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    We are Lost and Found
    We are Lost and Found
    We are Lost and Found
    Audiobook7 hours

    We are Lost and Found

    Written by Helene Dunbar

    Narrated by Tom Picasso

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A poignant, heartbreaking, and uplifting, story in the tradition of The Perks of Being a Wallflower about three friends coming-of-age in the early 1980s as they struggle to forge their own paths in the face of fear of the unknown. Michael is content to live in the shadow of his best friends, James and Becky. Plus, his brother, Connor, has already been kicked out of the house for being gay and laying low seems to be Michael's only chance at avoiding the same fate. To pass the time before graduation, Michael hangs out at The Echo where he can dance and forget about his father's angry words, the pressures of school, and the looming threat of AIDS, a disease that everyone is talking about, but no one understands. Then he meets Gabriel, a boy who actually sees him. A boy who, unlike seemingly everyone else in New York City, is interested in him and not James. And Michael has to decide what he's willing to risk to be himself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 3, 2019
    ISBN9781980060949
    We are Lost and Found
    Author

    Helene Dunbar

    Helene Dunbar is the author of These Gentle Wounds and What Remains. Over the years, she's worked as a drama critic, journalist, and marketing manager, and has written on topics as diverse as Irish music, court cases, theater, and Native American Indian tribes. She lives in Nashville with her husband and daughter, and exists on a steady diet of readers' tears.

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    Reviews for We are Lost and Found

    4/5

    57 ratings2 reviews

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    • 3/5

      Feb 3, 2020

      Set in New York during 1983, We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar is a poignant young adult novel set against the backdrop of the beginning of the AIDS crisis.

      Sixteen year old Michael Bartolomeo is navigating his life with best friends James Barrows and Becky Kaplan.  He is gay but considering his parents kicked out his older brother Connor after he came out, Michael is struggling to remain in the closet. He escapes the pressures of his home life through music and evenings dancing at The Echo.  Michael is also quite close to James, who is making his mark in the theatre world and Becky who lives on tenterhooks due to her mother's drug use. Michael's budding romance with Gabriel takes place at the start of the  AIDS epidemic.  With little information available about how to protect himself against this frightening disease, will Michael be willing to jump into a relationship with Gabriel?

      Michael is an interesting narrator but the lack of quotation marks and the abrupt scene changes between the vignettes makes it difficult to connect to him and the unfolding story. The story does not really come together until well after the halfway point as Michael truly understands the realities of being gay during a deadly health epidemic. His brother Connor's reckless and risky decisions also serve as a cautionary tale as Michael begins to fall in love with Gabriel.

      We Are Lost and Found is a thought-provoking young adult novel with an interesting storyline. The plot is well-researched, quite informative and offers a realistic portrait of coming to age at such a fraught time period.  While the writing style might work not for everyone, this young adult novel by Helene Dunbar highlights a compelling and important part of LGBT history.
    • 5/5

      Jun 20, 2019

      The descriptive bit: We Are Lost And Found by Helene Dunbar tells an important story that took place in the 80s. Michael is a young man who is just becoming comfortable with his sexuality, and he’s living in a time when he has to contemplate the fact that having sex might kill him. HIV/AIDS is spreading even though, at that time, there was nothing certain about transmission. To add to the uncertainty in Michael’s life, his brother Connor has been kicked out of the family home by their homophobic father. All that keeps Michael sane is his free-spirited friend, James, his bestie Becky and the mysterious boy he keeps meeting at his favorite club.

      My thoughts bit: Oh this book. I absolutely loved it. Full transparency – I began volunteering at AIDS organizations in the early 90s and was running one five years later. This was my time frame. Dunbar really captured the fear and confusion that was rampant in the 80s and 90s. HIV/AIDS was such a huge thing hanging over a community of people who had once been very sexually free.

      Michael is a great character. He’s complex and I really enjoyed being in his head for a while. His home life was heart-breaking with a homophobic father and a mother without the wherewithal to stand up for her sons. Michael finds his escape from uncertainty at The Echo – a dance club that has become his little island of safety.

      Michael is often in the shadow of his friend James. James is artistic, mysterious and creative and he draws people to him. Becky, on the other hand, is worried about everyone. While Becky and James have a bit of friction between them, Michael seems to be the glue that holds their friendship together.

      Once Michael meets Gabriel things change. Gabriel only has eyes for Michael and for the first time in his life Michael is pushed out of his comfort zone. He has to figure out how to be the person he needs to be without being thrown out of his home. How does it feel when you see your first Pride parade? How do you make the decision to have sex in a time when there’s a deadly disease that no one knows how to prevent? How do you protect yourself from something you can’t see? What risk is worth it?

      This is an important story. There are so many people who have forgotten what happened during the 80s and 90s. This is a story that has needed to be retold for the YA audience and I think that Dunbar has nailed it.

      I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the music references throughout this story. I want the soundtrack! I had to stop a couple of times while I was reading to head to Apple Music! The music was a great way to round out the feel of the time.

      The warnings bit: Please be aware, I’m by no means an expert on what may or may not have the potential to disturb people. I simply list things that I think a reader might want to be aware of. In this book: Homophobic speech, homophobia, hate crime (homophobia results in physical assault), verbally abusive parent, mention of unprotected sex.

      I received an ARC of We Are Lost And Found by Helene Dunbar from SOURCEBOOKS Fire via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.