook 9781439171677
- Author Photo (jpg): Alice Lichtenstein Photograph by Sonya Farrell(1.9 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
