The Collector of Lost Things: A Novel

I wish I could give this book 3.5 stars, but that rounds up to four, so.

Not a perfect novel, but highly enjoyable. My main problem was the romance. I didn't care about it. I realize his erstwhile romance with Clara underpinned his emotional trauma over the death of his beloved Celeste ten years before this novel takes place, but it was just too melodramatic for me. And Clara is a fairly standard female character for novels like these.

I also realize this novel is rather hamfisted in its dealings with environmentalism. But I have fewer issues with its heavy-handedness because shit like that actually happened. The depletion of resources, the butchery of animals, taking advantage of native peoples. So, whilst there is very little subtlety here, I almost like the harshness with which he describes things.

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Every time he described a horrible hunt, I was horribly upset, which was a problem when I'd read at work. And the characters, whilst not perfectly rendered are interesting enough to carry the story. And his descriptions are, for the most part, lovely. Page writes mostly believably for the setting, which is 1845. And anything that smacks of the Arctic, all things nautical, and historical literature, I generally love.