Lost & Found

If you want a memoir that doubles as philosophical commentary, Schulz is the way to go. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book because memoirs have the capacity to be very hit or miss for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by Schulz's ability to weave her own memoir with broader discussions and contemplations. Ok Schulz, you reeled me in!

This was a book club read for me, and I'm grateful to have read it. Numerous passages were so moving and insightful that I saved them on my Kindle and now my phone. She begins with the slow and painful loss of her father (and also the loss of many small things, like keys and wallets, which was funny and truthful) and ends with finding her partner and wife. Schultz is a beautiful writer, and feel as though I was at her wedding because I can see it so clearly in my mind's eye.
I did not like so much her ardent atheism, the defense of which seemed excessive and distracting to this non-atheist. But I appreciate how she writes of her wife's faith with such respect. I also did wish for the middle to move along a bit more quickly. There were places where I had to make myself finish the chapter, or I would just skim to the end of it, because her lengthy discussions got slow for me. Perhaps a more patient reader would just bathe in the words and the ideas.
All in all, a lovely piece with moments of brilliance.

The word “gorgeous” seems to be thrown around somewhat casually in book reviews, but the occasion of finishing Lost & Found calls for its use.

This book is most of all gorgeous, but also charming, affecting, informative, varied, and a true testament to the power of vulnerability in writing.

Schulz has a knack for seamlessly interweaving the most personal of details with complex scientific facts and the history of Mt. Olympus. While this is exciting and interesting for the most part, it felt a bit overdone and as though its exemplifying the law of diminishing returns towards the end.

There were countless moments while I was reading this that I just had to stop and take a breath to fully engage with the text. I was moved by the at once complex and simple observations Schulz makes of the ebbs and flows of loss and love.