Goodreads | The Book of Lost Things

Robotkarateman rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

03/09/08

bookshelves: modern-fantasy

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in February, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Connolly's "Book of Lost Things" came highly recommended as a modern take on the fantasy genre. What I found instead was a completely unlikeable main character, an array of interchangeable father figures, and a disappointing rehash of the usual fairy tale parodies.

"Lost Things" centers on David, a boy whose mother dies and whose father remarries and has a second child, leaving David to bicker bitterly with his new stepmother while trying to avoid anxiety attacks that lea...more Connolly's "Book of Lost Things" came highly recommended as a modern take on the fantasy genre. What I found instead was a completely unlikeable main character, an array of interchangeable father figures, and a disappointing rehash of the usual fairy tale parodies.

"Lost Things" centers on David, a boy whose mother dies and whose father remarries and has a second child, leaving David to bicker bitterly with his new stepmother while trying to avoid anxiety attacks that leave him blacked out and feverish. And that groundwork occurs in one of the most poorly paced info-dumps I've had the misfortune to read. The first chapter focuses on David and his mother, leading you to believe this will be the crux of the story - but alas, she dies. The second chapter focuses on the father's remarriage and David's anxiety attacks leading the reader to believe, perhaps, this is the focus of the story - it is not. The third and fourth chapters center on David's mostly absent father whose work is "top secret" and David's fights with his step-mother and we, the audience, raise our index fingers and say, "Ah-ha! Top secret Dad! Conflict with the new parental figure! This, surely, is the story!" But, alas, those are red-herrings as well. In fact, after the sixth chapter, neither of those characters appears again until the (two chapters long!) epilogue.

The real story ends up being David's abduction into the land of fairy tales by the Crooked Man, a Rumpelstiltskin who makes vicious bargains with emotional children to feed his magical slave house. David starts off his true adventure by following the voice of his dead mother - but don't assume that the story somehow involves David's mother's spirit wandering painfully in the fantasy realm awaiting rescue, this too, in Connolly fashion, is completely irrelevant to the story. Instead, David wanders the fantasy realm accompanied by a series of nearly identical substitute fathers who end up betraying David's trust in one way or another - by being gay in one case (Roland), by being fallible in another (the generic Woodsman).

In the end, David finds another potential father figure in Jonathon, and quickly realizes that not only is Jonathon a liar and a murderer, but also that he, David, no longer needs a father figure because he's now become a man of his own right. He then stares down Jonathon, the Crooked Man, and the vicious wolf monsters, who until that point only appeared in the story when Connolly felt the need to remind us that David was in danger because wolf monsters were chasing him; they never catch up to him except at the end and, as I said, David simply stares them down and wins by virtue of his newfound manhood.

In all, "Lost Things" is a plodding, thinly veiled paean to a baby-boomer-era view of "manhood" as stoic resolution and resistance to all hurts, including mental and emotional. Perhaps this story plays better, and I don't wish to be insulting, with a female audience, one that's never had to grapple with questions of "manliness" or had to decide on an appropriate level of attachment to an older male. As for me, I was insulted that David begins the story emotionally wounded by what he views as a betrayal by his father and, instead of finding closure, he learns to just get over it and "be a man" about it.

But a bigger insult, in my eyes, was the closing of the book - Connolly is so in love with his work that he follows up the main story with almost 150 pages of notes and commentary on his story: everything from the origins of the fairy tales he parodies to his woeful recollections of scenes that were cut from the final draft (murder your darlings, Connolly!). It's as jarring as it would be had Stephen King ended Christine with detailed descriptions of a Plymouth Belvedere and ten pages of him crying about the Arnie/Christine tailpipe sex scene that his editors excised from the final publication.

This was my first experience with Connolly, and as it's his most highly recommended book, I'll probably pass on his work in the future. ...less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

John rated it:

(review of isbn 074329890X)

04/18/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-2008

Read in April, 2008

Which do you think will be read and savoured in 100 years time, the fairy stories of the Grimm Brothers with their roots in the old darkness of firelight nights or the latest Jodi Picoult about a life that the children of parents yet to be born will have no knowledge or interest in. Yet the same children when meeting the stories of world long faded even when written down by the Grimm Brothers will still be amazed and scared. Don’t believe me? Well I do story telling in pubs to adults and ha...more Which do you think will be read and savoured in 100 years time, the fairy stories of the Grimm Brothers with their roots in the old darkness of firelight nights or the latest Jodi Picoult about a life that the children of parents yet to be born will have no knowledge or interest in. Yet the same children when meeting the stories of world long faded even when written down by the Grimm Brothers will still be amazed and scared. Don’t believe me? Well I do story telling in pubs to adults and have known an entire bar go quiet and listen intently as a story of woods, princes and monsters enfolds in their mind.

It is from this deep well that John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things draws on as he tells the story of 12 year old David’s losing fight to keep his mother and family he knows a alive. His anger and grief causes him blackouts and a wish for revenge as his father deals with grief by marriage and work. David discovers the presence of the Crooked Man who can move between the world of living and story. Books start talking to him and boundaries blur so that when his anger and that of his struggling step-mother collide it sets into train his explosive entry into land of story.

Once there we meet traditional fairyland characters but from an adult and darker angle… Red riding Hood hunts out the wolf for sex and worse! It becomes clear that the adventures reflect David’s fears and the choices he must make as he struggles to deal with his grief and anger. To make the wrong choices will leave worlds destroyed but so will the right ones as he learns that happy endings are for fairy stories. But as heaven is what we make it, his death when it comes is not the end of the story.

This is not a children’s story but an adult story about when childhood ends and what life is made as we grow up. Its portrait of David trying to keep his mother alive and his feelings made me cry in the first 10 pages such was the lyrical nature of the writing. The stories within stories are not distractions as some reviewers suggest but insights into the characters that David meets and his own feelings and choices that he has to make. It has lots of comic moments as well as the Snow White and communist dwarfs’ episode shows. However, ultimately it’s a story about growing up and letting go of illusions, which makes it very sad and poignant. So if it gets to be a film think David Lynch or Tim Burton rather then Disney and you are on the right track about the tone of the book. Recommend for an easy enjoyable and moving read.
...less

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comments

Lunar rated it:

(review of isbn 074329890X)

06/28/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone who has a penchant for dark fairy tales or myths.

I have an admitted bias towards fairy tales, myths, and legends, the best being of an exceedingly dark nature. These archetypal myths were the first stories ever told in order to make sense of a frightening and dangerous world. Stories holding similar concepts of good, evil, or carrying a moral message often retain the most psychological and spiritual impact. Such images are more important because they are not unique (there is nothing new under the sun), and Joseph Campbell emphasized this m...more I have an admitted bias towards fairy tales, myths, and legends, the best being of an exceedingly dark nature. These archetypal myths were the first stories ever told in order to make sense of a frightening and dangerous world. Stories holding similar concepts of good, evil, or carrying a moral message often retain the most psychological and spiritual impact. Such images are more important because they are not unique (there is nothing new under the sun), and Joseph Campbell emphasized this more eloquently than I ever could.

The Book of Lost Things is Connolly's offering, and draws heavily on the archetypal tales that have preceded it (there is even a lengthy appendix regarding fairy tales and myths). His protagonist is a twelve-year old English boy named David, who is slowly pulled into a fantastic world of woodsman, lycanthropes, trolls, and a possibly malevolent being called the Crooked Man. Like most archetypal protagonists, David's encounters in this world prove to test his mettle and teach him difficult life lessons. There are parallels to what David is experiencing in his real life with the death of his mother, his jealously of his new brother, and fears of abandonment. There are also elements of Stephen King, C.S. Lewis, and the 80s movie "Labyrinth." Despite the fact that Connolly draws on the older tales, David's adventures are presented with enough skill and uniqueness as to be engaging, while at the same time tapping into the reader's own life experiences, or even the Jungian collective if one believes in that sort of thing.

The only problem I would have (and I have noticed this in his other fiction) is that Connolly often breaks one of the first rules of writing: show don't tell. If this were simply a book for young adults, this might be forgiven. There are points in the book where characters emotions are described using adjectives when the actions or the plot structure should be able to convey to the reader this information without stating in bluntly. In addition, he does this with other aspects (for instance, the fact that the creatures in this realm might be a creation of David's subconscious). In many cases, overtly stating such things is unnecessary, and doesn't give enough credit to the intelligence of his readers.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who has a penchant for dark fairy tales, myths, or who might be interested in re-visiting some aspects of their childhood that contributed to making them who they are today.

"For in every adult lies the child that was, and in every child lies the adult that will be." ...less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Meagan rated it:

(review of isbn 074329890X)

03/28/08

Read in March, 2007

I randomly selected this book from the young adult section and was immediately caught up in the narrative's quirky cadence. In fact the quirk is exactly what threw me off of what the book is really about.

In its barest form it is a tribute to the fairy tale's of the past. Very dark, but very good. The twist on Red Riding Hood or "The Woodsman First Tale", was the first blunt indication of this. But I sensed it before.

That aside, it was actually very engaging toward the end. It w...more I randomly selected this book from the young adult section and was immediately caught up in the narrative's quirky cadence. In fact the quirk is exactly what threw me off of what the book is really about.

In its barest form it is a tribute to the fairy tale's of the past. Very dark, but very good. The twist on Red Riding Hood or "The Woodsman First Tale", was the first blunt indication of this. But I sensed it before.

That aside, it was actually very engaging toward the end. It was everything a fairytale should be while still retaining a sense of real world loss and realistic value.

Of course it throws in that "Did it really happen" factor out there but perhaps that has become necessary.

Essentially it is about a boy who looses his mother to cancer in the 1940's who then begins to hear books speak to him. Shortly after his father's second marriage and the birth of his half brother, David follows the voice of his mother and the calling of stories into the hole in the wall of the sunken garden. He reappears in a strange new world. The kind where trees bleed and the blood of children sprouts the growth of flowers. He meets the Woodsman who, though he is first suspicious of him, saves him from the half wolf half human beasts, the Loups.
It is not until David discovers he cannot return home, that his adventure and this modern day twist on the grimmest of tales, really takes off.

Along the way he meets some very interesting characters, including a knight who is one of the most loyal and truest characters and yes, homosexual. Though the knight's sexuality is not blatant, and while it is hinted at, not in the joking manner we are accustomed to. I was impressed with both the issue's presence in the book and the serious manner in which it is dealt.

It's about 360 pages, but a really quick read. I read it in a week and was delaying finishing it so I'd still having something to read on my lunch breaks :)
If you've got just a little spare time I definitely recommend it.

It is probably not for everyone, but it is definitely for those who appreciate the grim, the fantastical, the real, and yes even a bit of sarcastic irony.

NOTE: to you cynical and diabolic readers out there. NO the knight does not come on to the young child. Ah hem, I said I was proud of the way it was dealt with. Thank you. :)...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comments

Molly rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

01/13/08

bookshelves: book-club

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: fairytale afficionados

I would have liked to give this book 3 1/2 stars rather than 4 but that's not allowed on here. I suppose the story was good; I don't have any complaints about the plot. Yet, I was never really pulled into the story. I had no qualms about putting this book down for a week to read a couple other books, which is sort of unusual for me. And the thing is, I usually adore fairytale-esque books. However, the characters all seemed sort of flat. I'm not sure why though. Perhaps because it seemed like any...more I would have liked to give this book 3 1/2 stars rather than 4 but that's not allowed on here. I suppose the story was good; I don't have any complaints about the plot. Yet, I was never really pulled into the story. I had no qualms about putting this book down for a week to read a couple other books, which is sort of unusual for me. And the thing is, I usually adore fairytale-esque books. However, the characters all seemed sort of flat. I'm not sure why though. Perhaps because it seemed like any time Connolly gave us insights into their thoughts and personalities it just came across matter-of-factly and emotionless. The entire story felt like it was being apathetically told by someone who had heard it too many times before.
It reminded me of a couple other books though. At the beginning when there was a lot of talk about David's obsessive/borderline escapist love for reading and the way the books were whispering and such, I thought of Inkheart. Then when Roland and the Woodsman were telling David their tales and it would say "Roland's First Tale" I was strongly reminded of the Canterbury Tale.
The only thing that really through me for a loop was Roland's quest for his soulmate- that he's gay. Not because I am opposed to that sort of thing, but because the book has a children's story quality to it, so it was very odd to have this gay character thrown in. It felt sort of like Connolly was trying to remind us that he is in fact writing an adult's novel or something.
My favorite parts about this book? The dwarves for one :). And actually, I really enjoyed the part in the back of my book where Connolly has put in the original fairytales (by the Grimm Brothers and such) that inspired him, the passages that he put them into, and his explanations. I loved reading all the original tales. The weird part was that whenever Connolly would say like oh I put such-and-such theme in here for such-and-such reason, or, this part was a metaphor to show such-and-such I was like, "are you serious?" because I totally didn't see any of those themes in it. Maybe I'm just clueless, or maybe Connolly just sucks at making his themes discernable.
So, in conclusion, I really wanted to love this book but I find myself just barely liking it, and I find it a bit sad that my favorite part of the book was not the actual story....less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

J rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

06/11/07

Read in March, 2007

recommends it for: Adults who like fairy tales

I love fairy tales, particularly the original versions where the bad children get eaten by monsters in the Black Forest and no one ends up living happily-ever-after. I used to spend hours reading my mother's childhood fairy tale books, which were quite a bit darker than the ones I had, and I used to read my grandmother's 1920's Oz books, which were also surprisingly creepy (one character, I remember, was cut in half lengthwise and had to walk around like that). So this book, which is more or l...more I love fairy tales, particularly the original versions where the bad children get eaten by monsters in the Black Forest and no one ends up living happily-ever-after. I used to spend hours reading my mother's childhood fairy tale books, which were quite a bit darker than the ones I had, and I used to read my grandmother's 1920's Oz books, which were also surprisingly creepy (one character, I remember, was cut in half lengthwise and had to walk around like that). So this book, which is more or less pitched as a dark fairy tale, sounded good to me.

I would have to say that this is one of the absolute best stories I've ever read. It's extremely dark, and is an allegory for adult life. But most of all, it captures exactly what it's like to be in the "in-between" years of being not quite a child or a teenager. In this case, it is set in 1940's Britain, so there is the added drama of WWII as well as the time period making it believable that a twelve-year-old is still fairly innocent.

Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother. He is angry and alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a land that is a strange reflection of his own world, populated by heroes and monsters, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book... The Book of Lost Things.

Although parts of this book were predictable, as all fairy tales can be, it never descended into the trite or sappy. The ending, for example, was absolutely perfect - one of those stories where you shut the book and the story stays with you for days. It is bittersweet, but incredibly well done. I love Connolly's writing style, and I will definitely be checking out his other works now. I highly recommend The Book of Lost Things, and will be putting it on my wishlist to remind myself to pick up my own copy.
...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Abby rated it:

09/26/07

bookshelves: fantasy

Hmmmm. What to say about this book...

Okay, in many ways, brilliant. It started off reading like a children's story and I was immediately thinking that I'd lend it to my 8-year-old niece. But as the book progressed, it moved further and further into a clear adult-fantasy. And like many adult-fantasy authors these days, Connelly has taken old fables/fairy tales and put his own twist on them. Rather than revelling them into an entire story, like Gregory Maguire does, Connelly just keeps them as...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

LJ rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

08/13/07

bookshelves: england, horror, paranormal_fantasy, ww2_1939-45

Read in December, 2006

THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS (Dark Fantasy/England/WWII) – Okay
Connolly, John – Standalone
Hodder & Stoughton, 2006- UK Hardcover
*** 12-year-old David loves to read and, upon the death of his mother, hears books talking. Still mourning the loss of his mother, his father tells him he’ll have a new mother and a baby brother or sister. They move out of London to his stepmother Rose’s huge house in the country where he is given a room filled with books but feels angry and displaced by ...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

Beth rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

07/10/08

bookshelves: 2008-50bookchallenge, general-fiction, mystery-thriller

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Beth by: Sarah B.
recommends it for: people who like creepy fairy tales

Anybody who thinks the phrase “fast read” is synonymous with pointless fluff has likely never read or heard of this book. It’s dark, twisted and extremely creepy at certain parts and it was wonderful!

The main character is a 12-year-old boy named David whose mother is extremely ill and dies shortly after the book begins. The boy had developed some slightly OCD tendencies (such as counting and touching doorknobs) prior to his mother’s death. Afterwards, some of his issues became m...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

06/03/08

bookshelves: 2008-books-read, fantasy, horror

Read in June, 2008

This book is what would happen if you were to truly step into a world populated by characters from all the children's fairy tales that don't end so well. It would be a very scary world indeed. I started out not liking the author's writing style, but I was completely drawn in by the end. David's mother dies and his father remarries and has another child. Of course, David doesn't like this and loses himself in his books ... literally. One day he finds that he's stepped through the trunk of a tree ...more

Like this review? yes

1 comments

Dianne rated it:

(review of isbn 074329890X)

07/06/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: lovers and respecters of folklore

A diverting and surprisingly profound little fantasy about a child who comes to terms with his mother's death and his father's remarriage by disappearing into the world of fairy tales. I'm often skeptical of stories that base themselves on fairy tales and folklore. Many authors seem to feel that the gruesome or scary parts of the tales are inappropriate for children and want to expurgate them. But childhood is full of very real horrors, and fairy tales, in their abstraction, provide a safe me...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Mary-Beth rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

04/04/08

bookshelves: fantasy, fiction

This book depicted a dark world of fairy tales into which a boy named David falls because of his jealousy over his father's new wife and her baby son. There are lots of concepts from classic fairy tales in this strange world which David enters, but despite the dark atmosphere the book never really gets frightening in that way where you think it's going to all end badly. David seems to have the keys to meaning in the strange world he finds himself in or to gain them as he grows as a character and...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Kris rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

04/01/08

bookshelves: ya-books

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone with an imagination and a morbid sense of adventure.

A young boy loses his mother to illness and his father remarries and has a new child. All difficult things for a child to deal with that had a wonderful and loving childhood and terribly misses his mother. He wakes up one night to hear his mother calling to him from the distance. He follows her voice to a crack in the garden wall to be lead into another world, completely different than what he is used to.
The adventure begins with a Woodsman for a guide and protector from the wild animals th...more

Like this review? yes

3 comments

Mike rated it:

(review of isbn 074329890X)

03/27/08

Read in March, 2008

The book is about a lil boy named David living in WWII England. David loves to read. His escape from the real world where his mother is sick and there’s a war brewing are the stories his mom introduced him to. When his mother dies his whole world is thrown into upheaval. After time his father moves on some and begins dating another woman. David starts having "episodes" where he can hear the books all around him talking. When the war becomes a reality in the city his father move...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Lisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

11/17/07

Read in November, 2007

So far so good! I read about 5 chapters last night and I'm enjoying it.

Update, 11/17: Well, I finished this book on the bus back from LA last night and it was fantastic! It's about a young boy who crosses over into an alternate universe populated by characters and creatures from fairy tales...but these are the dark, adult versions of the fairy tales. Some of the stories are funny-- Snow White is a fat pig who bosses the poor seven dwarves around because they are forced by the court to take ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comments

Mark rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

12/05/07

bookshelves: recentlyread

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: Amy, Juli, Bianca

an adult fairy tale from the pov of a young boy who hears books talking (seems appropriate to be listening to it on audio!); creepy in that English wartime, escape-from-London sort of way (a more sinister Narnia?)... update: finished it and loved it. Though I called it an adult fairy tale, it's (also) a children's fable--and should/could be read by kids, though I suppose their hyperprotective mums & dads wd object b/c it's "scary"--it deals with crucial aspects of childhood (fear...more

Like this review? yes

1 comments

April rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

07/07/08

Read in June, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0743298853)

06/08/08

Read in June, 2008

I think I’m going to be unpopular with this one, but it is what it is. Here we go. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly is indisputedly about the loss of innocence, of leaving the cocoon of childhood and becoming an adult. I get it. I just didn’t get it. I thought it was too dark - unnecessarily dark. An example, only one of many, is the story I’ve already alluded to elsewhere in which Little Red Riding Hood had a bit of a different encounter with the wolf and created a new species of ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Oi Yin rated it:

(review of isbn 074329890X)

03/05/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Grown-up Children

Connelly paints a story of the every child; the one who has been displaced by a younger sibling, whether it be by natural birth or remarriage. There lies within every child that sense of resentment towards the new attention grabber that no amount of reassurance and attention by the parents will soothe. His story takes us on a fantastical journey of the mind where the protagonist, David finds himself.

The author brings the original fairytales to play, as opposed to the "happy endings&qu...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Lola rated it:

The Book of Lost Things

discuss this book

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

lists with this book

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2765)