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The Lost Boys Symphony
A STARTLINGLY ORIGINAL, GENRE-BENDING LITERARY DEBUT IN WHICH A LOVESICK COLLEGE STUDENT IS ABDUCTED BY OTHER VERSIONS OF HIMSELF FROM THE FUTURE.
After Henry's girlfriend Val leaves him and transfers to another school, his grief begins to manifest itself in bizarre and horrifying ways. Cause and effect, once so reliable, no longer appear to be related in any recognizable manner. Either he's hallucinating, or the strength of his heartbreak over Val has unhinged reality itself.
After weeks of sleepless nights and sick delusions, Henry decides to run away. If he can only find Val, he thinks, everything will make sense again. So he leaves his mother's home in the suburbs and marches toward the city and the woman who he thinks will save him. Once on the George Washington Bridge, however, a powerful hallucination knocks him out cold. When he awakens, he finds himself kidnapped by two strangers--one old, one middle-aged--who claim to be future versions of Henry himself. Val is the love of your life, they tell him. We've lost her, but you don't have to.
In the meantime, Henry's best friend Gabe is on the verge of breakdown of his own. Convinced he is somehow to blame for Henry's deterioration and eventual disappearance, Gabe is consumed by a potent mix of guilt and sadness. When he is approached by an enigmatic stranger claiming to be an older version of his lost friend, Gabe begins to fear for his own sanity. With no one else to turn to, he reaches out to the only person who can possibly help him make sense of it all: Val.
After Henry's girlfriend Val leaves him and transfers to another school, his grief begins to manifest itself in bizarre and horrifying ways. Cause and effect, once so reliable, no longer appear to be related in any recognizable manner. Either he's hallucinating, or the strength of his heartbreak over Val has unhinged reality itself.
After weeks of sleepless nights and sick delusions, Henry decides to run away. If he can only find Val, he thinks, everything will make sense again. So he leaves his mother's home in the suburbs and marches toward the city and the woman who he thinks will save him. Once on the George Washington Bridge, however, a powerful hallucination knocks him out cold. When he awakens, he finds himself kidnapped by two strangers--one old, one middle-aged--who claim to be future versions of Henry himself. Val is the love of your life, they tell him. We've lost her, but you don't have to.
In the meantime, Henry's best friend Gabe is on the verge of breakdown of his own. Convinced he is somehow to blame for Henry's deterioration and eventual disappearance, Gabe is consumed by a potent mix of guilt and sadness. When he is approached by an enigmatic stranger claiming to be an older version of his lost friend, Gabe begins to fear for his own sanity. With no one else to turn to, he reaches out to the only person who can possibly help him make sense of it all: Val.
341 pages, Hardcover
First published March 24, 2015
27 people are currently reading
1612 people want to read
About the author
Mark Andrew Ferguson
2 books27 followersMark Andrew Ferguson is a writer, designer, and brand strategist living in Tucson, Arizona.
After graduating with a BA in English from Rutgers University, Mark spent eight years working in publishing, most of that time marketing hardcovers for the Harper imprint.
His first book, The Lost Boys Symphony grew out of his personal experiences with a close friend suffering from mental illness. This story, combined with a time travel conceit he'd thought up for a sketch comedy group at Rutgers, evolved over the course of ten years before the novel was completed.
His next book, a middle grade novel about a haunting in the Empire State Building, will be published by Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin Books for Young Readers sometime between 2020-2021.
After graduating with a BA in English from Rutgers University, Mark spent eight years working in publishing, most of that time marketing hardcovers for the Harper imprint.
His first book, The Lost Boys Symphony grew out of his personal experiences with a close friend suffering from mental illness. This story, combined with a time travel conceit he'd thought up for a sketch comedy group at Rutgers, evolved over the course of ten years before the novel was completed.
His next book, a middle grade novel about a haunting in the Empire State Building, will be published by Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin Books for Young Readers sometime between 2020-2021.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
September 2, 2018
All he had was his memory of remembering. And memory could betray him.
this is a really fun little book. it's also the kind of book that is hard to review without ruining. not that there's a big twist or anything, but it's a very complicated, intricate plot, and unless you're addressing someone who has read it themselves, you kind of sound like a lunatic when discussing plot-points because you have to do too much backstory explanation for anything you say to make sense.
if you are a fan of jonathan carroll, stop reading this review right now and just automatically add this book to your to-read list. this theme is one that j.c. has approached from a number of different angles in his stories and novels. in fact, this book is basically just a longer version of carroll's story alone alarm, which can be read in its entirety here.
not that this is a rip-off, or derivative, but it felt familiar to me in a very favorable way. it's about time travel and being (literally) held hostage by future and past selves and trying to "fix" the things that have gone wrong in life and all the different kinds of love and sacrifice and distance and … sound. and squalor. it's a little sci-fi, a little rom-com, a little funny, a little sad.
i especially like the parts that highlight all the little excuses made to justify one's moral slips in life, like when gabe is trying to/trying not to hook up with henry's val:
Gabe knew at that moment that they would not be resisting forever. They wouldn't be resisting at all. He told himself it was for the best. The longer they went without touching each other, the better it would feel when they finally did, and when Gabe really thought about it that meant that the ethical concerns underpinning their mutual resistance were more or less moot. Better to do it sooner rather than later. They'd enjoy it less. Which in turn would make it more acceptable.
there's quite a bit of stoner-logic in this book. and it's funny.
the time travel bits get a little misty, but that's probably just my own inability to deal with time travel in fiction. and i have one really spoilery question,
i can't really say much more without digging myself into that hole of "so then this happens, but you have to know this first which doesn't make sense until you remember this" and it will just get all murky.
time travel. it can be confusing.
come to my blog!
this is a really fun little book. it's also the kind of book that is hard to review without ruining. not that there's a big twist or anything, but it's a very complicated, intricate plot, and unless you're addressing someone who has read it themselves, you kind of sound like a lunatic when discussing plot-points because you have to do too much backstory explanation for anything you say to make sense.
if you are a fan of jonathan carroll, stop reading this review right now and just automatically add this book to your to-read list. this theme is one that j.c. has approached from a number of different angles in his stories and novels. in fact, this book is basically just a longer version of carroll's story alone alarm, which can be read in its entirety here.
not that this is a rip-off, or derivative, but it felt familiar to me in a very favorable way. it's about time travel and being (literally) held hostage by future and past selves and trying to "fix" the things that have gone wrong in life and all the different kinds of love and sacrifice and distance and … sound. and squalor. it's a little sci-fi, a little rom-com, a little funny, a little sad.
i especially like the parts that highlight all the little excuses made to justify one's moral slips in life, like when gabe is trying to/trying not to hook up with henry's val:
Gabe knew at that moment that they would not be resisting forever. They wouldn't be resisting at all. He told himself it was for the best. The longer they went without touching each other, the better it would feel when they finally did, and when Gabe really thought about it that meant that the ethical concerns underpinning their mutual resistance were more or less moot. Better to do it sooner rather than later. They'd enjoy it less. Which in turn would make it more acceptable.
there's quite a bit of stoner-logic in this book. and it's funny.
the time travel bits get a little misty, but that's probably just my own inability to deal with time travel in fiction. and i have one really spoilery question,
i can't really say much more without digging myself into that hole of "so then this happens, but you have to know this first which doesn't make sense until you remember this" and it will just get all murky.
time travel. it can be confusing.
come to my blog!
March 31, 2016
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2016/03/31/b...
I knew before starting The Lost Boys Symphony that it would not an easy book to review, and now that I have read it, I find I am no closer to figuring out how to put my thoughts into words. What I do know is that when it comes to the prevalent theme of time traveling in sci-fi, few books these days can still make me see the subject in a different light—but this one did. Making a home for itself in that narrow niche between the literary and the speculative, this book probably isn’t going to be for everyone, but I personally enjoyed it a lot.
Time travel stories, by their nature, are not easy to describe. The Lost Boys Symphony presents an even greater challenge because it is unlike any time travel story I have ever read before. On the surface, the focus is on the lives of three friends: Henry, Gabe, and Val. Henry and Gabe have known each other since they were children. In high school they meet Val, and Henry starts dating her. The three have been inseparable ever since.
Partway through college, however, Val suddenly decides to break up with Henry and transfers to another school. Understandably heartbroken, Henry immerses himself in his other passion, music, while Gabe stands by and offers whatever support he can. But then Henry gets sick. Very sick. And his illness is manifesting in very strange ways, making him hear things and see things that he knows should be impossible. Searching for answers, Henry follows Val to New York City, but then ends up passing out on the George Washington Bridge. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a room with two strangers—but in truth, they aren’t strangers at all. They are him, Henry, at 41 and 80. His future selves have kidnapped the 19-year-old him to give him a message, placing several lifetimes of responsibility on his troubled young shoulders.
Rather than summarizing the book though, it might actually be more helpful to describe its themes, like the disillusionment of youth, the lasting regrets for the paths taken and not taken, not to mention the devastating effects of mental illness—for those who suffer from it as well as for their loved ones. At first, I was intrigued by the ambiguity surrounding Henry’s time traveling. Was he in fact seeing his future selves, and as an extension to that, capable of revisiting the past? Or was he simply experiencing an elaborate hallucination, as a symptom of his deteriorating sanity? Associating time travel with a person’s mental state is also interesting, and likewise the mode of it, linking Henry’s ability to travel through time by becoming one with the music and rhythm of the universe.
However, time travel is not the point of this story. It’s not even a big part of it. At its heart, The Lost Boys Symphony is about relationships, growing up, and coming to terms with the decisions you make in life. Henry’s character along with all the versions of him at various ages show how a person can change over a lifetime, and his efforts to go back and alter his future don’t always work out the way he wants them to. Val is another example of a character feeling lost and untethered, after leaving everything behind (her old home, her old school, her old boyfriend) to remake herself and start completely fresh. But it’s unclear that she even knows what it is she wants, and her life does not turn out the way she expected either. Unquestionably, the most melancholic parts of the book are the moments where the “what ifs” and the “what could have beens” come to the surface. If you were offered the choice to find out what your life could have become if you did things differently, would you want to know? For Henry, Gabe, and Val, not knowing might be less painful.
Needless to say, fans of time travel fiction will definitely want to check this book out, though be wary, for this is far from your typical time travel story. It’s easy to get confused if you don’t follow along closely, keeping track of all the different Henrys and the branching paths his life takes as well as how those paths intersect with those of his friends, Gabe and Val. Still, the way the time traveling was handled was one of this book’s most compelling aspects.
In the end, it’s probably safe to say The Lost Boys Symphony is one of the most unique books I’ve read this year. This is a very different book than what I’m typically used to, but the relationship dynamics and mix of emotions really spoke to me. Mark Andrew Ferguson’s novel is a very human tale about life and love, exploring a young man’s grief for lost dreams and hope for a better future. A fascinating read.
I knew before starting The Lost Boys Symphony that it would not an easy book to review, and now that I have read it, I find I am no closer to figuring out how to put my thoughts into words. What I do know is that when it comes to the prevalent theme of time traveling in sci-fi, few books these days can still make me see the subject in a different light—but this one did. Making a home for itself in that narrow niche between the literary and the speculative, this book probably isn’t going to be for everyone, but I personally enjoyed it a lot.
Time travel stories, by their nature, are not easy to describe. The Lost Boys Symphony presents an even greater challenge because it is unlike any time travel story I have ever read before. On the surface, the focus is on the lives of three friends: Henry, Gabe, and Val. Henry and Gabe have known each other since they were children. In high school they meet Val, and Henry starts dating her. The three have been inseparable ever since.
Partway through college, however, Val suddenly decides to break up with Henry and transfers to another school. Understandably heartbroken, Henry immerses himself in his other passion, music, while Gabe stands by and offers whatever support he can. But then Henry gets sick. Very sick. And his illness is manifesting in very strange ways, making him hear things and see things that he knows should be impossible. Searching for answers, Henry follows Val to New York City, but then ends up passing out on the George Washington Bridge. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a room with two strangers—but in truth, they aren’t strangers at all. They are him, Henry, at 41 and 80. His future selves have kidnapped the 19-year-old him to give him a message, placing several lifetimes of responsibility on his troubled young shoulders.
Rather than summarizing the book though, it might actually be more helpful to describe its themes, like the disillusionment of youth, the lasting regrets for the paths taken and not taken, not to mention the devastating effects of mental illness—for those who suffer from it as well as for their loved ones. At first, I was intrigued by the ambiguity surrounding Henry’s time traveling. Was he in fact seeing his future selves, and as an extension to that, capable of revisiting the past? Or was he simply experiencing an elaborate hallucination, as a symptom of his deteriorating sanity? Associating time travel with a person’s mental state is also interesting, and likewise the mode of it, linking Henry’s ability to travel through time by becoming one with the music and rhythm of the universe.
However, time travel is not the point of this story. It’s not even a big part of it. At its heart, The Lost Boys Symphony is about relationships, growing up, and coming to terms with the decisions you make in life. Henry’s character along with all the versions of him at various ages show how a person can change over a lifetime, and his efforts to go back and alter his future don’t always work out the way he wants them to. Val is another example of a character feeling lost and untethered, after leaving everything behind (her old home, her old school, her old boyfriend) to remake herself and start completely fresh. But it’s unclear that she even knows what it is she wants, and her life does not turn out the way she expected either. Unquestionably, the most melancholic parts of the book are the moments where the “what ifs” and the “what could have beens” come to the surface. If you were offered the choice to find out what your life could have become if you did things differently, would you want to know? For Henry, Gabe, and Val, not knowing might be less painful.
Needless to say, fans of time travel fiction will definitely want to check this book out, though be wary, for this is far from your typical time travel story. It’s easy to get confused if you don’t follow along closely, keeping track of all the different Henrys and the branching paths his life takes as well as how those paths intersect with those of his friends, Gabe and Val. Still, the way the time traveling was handled was one of this book’s most compelling aspects.
In the end, it’s probably safe to say The Lost Boys Symphony is one of the most unique books I’ve read this year. This is a very different book than what I’m typically used to, but the relationship dynamics and mix of emotions really spoke to me. Mark Andrew Ferguson’s novel is a very human tale about life and love, exploring a young man’s grief for lost dreams and hope for a better future. A fascinating read.
January 21, 2016
A-Z and PopSugar Challenge with Karly and Jess
A book published this year - The Lost Boys Symphony
f = Ferguson, Mark Andrew
2.5-3 stars
Henry, Gabe, and Val are very close. Henry and Gabe have been best friends since they were toddlers and Henry and Val have been high school sweethearts for years. After a few years at junior college, Val decides that she needs to discover herself and runs off to NYU, leaving Henry and Gabe behind. Within a year, Henry has spiraled into his first psychotic break. But here comes the tricky part, is Henry actually insane, or is he a time traveler?
During Henry’s first break with reality at 19, he collapses on a bridge only to be captured by his future selves, 41 and 80. From here, we skip around a lot, progressing from Henry’s age at 19 into the future as if he had never met his other selves and how his life would have progressed. But 41 and 80 have different plans. Due to his psychosis and tendency to go off his rocker every decade or so, Henry’s life became a mess. So at the age of 80, Henry decides he is going to go back in time and “fix” his past mistakes, starting at 41. When everything goes awry, they go to 29, and then eventually lead back to 19.
Honestly, I don't know how I feel about this one. The concept was intriguing, very reminiscent of The Time Traveler’s Wife and The Butterfly Effect as other reviewers have mentioned. My issues lie in the characters. Not only are they kind of shitty people, but they are rather underdeveloped. Don’t get me wrong, shitty people can be entertaining, sometimes even likeable in their own way, but their lack of depth is what makes this one fall flat.
Henry is a bit of a self-centered whiner, at every age. Granted, I am sure if any of us were losing our grasp on reality, we would all be whiny complainers too. Plus, he obsesses over everything. To be fair, some are on his delusions which revolve around a cacophony of sounds, particularly a sort of symphony (see what they did there) created by noises surrounding bridges. Given these things, Henry is still the most likeable and developed character, even if we have no idea what he is thinking or doing.
Gabe, Henry’s supposed best friend, is kind of a douche. Ever since Val appeared, he has been
Gabe knew at that moment that they would not be resisting forever. They wouldn't be resisting at all. He told himself it was for the best. The longer they went without touching each other, the better it would feel when they finally did, and when Gabe really thought about it that meant that the ethical concerns underpinning their mutual resistance were more or less moot. Better to do it sooner rather than later. They'd enjoy it less. Which in turn would make it more acceptable.
Then we have Val. As I said, she escapes her boring life at Rutgers with Henry and Gabe to go find herself at NYU. She loves Henry more than anything but feels trapped by his happiness with the boring here and now. At 19, I totally get that. It’s selfish, but we all deserve that. I can’t really judge wanting more out of life. What I don’t get is that she bartered with her mother to break things of with Henry so that she could go to NYU. Seriously? Yeah, you love him, I can tell. Even though I didn’t particularly like Claire in The Time Traveler’s Wife, at least she really loved her time traveler and she definitely had more depth and emotion than this poorly written character.
The Lost Boys Symphony is not without its redeeming qualities. It is ultimately a story about love, sacrifice, and how even the smallest choices we make effect our future and the lives of those around us. This is reality and not everything can be painted in rose colored glasses, nor should they be. Honestly, I think if the characters provided more feeling and depth, I would have enjoyed this much more. People aren’t perfect, but we need to know they are real.
I received an arc copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley!
July 15, 2014
This book doesn't come out until March of 2015 but I just HAD to review it (I've actually been waiting for a while but HAH! I'm the first 5 star review)
This book rocked my socks! I really could NOT put it down.
Think THE TIME TRAVELERS WIFE- meets ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND- with a little dash of MEMENTO.....confused? Don't be! Just come to this book with an open mind and your devoted attention- you won't be sorry!
Disclaimer: Read an advanced copy because Mark is a client- but no bs here- I LOVED this book and want to be sure that everyone reads it! Its an amazing debut.
This book rocked my socks! I really could NOT put it down.
Think THE TIME TRAVELERS WIFE- meets ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND- with a little dash of MEMENTO.....confused? Don't be! Just come to this book with an open mind and your devoted attention- you won't be sorry!
Disclaimer: Read an advanced copy because Mark is a client- but no bs here- I LOVED this book and want to be sure that everyone reads it! Its an amazing debut.
nevermind
April 14, 2015DNF at page 134.
It's been five days since I last picked this up, and I have zero desire to do so. I think the entire plot revolves around Val, and that just feels pointless to me since I don't care about the characters or the story.
It's been five days since I last picked this up, and I have zero desire to do so. I think the entire plot revolves around Val, and that just feels pointless to me since I don't care about the characters or the story.
April 30, 2015
5 Stars
The Lost Boys Symphony, by first time novelist Mark Andrew Ferguson is getting my full marks for it's mind blowing theme. There are a some holes and some misses, and the story could have benefited from more, however it is still quite brilliant. This review cannot tell much about the specifics or the details as there would be too many spoilers. Ferguson has created a book filled with passion, time travel, musical interludes, young college students with their whole future ahead of them, best friends, and lovers. Mental illness is a main plot point. Love, loss, and betrayals are all covered here.
This remarkable story is accentuated by the writing style of Ferguson. Time travel books are hard and are rarely easy to follow. I loved that Ferguson did not dumb down the story by spelling out the transitions in black and white. After a few chapters I grew to love looking for the differences in our characters and finding the key words that make things definitive. Needless to say there are many instances of our main protagonist. These jumps were very well grounded by the present day story of Gabe and Val.
This whole book reminded me of a favorite author of mine, Andrew Smith. The Lost Boys Symphony is something very much that he would write as well. Sure there are clearly themes like The Butterfly Effect in this story. The story has such an incredible feel to it. The world building and atmosphere are sublime. I loved it.
A long snippet that shows Ferguson's amazing writing and demonstrates what you will find here. I hope that this passage will win you over to pick up this awesome book and to embark on this mind blowing journey....
“Once, at the beginning of their junior year in high school, Val and Henry were eating lunch in the school cafeteria when Henry stopped talking mid-sentence and closed his eyes. Val knew better than to ask what he was doing. She closed her eyes along with him and opened herself up to the sound of the room. At first she couldn’t hear past the din of conversation, but she let herself relax into that constant babble until it settled into a uniform layer of warm, bubbling static. Then she began to hear the outliers. Trays being stacked. A sharp burst of laughter. The slightest trace of a background hiss from the central air-conditioning. The buzz of music from the kitchen, how the tinny soft-rock ballads pierced through all the organic noise. Everything grew so loud that she could hardly believe she and Henry had been able to hear each other just moments before. Then she opened her eyes again and the room seemed transformed. The colors of her fellow students’ clothing were brighter, her vision sharper. It felt as if nothing had been real until that exact moment, as if her whole life had only just begun.”
At times a difficult read that the is really worth your effort. I loved this book and cannot wait to read more from Mark Andrew Ferguson. Highest recommendations!
The Lost Boys Symphony, by first time novelist Mark Andrew Ferguson is getting my full marks for it's mind blowing theme. There are a some holes and some misses, and the story could have benefited from more, however it is still quite brilliant. This review cannot tell much about the specifics or the details as there would be too many spoilers. Ferguson has created a book filled with passion, time travel, musical interludes, young college students with their whole future ahead of them, best friends, and lovers. Mental illness is a main plot point. Love, loss, and betrayals are all covered here.
This remarkable story is accentuated by the writing style of Ferguson. Time travel books are hard and are rarely easy to follow. I loved that Ferguson did not dumb down the story by spelling out the transitions in black and white. After a few chapters I grew to love looking for the differences in our characters and finding the key words that make things definitive. Needless to say there are many instances of our main protagonist. These jumps were very well grounded by the present day story of Gabe and Val.
This whole book reminded me of a favorite author of mine, Andrew Smith. The Lost Boys Symphony is something very much that he would write as well. Sure there are clearly themes like The Butterfly Effect in this story. The story has such an incredible feel to it. The world building and atmosphere are sublime. I loved it.
A long snippet that shows Ferguson's amazing writing and demonstrates what you will find here. I hope that this passage will win you over to pick up this awesome book and to embark on this mind blowing journey....
“Once, at the beginning of their junior year in high school, Val and Henry were eating lunch in the school cafeteria when Henry stopped talking mid-sentence and closed his eyes. Val knew better than to ask what he was doing. She closed her eyes along with him and opened herself up to the sound of the room. At first she couldn’t hear past the din of conversation, but she let herself relax into that constant babble until it settled into a uniform layer of warm, bubbling static. Then she began to hear the outliers. Trays being stacked. A sharp burst of laughter. The slightest trace of a background hiss from the central air-conditioning. The buzz of music from the kitchen, how the tinny soft-rock ballads pierced through all the organic noise. Everything grew so loud that she could hardly believe she and Henry had been able to hear each other just moments before. Then she opened her eyes again and the room seemed transformed. The colors of her fellow students’ clothing were brighter, her vision sharper. It felt as if nothing had been real until that exact moment, as if her whole life had only just begun.”
At times a difficult read that the is really worth your effort. I loved this book and cannot wait to read more from Mark Andrew Ferguson. Highest recommendations!
July 16, 2015
If any of you readers out there saw this book before, you’ll see that it doesn’t actually have the very best reviews. I didn’t get it, honestly. The synopsis sounds so interesting! I thought there was going to be something so profound inside these electronic pages, and I thought that I would be the one to get it.
Nope. A big fat Nope.
Starting off I was like ‘alright, here goes… this isn’t so bad… best friends… best girlfriend… first chapter hooked me’. I even admit that at first I couldn’t stop reading, sneaking glances at my e-reader during work hours so that I could read just one more page. Unfortunately everything went downhill from there.
Complaint #1: Why did it have to be soooo confusing? Seriously, I don’t want to pay attention to chapter titles that much. I don’t want to have to go back to the start of a chapter because I’m so confused by which Henry was giving us their POV. Was it 41 year old Henry? 29 year old Henry? 80 year old Henry? Or the one that I liked, 19 year old Henry! 19 year old Henry was the only one I cared about. When you add that to the fact that the book also contained chapters from Gabe and Val’s point of view, it was just way to much flip-flopping and confusion. I quickly fell out of the story that was so carefully woven in the first 5 chapters.
Complaint #2: What am I hoping for? Do I want Gabe to get everything? Do I want Henry to get everything? Does Henry want Gabe to get it all, does Gabe want Henry to get it all? And what in the heck does Val want? I had no idea which ending I was supposed to want. And truth be told, it got so convoluted that in the end I just didn’t care anymore anyway.
Complaint #3: I think this is possibly just a pet peeve of mine, but please don’t write a book with the express purpose of sounding intelligent. There was so much time travel philosophy and jargon in this book that I found myself just getting bored. Far too little story and far too much waxing poetic, frankly.
Finally Compaint #4: I seriously dislike books that feel like they have no purpose. Getting to the end of The Lost Boys Symphony left me feeling like I just didn’t understand why we went on this journey in the first place. I know what ‘The Henries’ told us, but for the reader it just felt purposeless. Oddly enough, that is a complaint I’ve read in other reviews.
I feel like I should apologize, so I’m going to. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I just didn’t like this book. I really really wanted to; I swear. I completely wanted to be the person who just connected with it, and got what it was trying to say on a deeper level. Sadly, I suppose I’m just not gonna be that reader this time around.
Mark Andrew Ferguson completely left me behind.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Spark and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you like this review, check out others like it at Badass Book Reviews.
Nope. A big fat Nope.
Starting off I was like ‘alright, here goes… this isn’t so bad… best friends… best girlfriend… first chapter hooked me’. I even admit that at first I couldn’t stop reading, sneaking glances at my e-reader during work hours so that I could read just one more page. Unfortunately everything went downhill from there.
Complaint #1: Why did it have to be soooo confusing? Seriously, I don’t want to pay attention to chapter titles that much. I don’t want to have to go back to the start of a chapter because I’m so confused by which Henry was giving us their POV. Was it 41 year old Henry? 29 year old Henry? 80 year old Henry? Or the one that I liked, 19 year old Henry! 19 year old Henry was the only one I cared about. When you add that to the fact that the book also contained chapters from Gabe and Val’s point of view, it was just way to much flip-flopping and confusion. I quickly fell out of the story that was so carefully woven in the first 5 chapters.
Complaint #2: What am I hoping for? Do I want Gabe to get everything? Do I want Henry to get everything? Does Henry want Gabe to get it all, does Gabe want Henry to get it all? And what in the heck does Val want? I had no idea which ending I was supposed to want. And truth be told, it got so convoluted that in the end I just didn’t care anymore anyway.
Complaint #3: I think this is possibly just a pet peeve of mine, but please don’t write a book with the express purpose of sounding intelligent. There was so much time travel philosophy and jargon in this book that I found myself just getting bored. Far too little story and far too much waxing poetic, frankly.
Finally Compaint #4: I seriously dislike books that feel like they have no purpose. Getting to the end of The Lost Boys Symphony left me feeling like I just didn’t understand why we went on this journey in the first place. I know what ‘The Henries’ told us, but for the reader it just felt purposeless. Oddly enough, that is a complaint I’ve read in other reviews.
I feel like I should apologize, so I’m going to. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I just didn’t like this book. I really really wanted to; I swear. I completely wanted to be the person who just connected with it, and got what it was trying to say on a deeper level. Sadly, I suppose I’m just not gonna be that reader this time around.
Mark Andrew Ferguson completely left me behind.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Spark and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you like this review, check out others like it at Badass Book Reviews.
June 13, 2015
Started out really interesting, but eventually became so convoluted that I couldn't really understand what had happened. The writing had great feeling within it, but the time travel stuff was just too whoa for reading in more than one sitting.
April 20, 2015
Liked the whole idea of this story-- but I feel a tighter edit would have moved it along alot quicker. Great for the YA crowd.
August 2, 2014
If you're the kind of person who likes thinking about thinking, this book is for you. The story is complex - the synopsis doesn't even begin to give you an idea of what you're in for. When asked by co-workers what it was about, I was never sure how to answer. Is it about time travel? Mental illness? Or maybe something else entirely that I hadn't figured out yet. The best way I could describe it is as the flip-side, inside-out version of the Frank Capra film, "It's a Wonderful Life." The ripples we make as we pass through life (here, all set to music), are infinitely more far-reaching than we can begin to imagine.
While I occasionally wished the characters were written with more depth, I also freely admit that, given the story line, it would have been impossible. Also, the attention to the details of sound more than made up for it.
Whatever you do, don't be the only person you know who reads this book. You're going to want someone to speculate with you. Then discuss. Then speculate some more. I suspect this is a book that will stay with me for quite some time.
While I occasionally wished the characters were written with more depth, I also freely admit that, given the story line, it would have been impossible. Also, the attention to the details of sound more than made up for it.
Whatever you do, don't be the only person you know who reads this book. You're going to want someone to speculate with you. Then discuss. Then speculate some more. I suspect this is a book that will stay with me for quite some time.
August 25, 2014
Have you ever wished you could undo a choice you've made or wondered what could have or would have been? What if you were given that chance? Fresh, clever and deeply emotional, The Lost Boys Symphony explores how even small choices can change our future and the lives of those around us. Henry's story will stick with you.
Read
April 18, 2015I can't do long winded books. I just can't. This makes no sense. It has no point. It's not for me. Want my copy? Let me know in the comments and you can have it.
Read
January 15, 2015Before I say anything else, I should say that Mark Ferguson, the author of this book, is one of my closest friends. To some people, that might make my review mean less, but if anything it meant I was paying even more attention to how I felt as I was reading. I had read parts of it before, but what if I hated it in the end? What if I couldn't forget that it was written by someone I knew and lose myself in the story? To add to my worries, while I've always been intrigued by the story, it's definitely different from what I normally read. There are elements to this book that can only be described as trippy, and trippy isn't always my thing.
But I'm happy to report that I very much liked this book. It's true that the less-trippy parts, the parts that dove into what Val and Gabe were thinking as they explored the way that their relationship was changing, were my favorite. But the other parts fit in seamlessly, and overall, the book was a really wonderful exploration of mental illness and how insidious it is, how it affects not only the sufferer but all the people around them, and how enticing it is when you're deep inside it to just give in, as well as a perceptive look at what it's like to be in college and to be just forming the identity that you may or may not have for the rest of your life.
(For my YA-loving friends who are reading this, I think this would definitely appeal to you if you like Andrew Smith.)
But I'm happy to report that I very much liked this book. It's true that the less-trippy parts, the parts that dove into what Val and Gabe were thinking as they explored the way that their relationship was changing, were my favorite. But the other parts fit in seamlessly, and overall, the book was a really wonderful exploration of mental illness and how insidious it is, how it affects not only the sufferer but all the people around them, and how enticing it is when you're deep inside it to just give in, as well as a perceptive look at what it's like to be in college and to be just forming the identity that you may or may not have for the rest of your life.
(For my YA-loving friends who are reading this, I think this would definitely appeal to you if you like Andrew Smith.)
November 5, 2015
The Lost Boys Symphony es un libro que da la impresión de tratar sobre viajes en el tiempo, las segundas oportunidades y las consecuencias de tomar diferentes decisiones en la misma situación. No es desde luego una novela pionera en este subgénero. Ya Claire North dio su punto de vista en la muy original The First 15 Lives of Harry August (que ya reseñé aquí), y con un toque más clásico pero muy recomendable está Replay, de Ken Grimwood.
Pero en realidad todo esto es una tapadera. De lo que de verdad trata Lost Boys Symphony es del triángulo amoroso de los protagonistas y de cómo evolucionan como personas en ese turbulento punto de la madurez que es la vida universitaria americana. El elemento de ciencia ficción es muy tangencial y se usa como excusa para narrar una historia de corte más realista sobre las relaciones de pareja, los triángulos amorosos y las consecuencias de nuestras acciones.
Puedes leer el resto de esta reseña en
http://sentidodelamaravilla.blogspot....
Pero en realidad todo esto es una tapadera. De lo que de verdad trata Lost Boys Symphony es del triángulo amoroso de los protagonistas y de cómo evolucionan como personas en ese turbulento punto de la madurez que es la vida universitaria americana. El elemento de ciencia ficción es muy tangencial y se usa como excusa para narrar una historia de corte más realista sobre las relaciones de pareja, los triángulos amorosos y las consecuencias de nuestras acciones.
Puedes leer el resto de esta reseña en
http://sentidodelamaravilla.blogspot....
May 19, 2016
Henry, formerly a music student at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, has run away from home in search of his former girlfriend, Val. Henry’s always been different — listening to music no one else can hear, fixating on certain objects, and exhibiting odd behavior — but since their break-up, his mental and physical health has been on a rapid decline. One night, he sets off on foot for Manhattan, convinced that he’ll find her among the thousands of other NYU students, and that her presence will calm the turmoil in his mind. As he crosses the George Washington Bridge, however, he is overcome by a fugue state, and awakens in the presence of two men who claim to be able to help him put his life back together. Meanwhile, Henry’s disappearance causes Val to reconnect with Henry’s childhood friend, Gabe, and their initial emotional support for one another blossoms into a deeper ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
April 13, 2015
These are the things that will appeal to people who enjoy this book: gorgeous language, an intricate plot that often leaves you feeling uncertain and unbalanced (be sure to read the chapter titles to help with this!), and a version of time travel that is intricate and unusual.
These are the things that will bug the hell out of readers who don't enjoy this book: all the wordy language used to describe music and not so nice people, what the hell is happening in this book anyway?, and everyone who has read Connie Willis knows you can't change the timeline because you already did.
As you can see I'm conflicted although I know exactly which readers to recommend this to. It is a gorgeous and interesting book. It's also frustrating and in some ways unsatisfying. So, you choose which reader you are and read or avoid as needed.
These are the things that will bug the hell out of readers who don't enjoy this book: all the wordy language used to describe music and not so nice people, what the hell is happening in this book anyway?, and everyone who has read Connie Willis knows you can't change the timeline because you already did.
As you can see I'm conflicted although I know exactly which readers to recommend this to. It is a gorgeous and interesting book. It's also frustrating and in some ways unsatisfying. So, you choose which reader you are and read or avoid as needed.
January 30, 2019
I enjoyed the way music, or more precisely, arrangements of sound, figured prominently in the story. The way sounds coalesced and affected the main character, who had some characteristics of having a sensory disorder, was wonderfully and imaginatively portrayed.
The novel reminded me of Donnie Darko in the way it offered an explanation for mental illness as an aberration brought on by time travel. It also reminded me of Primer, and I eventually reacted in a similar way to this novel as I did to the protagonists in that film. I became impatient with the many versions of Henry's self, and I lost interest in how the paradoxes would work themselves out, because these machinations eventually got in the way of the story having any deeper meaning for me.
The novel reminded me of Donnie Darko in the way it offered an explanation for mental illness as an aberration brought on by time travel. It also reminded me of Primer, and I eventually reacted in a similar way to this novel as I did to the protagonists in that film. I became impatient with the many versions of Henry's self, and I lost interest in how the paradoxes would work themselves out, because these machinations eventually got in the way of the story having any deeper meaning for me.
September 27, 2015
Personally did not enjoy this book and although I did manage to finish it I can honestly say that I'm not quite sure what the story was about and what the author was trying to accomplish.
I choose not to give any further review of The Lost Boys Symphony as I'm sure that there are readers that will enjoy it and I simply have nothing positive to say about it and do not wish to influence anyone either way.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy in return for an honest review.
I choose not to give any further review of The Lost Boys Symphony as I'm sure that there are readers that will enjoy it and I simply have nothing positive to say about it and do not wish to influence anyone either way.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy in return for an honest review.
October 2, 2015
The Lost Boys Symphony was a hauntingly beautiful story that has created a fresh outlook on mental illness. The time travel concept is fascinating and compelling. I found my perspective changing every few chapters along with the ups and downs of the characters. Ferguson writes the main female character with ease. As a woman, I was impressed with the richness of Val's journey. The Lost Boys Symphony had me afraid, excited, and completely engaged. Great book!
March 29, 2015
This.....this is a very strange book. Not so strange that you can't get through it, but strange enough that you'll wonder "what the heck did I just read" several times along the way.
My advice to you is to just keep reading. Don't try and figure it out as you go along. It might make you crazy....
My advice to you is to just keep reading. Don't try and figure it out as you go along. It might make you crazy....
November 5, 2015
3.5 stars...I think
November 24, 2016
This story is pretty original. Sometimes it left my head spinning trying to figure out whose perspective each chapter was from, it just took a few chapters of getting it wrong...to get it right.
March 6, 2016
Interesting concept. Some parts were confusing...it was never clear which version of Henry was in focus at a particular time. The way it ended was clever.
January 22, 2023
Is it possible to change the trajectory of your life, to at least to have a happier life, if two of your future selves visit you and try to intervene? That's the premise Mark Ferguson asks us to consider in this book. Time travel stories are never easy and are often convoluted and inconsistent. Ferguson does a decent job, but he gets in the story's way with so much pontificating and introspection about the characters' lives. We bounce among multiple points of view: Henry at 19, 29, 41 and 80, Val (the love of his life), and Gabe (his best friend). 41 and 80 come back to change the direction of 19's life. However, they change during the process and have different opinions and memories of the past. The fact that they change puts them at odds with each other occasionally. Understandably Henry has mental health concerns. Who wouldn't if being visited by his future selves? Val has always kept him rooted and when she leaves him (during different versions of his life), he struggles. He has similar struggles with Gabe. What the author tries to do is massive, but the story is long winded and unevenly paced. After finishing it I kept thinking about how much better it could be. Hopefully Mr. Ferguson will refine his considerable talents with his future works.
November 8, 2019
I came close to not reading this book as I had too many on the go. I picked it up started to read it and because of the "time travel" and the way it moved around set me free to read read and read. I found the book remarkable because it went to places that the reader wanted to know more about, therefore you kept reading to find out more. For example, where was Henry, was he really lost or did he just not want to be found. Did Val really have an "Annie" OR was she just woven into the story to for added drama. Did she "die" at the age of 11. Did Gabe and Vale end up together for life. The changes in time could be frustrating but kept you reading and wondering, and added delight.
I am glad I did not put the book down for good. I actually really loved it and barreled all the way though it in a short time.
Thank you, Mark Andrew Ferguson.
JoJo
I am glad I did not put the book down for good. I actually really loved it and barreled all the way though it in a short time.
Thank you, Mark Andrew Ferguson.
JoJo
April 2, 2022
Well-written, but a tad on the confusing side. Hated the ending. If you're already asking me to believe a ridiculous premise being told in a very confusing way and a character in the story appears to have a plan to fix things ("he knew what he had to do") then you better make it clear what that plan was and whether or not it worked. The final third of this book was going off the rails and I really only kept going to see how it would turn out. Well, I didn't get it. It's probably mostly my fault since I was ready to be done with this by that point, but it definitely wasn't only me.
Still, I didn't hate it.
Still, I didn't hate it.
January 28, 2018
I started this book about two years ago, and stopped reading for reasons that I can't remember. I finished the book this evening finally, and though the ending was a little abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying, I'm glad I finished it. The ending did not ruin the whole book for me. I really like time-travel stories, and I liked the main character, Henry, in all his different iterations. Val and Gabe were awesome characters, too.
October 17, 2018
3.5 stars.
For me, this book started out strong. It's an interesting concept and story with time travel, a love triangle, mental illness and much more. It is very confusing because the timeline and speaker jumps around a lot and there was a point where it lost me, but towards the end it picked up and I somewhat enjoyed the rushed ending. Overall, I think this is a unique cross-genre work of fiction.
For me, this book started out strong. It's an interesting concept and story with time travel, a love triangle, mental illness and much more. It is very confusing because the timeline and speaker jumps around a lot and there was a point where it lost me, but towards the end it picked up and I somewhat enjoyed the rushed ending. Overall, I think this is a unique cross-genre work of fiction.
December 15, 2020
This just HAS to be one of my all time favourite books. The concept was fascinating and original. It is a pretty hard book to read but I don’t enjoy easy reads anyway. This book really gets you thinking. Its extensive use of vocabulary was excellent and I found myself learning a new word in every few pages. I loved the fact that we were able to experience Henry’s mental illness with him, and it really put his experiences into perspective.
April 7, 2023
The main character of this book is mentally ill. Sometimes he is OK, especially on medication. it is difficult in this book to distinguish between what is real and what is not. There are in this book 4 versions of the main character. Henry is. 19, 29, 41, and 80. Sometimes these characters come together, apparently trying to help the young Henry. It is a difficult. Story to follow. Read at your own risk.
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