Of Things Gone Astray

by Janina Matthewson

Here is a quirky and fantastical novel about things lost and things found from a startling new voice in fiction.

On a seemingly normal morning in London, a group of people all lose something dear to them, something dear but peculiar: the front of their house, their piano keys, their sense of direction, their place of work.

Meanwhile, Jake, a young boy whose father brings him to London following his mother’s sudden death, finds himself strangely attracted to other people’s lost things. But little does he realize that his most valuable possession, his relationship with his father, is slipping away from him.

Of Things Gone Astray is a magical fable about modern life and values and finding the things that really matter.

• ISBN13: 9780007562473
• Publish Date: 28 August 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 August 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: The Friday Project Limited
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[lovelybookshelf]

I love an offbeat read full of magical realism, and this book is exactly that. It reads along at a fast clip, with the focus alternating among its characters. For a good portion of the book I found myself wishing each character’s story was placed together, more like interconnected short stories — only because each one was so compelling I didn’t want to change course, even momentarily. But by the end, I could clearly see how Matthewson gently wove them together. The way she crafted this novel was absolutely perfect. And what a great ending! Very satisfying. More of my thoughts on this title can be found on my blog at A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall.

[celinenyx]

Literary fiction has the reputation of being high-brow, inaccessible, and overly complicated. Of Things Gone Astray proves that the genre can also be funny, thought-provoking, clever, sad, and relatable.

One day, a wall of Mrs Featherby's house disappears. Another woman's sense of direction fails so spectacularly that she can't even cross the street without getting lost. A man's job vanishes. A girl in the airport grows roots. All of them lose something that was important to them, that they depended on or hid behind.

The idea behind Of Things Gone Astray could have easily become a preachy message on loss and what's important in life. Instead we follow a group of people that all have the bizarre experience of losing something or someone, without there being an obvious resolution or moral to the story. There is no light-bulb moment of "A-ha! I didn't spend enough time with my family!" or any simplistic solution to the problems they face. All of the characters have to take on themselves, with varying degrees of success.

Of Things Gone Astray is such an interesting mix of elements. On one hand we have the surreal elements, like a wall disappearing overnight. On the other hand the reactions of the characters to these situations are pragmatic - the wall of Mrs Featherby's house is indeed gone, and all characters are left scratching their heads on how something like this could ever happen. Concepts become reality in Of Things Gone Astray.

The book has extremely short chapters, some of them barely two pages long. There are about six or seven main story lines, all of which cross and intersect each other. Although the narrative was fragmented in a way, it was never difficult to follow. The characters face such unique predicaments that it's impossible to mix them up. The short length of the chapters made for an extremely quick read. I read the entire book while on a train, and the frequent chapter breaks were useful to look out of the window and daydream.

The theme of the book, of losing things and being lost, really struck a chord with me. I really rooted for the characters, hoping they would find a way. The ending didn't give much answers, but instead hopefully implied changes. Of Things Gone Astray was one of those books for me that find you at the right place and the right time.

[Leah]

Like most little boys Jake has a collection. He collects and documents things he finds in the street or lying around at home or at school — and is ecstatic when he is alerted to the lost property box. Some of his treasures have little chapters of their own in the book, intriguing pieces of flash fiction. But the losses which make up the bulk of this story are larger and, in most cases, far less tangible or / and far more surreal than a watch or a notebook.

Wendy, Mrs Featherby, has lost the front wall of her house; Marcus has lost his piano keys; Delia has lost her sense of direction; and Robert, Robert has lost his work. Not his job. His place of work has vanished and the street closed up around it as completely as 12 Grimmauld Place – but no-one except he and his family is surprised by this, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to make it re-appear.

It is a fable of course. All these implausibly lost senses or objects are symbols of more important losses or things people need to let go and, although this may not be the subtlest of allegories, it works. It works because the responses of the bereft vary and those around are just puzzled (that’s odd, what can we do about it?) rather than completely accepting (and?) or amazed (OMG! How did that happen? That’s completely impossible!). Similarly, the choices made sometimes lead people to new lives (or back to their old ones) while others cannot move on – literally so in the case of constant Cassie, the subject of the wonderful cover art.

But the author is not didactic or preachy, she simply shows the effects of loss and change by describing how people react with sympathy and gentle humour. The circumstances may be exaggerated, but the characters and their relationships are acutely observed and very real. The children, Jake and little girl Bonnie, are particularly sharply drawn – their innocent cleverness never crosses the line to unbelievable or twee. Even minor characters, like Jasper who comes to know both Marcus and Cassie, make sense – they aren’t parachuted into the plot for the sake of making a particular observation, and have their own existence.

If there is a ‘moral’, a point to the whole thing, it is to show how important other people are in helping us deal with loss and grief, in preventing one tragedy leading to another. To that end, the key story is that of Jake and the father who is slipping away from him. Of course I’m not going to say what happens in the end, but it builds powerfully and there is a resolution for them even if, for some of the others, there is a satisfying uncertainty about where they will go next.

If you like your fiction grounded in reality, if you like linear narratives and all your text fully justified then this is not the book for you. But if you want to be gently nudged into observing the world a little more closely, smile in recognition and perhaps have a little weep at things going right as well as wrong, then I suggest you get hold of a copy.

Reviewed by CatherineThis review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read