Customer Reviews

Lost for Words

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Sophie Baxter has a lot going on in her life, and it all started the day her sister was killed in a London bombing. Instead of finding an outlet, Sophie bottles up all of her feelings and holds onto them with the fierceness of a vice grip. It's only a matter of time before she can't handle the knowledge of the horrors she has endured, and she will explode. Her therapist gives her a notebook to begin writing down anything that will help her to cope, and this becomes her only outlet.

Lost For Words is written in journal entry form, and at first I thought this was going to be a big problem for me. I've never really been a big fan of reading books written to be like a journal, but in this case, it was the reason for it's success. I also thought that the short sentences would put a damper on my liking for this novel, but it only gave it more depth and feeling, as though a sixteen-year-old girl was truly pouring her heart out onto the pages.

I personally felt like I was prying into someone's private life when I started reading into the story. Sophie clearly didn't want anyone to know her dilemma, and wanted nothing more than to just forget. With her, we learn about how such a tragedy can take a toll on a whole family, and even the friends supporting it. You could literally feel how much Sophie wanted to turn back the tables and have everything be the way it used to.

The one thing that really got me in this book, was Sophie's feelings toward her sister. She was so heartbroken by her loss that nothing else mattered to her, not even her own life. It makes you think of what you may possibly be taking for granted. I have two younger sisters, and a little brother, and reading about Sophie's loss made me weep for her. Towards the end of this book I was bawling my eyes out, and practically hiccuping because I was so gripped by the story. It made me appreciate the family that I have, and since finishing it, I've been trying my hardest not to be so mean to them when they do little things that drive me insane. No one should have to go through the pain of losing someone so close to them.

Sophie is just trying to get on with things, isn't that what they tell you to do after something like this. She's sure she would be fine if people would just stop asking how she's doing. She doesn't want to talk about it, she doesn't even want to think about. She just wants to be left alone.
She's fine.

But slowly Sophie is coming to realise that she is not fine. Not by a long shot. Last summer Sophie's world was turned upside down and nothing has been right since, not her friendship with her best friend, not her relationship with her mother, and certainty not her own mind.

Sophie is angry all the time and living with the pain of what happened, the guilt, is tearing her apart. She doesn't want to think about it but its always on her mind, her sister is always on her mind and she can never forget her and what happened. But maybe, eventually, she can learn to live with it.

Lost For Words is a beautifully moving story full of heart about the loss, pain, confusion and anger felt when those you love are taken from you. Very much a bitter-sweet story of tragedy and grief, it is an emotional book that will bring tears to your eyes. Brilliantly written with feeling, you wont be able to put this book down.

This is an emotional book written in journal entry form. In some cases, this is a problem with me for books, but Kuipers writes to where it feels seamless to me. I got the feeling I was peeking into someone's private life, so she was successful getting me in Sophie's mind and world.
The friendships are really unstable in this book, but I think that it reflects real life and the stress these are put under (ed and ptsd).
It is frustrating yet also beautiful how the story unfolds, and finding out more about Sophie and Emily's relationship and how Emily died and how/if Sophie was involved/at fault.

Something has happened to Sophie's older sister, Emily, but Sophie doesn't want to talk about it. The book opens with Sophie's therapist giving her a notebook to use to journal her feelings. At first she writes little to nothing but as the book progresses Sophie begins to open up, at least in the journal. Readers are then able to piece together what happened to Emily. A good work of realistic fiction. I borrowed this book from the public library.

[...]

Could you imagine losing your sister in a terrorist attack and not being able to talk about it? The harsh feelings, the deep emotions and the incredible sadness that surrounds losing someone you dearly love. Then the panic attacks begin but life must continue on like normal. You must go to school, act normal, but you can't seem to talk about this terrible awful event that has ruined your life forever. Alice Kuipers gives us a glimpse into a young teen's life after losing her sister in a terrorist attack. Her sister was her best friend and now she is gone. Sophie doesn't know how to deal with he grief and pain and because she was with her sister at the time of the attack and she survived she is now having panic attacks and thinks she is dying. Her mother isn't much help as she is dealing with her own pain in a different way and can't seem to help Sophie either. Sophie's friends just want life to resume to normal by going to parties, kissing boys and getting drunk. This book is a real look into a teen's world of sorrow and pain and how she turns to journal writing as a coping mechanism. A well written book written by an English author about an event that could happen to any of us.

This was a truly griping story of a young girl who is trying to deal with the unbearable grief of losing her sister. Sophie is completely devastated, and her therapist tells her to keep a journal, which is what this book is. Every day Sophie goes through life trying to forget the fact that her sister is dead. Her mother walks around in a daze and barely talks to her. It's been a year spent in a house that is completely quiet.

Sophie's love for her sister was completely touching. I felt for her through every page, any little thing that reminded her of her sister brought a fresh wave of pain that was heart breaking. Sophie's best friend is pulling away from her and hanging out with other girls because she just doesn't know how to reach Sophie. Around this time, and new girl, Rosa-Leigh, shows up, and her and Sophie become fast friends. Rosa-Leigh was probably my favorite character in this story. She's from a huge family, and she's completely sympathetic to Sophie's pain, but she's also very blunt in telling her when she's acting like a snot to other people!

My main complaint with this book is that the author didn't tell us what actually happened to Sophie's sister until almost the very end of the book. I think it was supposed to be a big dramatic reveal after all the little hints brought up throughout the book, but to me it just ended up being very frustrating.

Overall, I was touched and invested in the story from beginning to end, and I definitely recommend it to all of you YA book lovers that enjoy an emotional tale!

This ARC received as part of Around the World ARC Tours.

Sophie's keeping a diary as form of therapy to help her overcome her sister's tragic death. She makes entries about her daily life, her panic attacks, her disconnected friends and her grieving mother, and as she writes she discovers her own love for words.

Some difficulties I had with the book came from the fact that Sophie's life is totally wrapped up in the post-traumatic stress of seeing her sister die in the London subway bombings, yet Sophie doesn't actually write anything about the circumstances of Emily's death until far, far into the novel. There was a reason for this withheld information, of course, because Sophie's so troubled that she refuses to think or write about the tragedy, but it made me less sympathetic to Sophie's pain, not even knowing exactly what it was she was grieving over. When the moment finally came, Emily's loss did feel raw and shocking, so the emotional chord was eventually struck.

The author is English, as is the story, and the cultural details of the language are pleasant to read--I love comparing the subtle differences between American English and British English. I couldn't connect with Sophie as a main character, as she felt too distant to be fully embraced, the story does have a hopeful end. Fans of literary or serious fiction should enjoy it.

Poetry bonus: Emily Dickinson quotes! "And then the windows failed, and then I could not see to see."

LOST FOR WORDS is the latest novel by Alice Kupiers.

Told in diary format, LOST FOR WORDS is Sophie's attempt to forget what happened last summer.

When I first picked up the book, I didn't know what the event was that Sophie alludes to at the beginning of the story. None of the synopsis I read had given any indication what Sophie was trying to run away from. But because I loved LIFE ON THE REFRIGERATOR DOOR so much, I wasn't that concerned about being in the dark from the first page.

Ms. Kupiers unfolds the story at just the right pace to keep the reader anticipating what will happen next, while at the same time frustrating the reader to give you more details NOW!

As the story unfolds, Sophie slowly reveals the events of the previous summer with her shoe laces, the train, her sister, Emily, and the aftermath. Her friends don't know how to reach Sophie, Sophie and her mother have a strained relationship, and Sophie herself is unwilling to open up to anyone, including her therapist. It's through her diary entries that the reader comes to know what's going on in her mind, and her inability to cope with what she experienced the previous summer.

LOST FOR WORDS is a tragic novel, but deeply moving and relevant in these unstable times. Though the novel takes place in England, the events can and have happened in other places around the world. Once I started the book, I didn't want to put it down.

If I have any negative comments on the story, it would be purely cosmetic. The book is also being published in Canada and the United Kingdom under the title of THE WORST THING SHE EVER DID. Not only does that title make more sense to the story, the cover artwork on that edition ties in much better. But that being said, Ms. Kupiers is definitely an author I'm going to keep an eye on. This is the second book by her that I consider a winner.

Reviewed by: Jaglvr