The fifteen stories in The Loss of All Lost Things explore the unpredictable ways in which characters negotiate, experience, and manage various forms of loss. These characters lose loved ones; they lose their security and self-worth; they lose children; they lose their ability to hide and shield their emotions; they lose their reputations, their careers, their hometowns, and their life savings. Often depicting the awkward moments when characters are torn between decision and outcome, The Loss of All Lost Things focuses on moments of regret and yearning.
- Title: The Loss of All Lost Things
- Author: Amina Gautier
- Publisher: Elixir Press
- Genre: Literary Fiction
- Targeted Age Range: Adult
- Trigger Warnings: Child abduction, child sex crimes, crimes against children, pedophilia, kidnapping, child abuse, sex work, age gap, death mention, death, suicide, suicide mention, grief, depression, body image, ablesism, r-slur, minor fat-shaming, suicide mention. (Please note, as I have not currently finished this novel, this list will not accurately list everything. It will be updated when I had finished to represent everything triggering in this book, thanks!)
The Loss of All Lost Things by Amina Gautier is my current read, and as soon as I started it, I knew I had to spotlight it onto the blog. While I’m not very far in, I really wanted to highlight this short story collection. Amina Gautier has a beautiful writing style, mixing melancholic prose with beautiful imagery. This collection of fifteen stories has won various awards, a lot of which is definitely deserved, and I can’t wait to continue reading the collection.
These stories focus on topics that are heavy. The first story is about child abduction, for example, and laments on whether or not the child’s family misses him. The stories that follow are heavy, darker, and feature triggering content – so please be careful if you decide to read them. Despite this, the stories are written in a way that will definitely make you feel things. Amina Gautier has a way of writing that is both haunting and beautiful, and it is showcased well in this collection of stories. The focus of this collection is loss, following throughout the narratives and throughout the fifteen stories. Gautier does a lovely job of evoking these feelings from the reader, leaving the reader thinking about the collection for hours after it is finished.
I can’t wait to finish this short story collection, and I can’t wait to read the other stories further into the book.
Links for The Loss of All Lost Things Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | Indie Bound
Amina Gautier is the author of the short story collections At-Risk, Winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award (University of Georgia Press, 2011), Now We Will Be Happy, Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), and The Loss of All Lost Things (Elixir Press, 2016. She has published over ninety short stories. They appear in Agni, Best African American Fiction, Callaloo, Glimmer Train, Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, New Stories From the South, Notre Dame Review, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, Southern Review, and Storyquarterly among other places.
ahh the loss of all lost things sounds like such a moving book, and i’m so glad you enjoyed it!! i aven’t heard of it before, but your review is making me want to pick it up!! 💖
thank you!! definitely be mindful of the trigger warnings, the stories can be quite heavy but it’s a lovely literature collection!