Library Director’s NotebookJanuary, 2014 The Collector of Lost Things by Jeremy Page is a book about...

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 9:12pm -- KChin

image
Library Director’s Notebook

January, 2014

The Collector of Lost Things by Jeremy Page is a book about rare, priceless, irreplaceable things, lost forever, not due to some cataclysmic eruption of the universe, but through the banal brutality, and senseless acquisitiveness of mankind.  It is very difficult to read the detailed, bloody descriptions of the slaughter of animals by sailors, explorers, and even by scientists.  Paradise is not always to be found in a lushly appealing tropical setting. Sadly, there is no paradise so frozen, so remote, or so self sufficient that it cannot be discovered, claimed, and exploited by man. 

The Collector of Lost Things is not merely a condemnation against animal exploitation.   The story is told through the point of view and memories of a young collector, Eliot Saxby, commissioned by several wealthy patrons to see if he can locate, while on an Arctic voyage, any remnants of the extinct Great Auk.  The story, set in 1845 at the height of the Victorian passion for scientific collecting and classifying, also brings to life the social, spiritual, and psychological milieu of the age, through the eyes and impressions of the rather naïve Saxby.

In the crowded microcosm of the sailing ship, Saxby interacts closely, if at times uncomfortably, with the various officers and crew, along with two civilian passengers including Clara, a beautiful young woman accompanying her male cousin on the ship.  Clara mystifies and excites Saxby who cannot understand why such a frail woman in obvious distress and ill health should attempt such a dangerous voyage.  To make matters more disturbing and mysterious, Saxby is certain that Clara is hiding her true identity and is in fact another unhappy young woman named Celeste whom Saxby had tried unsuccessfully to rescue from her domineering father nearly a decade earlier.

As the weeks go by, Saxby and Clara form a passionate bond and friendship.  Together they attempt to hide on ship a creature of incalculable value, unique in all the world.  They are forced to confide in others about their hidden treasure in order to keep it alive; although they know betrayal and failure are probably inevitable, as their dread of discovery grows with every hour.

 Yet nothing is a given when there is passion enough to defy all odds.  The Collector of Lost Things is astonishing and deeply moving, up to and through the very last remarkable pages.

Blog Category: 
chat loading...