Lost and Found
by Carolyn Parkhurst
the Audiobook
reviewed by Byron Merritt
The basis for a book retelling the events surrounding a TV reality show could seem like overkill with all of the prime-time ones already airing (and those still scheduled ...like the loathsome “I Want To Be A Superhero” on the SciFi Channel). And we all know the type of people that get on these shows. They’re the messed up folks, the ones who need large dosages of prescription medication or they lose it. That’s what producers of reality TV drool over. And those behind the fictitious Lost and Found series are no different. So characters and how the producers run the show come off as no surprise to the reader of Carolyn Parkhurst’s newest literary offering.
But where Mrs. Parkhurst succeeds is by getting us behind the eyeballs of everyone involved, most notably the contestants themselves. This is something we as TV viewers NEVER see. And why not? Because it would take us away from our fantasy-filled nights, those that allow us to make up our own internal stories about the people we’re watching (“I don’t like him. He creeps me out.” or “She’s such a nice lady. Why does she stay married to that idiot?”) Here, in Lost and Found, we get intimate with several prime characters and learn what makes them tick.
Lost and Found, simply put, is a great race across the globe, finding clues and picking up oddities to carry from country to country. The last team to arrive and solve various puzzles are ousted from the contest and sent packing, losing out on the cash prize.
We’re first introduced to the mother-daughter team of Laura and Cassie. Abrasive Cassie struggles with a hidden teen pregnancy and eventual adoption while battling her own sexual identity. Laura, a former obese mother, is a widower who takes her “newfound slim body for a spin”, all the while losing site of her daughter’s swelling belly until awakened one fateful night to discover her granddaughter on bloody sheets in Cassie’s room. The guilt Laura feels for “missing” this is palpable and adds a thick layer of mother-daughter angst to the narrative. This is also why the producers “picked” them as a team for the reality show.
The other main focus is on Justin and Abby, a husband and wife team nicknamed “Team Brimstone” by the other Lost and Found participants. Both are “reformed homosexuals” thanks to a Christian-based ministry known as “Redemption” where gays are shown the evils of their ways and converted to “God’s true path.” Being chosen as a team for the show is obvious (the producers truly want to see if homosexuality can be reversed).
Then we have a smattering of others. There’s the rich brothers from Boston who are easily forgettable, and former child stars Dallas and Juliet who want to reclaim some of their lost fame, and a few others that quickly drop off the program as the elimination process continues.
The internal battles of the team members are the driving force behind this novel’s plot, and it’s a unique idea applied to an already tired and overly-developed TV game show genre. There are some beautiful relationship moments during the progression of the show/novel as the teams are broken up and given new partners (Team Brimstone stays together, but Cassie gets paired with former child star Juliet — and in the process teaches her a thing or two about being a grown-up — and the two form a special relationship. Cassie’s mom, Laura, hooks up with man from another team and discovers an attraction she never thought possible).
We’re told from the outset that the winners get $1 million. But divided up by the two members of the winning team drops it to $500,000 a piece. Then taxes. Then their bills. In the end, winning the money isn’t the most important thing, but learning what they’ve “found” within themselves most certainly is.
It was refreshing to read about the people involved in the story and not the game itself — that could’ve gotten old VERY fast. But Carolyn Parkhurst knows where the true story lies. It’s the characters. Those completely messed but ultimately unforgettable characters. This is a good summer read!
