'You Lost Me There' by Rosecrans Baldwin - Book Review

You Lost Me There is a clever title for this slightly above average debut by Rosecrans Baldwin. If only the rest of the book could live up to the insight and whimsy of those first four words. There features a reputable neuroscientist, Dr. Victor Aaron, who finds letters from his recently deceased wife, Sara, only to discover her view of their life is not quite how he saw it. As he learns more through note cards his wife left behind for him to find, this lab rat races through the labyrinth of his own mind trying to find his way out of mourning. Sometimes it’s worth following him; other times, it gets tiresome.

You Lost Me There is going to be the response of many readers to this first novel by Rosecrans Baldwin.

There has an intriguing premise and a haunting location in Maine with some intriguingly flawed characters. But while I had some compassion for Victor Aaron and his fight to remember his wife, his intellect often got in the way of honest feelings. His interactions with his wife’s elderly aunt, Betsy, and her son, Joel, provide some interesting relationship developments, but none of the characters are very accessible or endearing. As Victor begins to lose his interest in his job at the lab and finds getting drunk and swimming naked ways to release his thoughts, the book also begins to lose hold as a consistent narrative, releasing plot developments and the reader’s interest.

Baldwin raises typical questions about marriage, life and death in You Lost Me There. My favorite parts of the novel involved Victor attempting to piece back together his memories of his wife, but there were too many subplots that caused the focus to meander. In the end, I still felt a distance from everyone involved. Who are these people? And why do we care? Baldwin does not provide enough concrete answers to make this a tale to remember.