Essential Maps for the Lost by Deb Caletti

Essential Maps for the Lost

by Deb Caletti

From Printz Honor medal winner and National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti comes a fresh and luminous novel "about love and loss, mental illness, and taking charge of one's own fate" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

There are many ways to be lost.

Sometimes people want to be lost. Madison-Mads to everyone who knows her-is trying her best to escape herself during one last summer away from a mother who needs more from her than she can give, and from a future that has been decided by everyone but her.

Sometimes the lost do the unimaginable, like the woman-the body-Mads collides with in the middle of the water on a traumatic morning that changes everything. And sometimes the lost are the ones left behind, like the son of the woman in the water, Billy Youngwolf Floyd.

Billy is struggling to find his way through each day in the shadow of grief. His one comfort is the map he carries in his pocket, out of his favorite book The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. When three lives (and one special, shared book) collide, strange things happen. Things like questions and coincidences and secrets, lots of secrets. Things like falling in love. But can two lost people telling so many lies find their way through tragedy to each other...and to solid ground?

Reviewed by shannonmiz on

2 of 5 stars

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You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I didn't dislike this book, which should count for something. I did, however, feel like it didn't exactly leave an impact on me in any real way. It was entertaining enough as I was reading, and the writing style was quirky and unique, which I loved. Mads and Billy were fine characters, and I felt for them and their struggles. They both come from messy home situations (as you may have guessed from the whole "woman dead in the water" thing), and have a connection to each other than only one of them knows about.

I had typed out a list of "good and not good"... and as I was typing it out I think I realized that this book was more problematic than I thought upon finishing it. I liked it in the moment, for the most part. But when going over it in my head, some things troubled me.

I felt for Mads and Billy, I did. But they were really dysfunctional on every level. Mads kept wanting to steal the baby she was a babysitter for. Billy stole dogs from his neighbors to take to the kennel he worked at. Mads was obsessed with Billy's mom, without his knowledge. Then they have a romance... which is based on lies- pretty serious ones. It did leave me a bit unsettled that the only reason they ever liked each other (or at least, that Mads liked Billy) was because she found his mom floating during a morning swim. As for their "caretakers", Mads' mom is awful- self absorbed, co-dependent, and a sorry excuse for a parent all around, and yet somehow, Billy's bullying and cruel grandma is even worse. The mental health pieces are most definitely not as in depth as I would have liked, especially considering the family histories. 

Mads trying to find herself was a good thing. Billy trying to figure out his place in the world was a good thing. Mads' aunt, uncle, and cousin were lovely characters. I liked the writing style quite a bit too. But as a whole, I find that it was lacking in some of the substance I was looking for.

Bottom Line: The story itself was entertaining, and there were some very charming pieces, but I feel like it just touched the surface of suicide and mental health, and really even Billy and Mads as characters. 

*Copy provided by publisher for review

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 March, 2016: Finished reading
  • 29 March, 2016: Reviewed