The book fills out a novelette about a visitation from Mary with details of the cult around her. The novelette is fabulous, the details are just mildly interesting. ( )

Unlike other Canadian novels of its genre, Our Lady of the Lost and Found is a profound and quietly affecting gem that does not produce ennui or restlessness. Despite her critics, Schoemperlen produces an entrancing tale which begins with a window to a writer’s solitary yet comfortable life and routine in Anyville, North America (although the author betrays her Canadian roots at the outset of the novel) and leads to a series of spiritually sumptuous moments that begin with the arrival of the Virgin Mary at the narrator’s doorstep (rather at the foot of the fig tree in the living room).

In Our Lady of the Lost and Found, Schoemperlen juxtaposes the nameless narrator’s ordinary life and daily preoccupations with a brief albeit rousing history of the Virgin Mary and her apparitions throughout the past two millenniums. Indeed, Schoemperlen’s gem of a novel is not riddled with a defining plot or particularly thrilling or resonating events in the course of its denouement. Then again, this bookworm does not object to a slow paced book that unfurls a delightful narrative which interweaves faith, science, and the frailty of the human mind and psyche with amazing attention to detail, pathos and humour.

Schoemperlen displays an effacing and quasi-self-deprecating sense of humour which makes the dreariness of a quiet existence come alive in vivid shapes and colours. In reading Our Lady of the Lost and Found, one is drawn in quietly towards the germination of the story of the protagonist’s life which rings surprisingly true to the quiet existence of this particular reader’s reality. In some way, one cannot help feel a slight forbearing of things to come which was oddly comforting to me. Schoemperlen’s protagonist recognizes romantic (dis)entanglements in her youth as foolish mistakes and ruminates over yesterdays and used-to-bes yet all the while being fully appreciative of the current of her life with some dignity.

Some readers and critics admonish Schoemperlen for the ambivalent role that religion and faith play throughout Our Lady of the Lost and Found. Is it a work of fiction, a compilation of historical narratives, or a tentative recollection of the writer’s hallucinatory visions of the Virgin Mary? In my opinion - it does not matter. As an agnostic who struggles with her wavering faith, the narrative was blissful in that it enabled the character of Mary to intersperse humourous anecdotes with wry intelligence and field questions on the conflicting role that religious fervour and spiritual apathy have in modern society. Millions of people across the globe firmly believe in their faith and hold true to their tales of apparitions and miracles. After all, these fascinating debates on the role of unwavering faith is sorely lacking nowadays despite the rising influence of spiritual gurus and their teachings. ( )

This book caught my eye when I was looking for another book to mooch from someone from whom I was already mooching one. It is about a middle-aged writer of no particularly strong faith who finds the Blessed Virgin Mary in her living room one day. Mary wants someplace to chill for a week and has chosen her house. She allows Mary to stay, and while there, they talk about their lives. We find out what Mary has been doing for the last 2000 years. This is one of the few novels I've read that contains an extensive bibilography. The author has obviously researched Marian apparitions and devotions and her presentation of them in the book is matter-of-fact. This isn't a devotional book that leads to faith in the apparitions, nor some "scientfic" book that tries to explain them away as mass-hysteria, cultural artifacts or self-hypnoisis. It describes Mary's appearances at famous spots like Lourdes and Fatima as well as less-known or even recanted ones. For all the history in the book however, it is a novel, as much about the nameless narrator as it is about Mary. Having Mary in her home causes her to take another look at her life, where it has been and where it is going. If you like literary fiction and refereces to philosophers and poets, you should like this book. It is one of the books that makes you think more than it entertains you. ( )

http://bookcrossing.com/journal/31708... ( )

Interesting stories about Mary. I learned quite a bit from the book and pursued some of the resources that were listed. However, if you are a person who is prone to contemplating things like the nature of time, truth, etc. the contemplative chapters tied in with the somewhat banal concerns of the middle-aged, female narrator can feel obvious and tedious. Towards the end of the book I was skimming the parts that weren't about Mary.