Member Review

The things that we lost is a beautiful book, exploring how individuals choose to protect themselves from emotional pain in all it's rawness with the necessity to face reality in it's singular newness. A story of grief, growth and acceptance.

With the death of his grandfather Nik is lead down a path into the past as secrets relating to his father's death are revealed and the unspoken is forced to be heard. Patel's story focuses on pivotal moments in Nik's life exacerbated by his transition into adulthood as he takes his place at university. The palpable mental tension is expressed in the strangeness of his new predicament: emotional unmoored from any familial male role model, culturally isolated in a predominantly white northern town and physically distanced from his friends support, Nik is left to puzzle out where he belongs and what price knowing the truth is worth paying.