In this rich and riveting narrative, a writer's search for the truth behind his family's tragic past in World War II becomes a remarkably original epic—part memoir, part reportage, part mystery, and part scholarly detective work—that brilliantly explores the nature of time and memory, family and history.
People Magazine
"An excellent memoir. . . . The Lost . . . brings to life the struggle of an entire generation."
Joyce Carol Oates
Daniel Mendelsohn has written a powerfully moving work of a “lost” family past. . . . A remarkable achievement.
People
“An excellent memoir. . . . The Lost . . . brings to life the struggle of an entire generation.
The Forward
A grand book, an ambitious undertaking fully realized.
BookForum
The Lost is a sensitively written book that constantly asks itself the most difficult questions about history and memory.
Garry Wills
Mendelsohn, a classicist, creates a stunning Odyssey here, an epic world-wandering.
J. M. Coetzee
A stirring detective work, The Lost is … deepened by reflections on the inescapable part that chance plays in history.
Samuel G. Freedman
Stunning. . . . A singular achievement, a work of major significance and pummeling impact.
Charles Simic
The Lost is the most gripping, the most amazing true story I have read in years.
Francine Prose
A stunning memoir. . . . As suspenseful as a detective thriller, and as difficult to put down.
Michael Chabon
A beautiful book, beautifully written.
Rebecca Goldstein
A stunning achievement. . . . Extraordinary.
Ron Rosenbaum
Hugely ambitious yet intensely engaging. . . . Absorbing, novelistic. . . . Thought-provoking and original.
The Los Angeles Times Book Review
A magnificent and deeply wise book. . . . Mesmerizing. . . . Mendelsohn's accomplishment is enormous.
People (four stars)
An excellent memoir. . . . The Lost . . . brings to life the struggle of an entire generation.
Jonathan Safran Foer
Epic and personal, meditative and suspenseful, tragic and at times hilarious, The Lost is a wonderful book.
