Lost Ate My Life: The Inside Story of a Fandom Like No Other

by Jon Lachonis, Amy "hijinx" Johnston, Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Foreword)

?“Lost Ate my Life!” is not the authors’ self-referential statement. Instead, it is the collective cry of the hardened fan base for ABC’s pop-culture phenomenon. The book has two central first, that the creators of Lost created a shift in the thinking of online communities, effectively removing the barrier between the artists and the patrons by hosting one of the largest officially sponsored independent discussion forums in history. Lost bloggers became important celebrities amongst the fan bases, some fans found themselves drawn into the inner circle, and the network began making decisions based on ebb and flow of fan sentiment. Interwoven with the story of the fandom is the examination of Lost’s story its archetypal themes, and its evolution from bordering on the high-concept “cash in” it was intended to be, to the high art mixture of philosophy, drama, redemption, science, and faith. What is it in the formula of Lost that speaks to our collective unconscious so well that millions of fans are easily able to endure such mammoth leaps of suspension-of-disbelief? The book’s story is told by two members of the fan community who witnessed the spread and impact of the fandom from the inside, eventually becoming insiders ― to different degrees ― themselves; one, Amy, deep within the inner sanctum of Lost labs, the other, Jon, ascending from the world of blogging to the world of professional media.

Genres: Nonfiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Amy Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote it :)

[Runa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sorry to bring up all the comparisons to Harry, A History, but the two are just so similar, both being histories of fandoms, as opposed to your standard analysis books.

Let's begin at the beginning. The foreword of this book, written by the amazing Javier Grillo-Marxuach, was one of the best parts of the entire thing. I mean, if I were you, I'd buy the book just for that. But, no worries, the rest of the book continues to be absolutely amazing. As opposed to Harry, A History, Lost Ate My Life actually focuses on the fandom as a whole, all the different aspects. Sure, there is some extended focus on The Fuselage, but that makes sense, as that is the focal point of the fandom, while in HaH, MuggleNet, half of the whole fandom, was completely cut out. Lost takes the extra time to mention all the sites (although I'm a little miffed TLE wasn't mentioned, but, y'know, considering everything else, still pretty impressive). There are moments of braggery, though, that make parts of this book very unpleasant to read. hijinks' story about meeting Bryan Burk just seems so much more down to earth than Melissa's meeting JKR. She doesn't brag, she's very humble about it, and it makes it more relatable and friendly. There are times when the book has a little too much background info, and other times when it has too much insider info, but sometimes, it manages to strike just the perfect balance between the two. And really, leaving out Penny/Desmond? Tsk, tsk. ;)

Rating: 4.5/5

[Sharon Kalt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to step back and remember those great days of LOST and The Fuse. Good times! I truly cannot imagine what it would have been like to watch LOST without all that the fandom added to it when it originally aired. The book does a good job of chronicling and exploring what was happening among the fans, writers, etc of the show during the first 3-4 seasons.