I knew from page one that this book would remain with me, long after I had put down my e-reader, when finished. I have been trying to think of a way to summarise this novel, while giving it the credit it deserves. This was a beautiful book -- Matthewson has used a magical realist style to represent loss in many forms. Characters literally lose their job, their sense of direction, the walls they've hidden behind, even each other.
"Mrs Featherby had been having pleasant dreams until she woke to discover the front of her house had vanished overnight." This is the amazing first line of Janina Matthewson's debut novel, 'All Things Gone Astray'. This novel takes the term 'loss' quite literally and works it into individual stories, gently interlinked, while using the power of the written word to express fear, grief and impossibility.
Each character is encountering a surreal change, brought on by their individual losses, and through short chapters, the author slowly lets these events unfold. I was surprised to find myself identifying with these people, even though there were so many. They dealt with the losses, and their acceptance of their new worlds, and I was willing them to find the truth and meaning within themselves, rather than searching for the original loss.
It's easily readable, with short chapters, and a gentle, nostalgic style. Matthewson uses an interweaving of the stories of each person who has lost something. I was right on the verge of giving it 5 stars, but I found the ending rushed. While it was clear what Matthewson was going for, I felt that she needed more words to do it. I was also a bit disappointed by Marcus's development; most of the characters were well-developed, but he felt like there was a lot going on that was never articulated to the reader. There needed to be MORE, here.... But what, I could not tell you.
Still absolutely worth reading; the characters are interesting and generally well-drawn, their growth not confined to being a 'happy ending' for everyone, and the dreamlike world is entrancing. If you appreciate good writing, extremely beautiful prose and a imaginative talent within your reading material, then this is for you. Simply put, it is strange but stunning. A literary gem.
4.5 stars, and a hearty recommendation. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I've read a lot of eARCs this season,and most I was content to just read once and move on, but I may have to eventually acquire a paper copy of this one.

In this story, things start going missing- the front wall of a house, a man's job, a young woman's sense of direction, a pianist's piano's keys, etc.- and with no explanations in sight everyone has to just get on with life as best they can. In the process maybe they find that they are regaining things they hadn't even known they'd lost.

IF you like Borges, Saramago, or Bradbury, you'll probably enjoy this book.

(I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Reread notes: I got my local library to buy this book, so I of course had to reread it. Still a fantastic book. ( )

“On a seemingly normal morning in London, a group of people wake to find something important to them missing, something dear but peculiar: the front of their house, their piano keys, their sense of direction, their place of work.”

Can you imagine? You get up, shower, dress, have some coffee and head to the office. When you get there, the building is gone. Not demolished, not boarded up with a For Sale sign, just vanished, as if it was never there. What would you do? I would assume that I had gone insane. Who would you ask? You couldn’t very well start stopping people and saying, “Are you from the neighborhood? Didn’t there used to be a building there?” Would you call your colleagues? Sure, but – and I would be worried about this – what if they don’t answer? What if the phone number that has always worked for the office goes to some other company? Possibly even worse: what if they DO answer? What if they say they are in the building that isn’t there? What if they don’t know who you are?

Janina Matthewson doesn’t answer all of these questions in Of Things Gone Astray; she seems more concerned with the impact it has on Robert when his business – his job and office and colleagues – are all suddenly gone. The characters in this book have all lost something very important to them, and it impacts them in unexpected ways.

The story is told round-robin style, with short chapters, many less than a page long. Each chapter is from the point of view of a single character, and they tell the story in a roundabout way.

Each character has lost something, but not in the usual way we think of it. One character has lost her sense of direction; one morning, she starts to walk to the corner store and she ends up wandering for hours, hopelessly lost in the neighborhood where she has lived all her life. Mrs. Featherby has lost the front of her house. She wakes up one morning and the entire front wall is gone, with her home exposed to the street and the open air.

Over the chapters, we come to understand what these things mean to the characters. Mrs. Featherby is a very private person, very proper and dignified, and being observed from the street, having people stop and look at her house and even speak to her – it’s horrifying. Delia begins to realize that she hasn’t just lost her sense of direction on the streets, she’s lost it in her life. She’s lost her drive and her life has become kind of aimless. She meets Anthony, a widower who is losing touch with his son, Jake. They now don’t even see each other when they are in the same house – literally, it is as if they are invisible to each other. It’s an extreme sort of estrangement, as they both deal with their grief over the loss of Jake’s mother.

The stories are interesting in a tangled way. They overlap, with characters meeting each other. Some resolve themselves, but others don’t wrap up neatly. Some of them are heartbreaking (the flight attendant stopped to ask me about the book because I was crying on the flight). A rather amazing first novel.

Thank you LibraryThing for the advance reader's copy. I love the artwork on the cover. I enjoyed the book after I got into the rhythm of it. I felt the book jumped around a lot between characters. I'm glad I read this book and am looking forward to Ms. Matthewson's future books. ( )

This is a beautiful book and very much in my wheelhouse with it's unique way of discussing and exploring loss. Also, it has the prettiest cover graphic. The only issue I had with the book is how manic it felt due to the format of extremely short vignettes and constantly jumping from one character to the next. It's the only time I've experienced whiplash after reading a book (exaggeration for dramatic effect.) At the same time the format was pretty perfect and I'm not sure how else this kind of story could have been told. Finally, as other reviewers said I felt a little bit cheated with the ending. All in all though I'm happy I read this book and I think maybe it's the kind of book that will get better after a second reading now that I know what to expect. Thanks so much to Librarything Early Reviewers for providing a copy of the book. ( )