Ellen's Reviews > Lost for Words

Lost for Words by Edward St. Aubyn is a clever, well-written novel about a committee chosen to award a prestigious literary prize. The book narrates the absurd politics behind the scenes and skewers many other professions (but especially literary ones) in the process. There is also a love story, of sorts. Katherine is a girl who can't commit and specializes in breaking hearts. The question is, Will she find love by the end of this story?

My problem, and I do mean my personal problem is that I end up feeling sorry for and kind of sad about people's absurdities. There are a few in this genre that I find irresistible (such as the Mapp and Lucia series) so I'm not above it. But I always fear that looked at in a certain way I and my life would look equally absurd and pitiful. Which is not the right reaction.

So I think this book would be a lot more pleasurable for a lot of people. I did find the character of Didier, the Roland Barthes/Derrida/etc. post-post-modernist very amusing. And I enjoyed the last quarter of the book the most, having accepted all these people and their quirks and being curious to see how it all ends.

Which I won't give away.

So I recommend it as an enjoyable and somewhat amusing (possibly hilarious for others) book that is worth the time spent reading.