https://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/2019/04/if-you-are-lost-find-this-review-of-we.html?m=1

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the EARC I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Before I read Helene Dunbar’s We are Lost and Found, I read a blurb comparing it to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I couldn’t help but do a (figurative) double take since PoBaW, Stephen Chbosky’s coming of age masterpiece is pretty much my go to read when I want to really think about the high school experience for anyone who doesn’t fit neatly into a clique. In other words, a pretty high bar was set before I even started reading.

I have to say, this book totally lived up to my expectations. It was heartbreaking and raw and addressed things head on. So head on, in fact, that you flinch as you feel them coming towards you.

We are Lost and Found focuses primarily on our main character, Michael, his best friends, Becky and James, and his brother Connor. All the male characters are young, gay males struggling with their sexualities at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in NYC. The book asks questions that, while specific to the epidemic, are still timely today: how do teens minimize the risks to their bodies while exploring their sexualities? How can you protect yourself when it requires so much faith in other people? How can you have faith when your life experiences are telling you not to?


Tackling the issues of STIs, sexuality, love, commitment, and familial stress, We are Lost and Found is an authentic and genuine journey through the angst of adolescence. It faces these issues without being overwrought or soap operaesque. It’s painful, thoughtful, sweet, and hopeful. This is the book every teen should read this year.

My review will be posted on August 3, 2019 at my website: http://www.kinziethings.com
Link will be active then; https://wp.me/paKz1h-U8

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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.

This book was so good that I wasn't even annoyed with the lack of quotation marks. Michael's story offers amazing insight of what it was like to be part of the LGBTQ community during the AIDS crisis. His story is heartbreaking but also hopeful, and I found it easy to get sucked into every single word of this book.