Lost and Found
A Novel by Carolyn Parkhurst
Reviewed by Frances Rossi
The curtain opens on the sixth leg of the “‘scavenger hunt that will cover all the corners of the earth’“, in the words of Barbara Fox, host of the TV reality show Lost and Found that forms the context of this novel. Seven of the original teams remain in the game, whose rules challenge them to find specified objects from locations all over the globe, working as teams in competition to be the first to reach the final goal.
One quickly realizes that these fourteen individuals carry much more than the parrot, ski pole, bishop from a crystal chess set, sheet of rice paper, trilobite fossil, and the aviator’s helmet that weigh down their backpacks. And “Lost and Found” means far more than the simple TV game show setting might suggest.
Here in Egypt contestant Laura has made little headway in regaining the confidence of her daughter Cassie, who has recently born a child and given it up for adoption. Carl, one of the “funny brothers from Boston,” keeps an eye on his younger brother Jeff while struggling with the knowledge of his young son’s liver problem and grieving over his recent divorce. Justin and Abby, a couple who claim to have been saved from homosexuality, share an uneasy relationship. Juliet and Dallas, former child stars, seek frenetically to regain their lost limelight. Other contestants include Riley and Trent, a couple of brilliant young inventors; Wendy and Jillian, middle-aged flight attendants from Milwaukee; Betsy and Jason, former high school sweethearts recently reunited after years apart. Hovering about this cast of contestants, like a cloud of angels or demons, flits a sound and camera crew recording their every word and gesture.
The three last-mentioned teams are quickly disqualified. At each dismissal, Barbara Fox poses the salient question: “You have lost the game, but what have you found?”
Of the eight individuals remaining, only two—our child actors—are obvious in treating life as a role to be played, but one begins to realize that roles of one kind or another constrain all of these characters in seemingly no-outlet life paths and set them in fundamentally dishonest relationships with themselves and others. At one of the game destinations, the Ballydugan Weavers’ House near Ulster, North Ireland, the challenge involves one of each team’s weaving a piece of fabric. Struggling with the unfamiliar threads of the loom, Laura spouts off, “Oh, what a tangled web we…” And deceive each one does, by intent or by neglect. The woven fabric serves as an apt metaphor for the truth gradually worked in the tangled threads of the various lives and among them all. Lost and Found brings us up against the question, “What is truth?”, and leaves us no easy answer, except that it’s not a closed door.
I began reading this with misgiving, wondering how much this unlikely game-show context with its ungainly cast of characters would keep my interest. In the form of a trip journal, each of the characters from the four remaining groups logs his or her current experience in the game and the feelings that evokes. This usually involves some earlier memories from the relationship they share with their trip partner. Even Barbara Fox makes a couple of entries. This format allows us an inside view of the emotional progress of each member and a sense of their development as they work at figuring out how to deal with their life situation. Most of them begin the process expecting little, closed to any new options for their lives. Laura, for example, fixates on her daughter and on her own failure to be the mother she thinks she should have been, ignoring her own real needs. Her daughter Cassie stubbornly refuses to accept the relationship her mother so desperately needs with her. Can these two people break out of the unyielding vice that holds them?
You might say, each of Parkhurst’s characters is playing the hand they’ve been given without hope of any new cards. But what happens if you shuffle the deck? How do the wild cards of changing locations and taxing challenges change the course of the game and tease out truth from amid fiction?
Perhaps the most troubling character for me was Justin, the “reformed” homosexual. Redemption, the gay transformation ministry where he and Abby met, is modeled on several real ministry programs, including Exodus, which claim to be able to assist gay and lesbian persons to change their orientation/lifestyle. Although most authoritative psychological authorities do not give credence to the claims of these groups, they still have some persuasive spokespersons. Because of this, I would not dismiss outright Justin and Abby’s dream of going straight through the grace of God, as, in a sense, nor has Parkhurst. Rather, she allows the two spouses' resolve to be tested.
The real problem with Justin—not Abby—is his rigid personality, which would have been a problem no matter what his sexual orientation. Add to this the fact that his real love is neither Jesus Christ nor Abby, but himself. His whole focus is on his victory over homosexuality rather than on the life that has enabled him to live and the people he is living it with. It is this, and not his attempt to go straight, that leaves him open to be labeled “hypocrite.”
Carolyn Parkhurst has skillfully drawn characters of such depth that we are able to see them as they are through their thoughts and feelings and through the eyes of their fellow players. Having created them, she allows them to develop, and even the brittle Justin evolves, if disappointingly, to a potentially life-changing epiphany. Lost and Found drew me into these lives and held me spellbound, as they struggled to finish the course, touching me to the point of tears more than once.
We have here a remarkable story that works on many levels and has amazing depth of imagery and symbol. In a sense Lost and Found is a metaphor for life, which, like the game, tests and goads us, ferreting out our weak points and prodding us to grow. The Barbaras of life are the coldly unmoved testers who throw all those curve balls at us, never seeming to care about the consequences, but challenging us, none the less. (In fact, the two tempters here are Barbara--Barbie?--and Ken. One wonders...)
I found, Lost and Found to be a deeply spiritual work, as one might divine from the perhaps not far-fetched echo of “I once was lost but now am found.”
