Musings: Lost and Found

I fell in love with Shaun Tan after reading The Arrival last year.  Tan's artistic style- grounded in reality but with a strong dose of "otherworldliness"- was a perfect way to relate the highs and lows of immigrating to a new country.  Tan recently won an Oscar for the movie The Lost Thing, based on the story he authored and illustrated.  Lost & Found includes The Lost Thing in the collection, as well as The Red Tree and Rabbits.

The title fits perfectly.  All three stories center on the idea of loss- loss of hope, loss of wonder, and loss of culture.  What Tan does so well in all his stories is to point out how blind society has become.  How we are too busy to care about others or see the wonders that exist in the world around us.  How good things are around if we just take the time to see them and allow them to brighten our days.  I loved all three stories, though my favorite was The Lost Thing.  What follows are short reviewitas of all three stories.

 
The Red Tree follows a girl through one day as she feels sad and out-of-sorts with the world.  Some reviewers have said the story is about a girl struggling through depression, but I disagree.  I think it's more universal.  I've never struggled with depression, but I have had those days when it seems like everything is going wrong, and no one understands, and nothing will ever get better.  I think everyone has those, and Tan uses brilliant graphics to describe this feeling of dejection.  A girl in a massive building, with faceless people all around her, but no one stopping to ask if she's all right.  A big, depressed fish moving through the city, unseen by anyone.   The imagery in this story is beautiful and universal.  Here's a link to a video version of The Red Tree.

The Lost Thing is about a boy who finds an unusual friend (that looks kind of like a cross between a teapot and an octopus) and cares for it, while everyone else ignores it or tries to pass it on to someone else.  It is one of the more political and satirical of the stories I've read by Tan, with many pointless government notices around the borders and random slogans like, "Today is the tomorrow you were promised yesterday."  The boy takes time out of his day to become friends with the outsider thing, that is lost and doesn't know where it belongs.  And he helps it to find a new home.  "I mean, I can't say that the thing actually belonged in the place where it ended up. In fact, none of the things there really belonged. They all seemed happy enough though, so maybe that didn't matter."  The story is a great one for anyone who has (and who hasn't?) ever felt on the outside looking in, the circle trying to fit the square.  It's also about the kindness and curiosity that is innate to children but seems to disappear as we get older.  I loved it, and I am crossing my fingers that the movie is available for me to watch some time soon!  Here's the movie trailer.

The last story in the collection is Rabbits.  This story was written by John Marsden and illustrated by Tan and it's the story of a native people being overwhelmed by invading colonists.  A story that's been told many times, true, but also one that needs repetition.  Once again, the illustrations are excellent and, to me, give the story a much deeper and stronger meaning than the words alone.  I loved the narration by native species of Australia (echidnas, I think?) and the rabbits as foreigners.  Very fitting especially as Europeans brought rabbits to Australia and the rabbits multiplied like crazy and wrought havoc on the native ecosystem.  It was not a preachy portrayal at all- it was more like a sigh of inevitability, which is sad in itself.

I really enjoyed all three stories in this collection and look forward to spending many hours closely examining the artwork.  I am sure there are a lot of hidden symbols and gifts in the panels to find, and I look forward to doing so!  I don't think these stories are aimed at children, though.  More high school and up, I'd say.

Note:  This review is based on an advanced reader's copy.  I received this book for free to review.