The Book of Lost Things, a review
I hope you all had a good weekend. It’s been a long, miserable week. I say “miserable” because of the heat. Our summers, this far north, aren’t usually so hot. It has been 90 degrees or better ALL week, though. Blah!
Anyway…I am here to review, not complain about the heat. I am going to review The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It is a young adult novel (which I seem to be reading a lot of, lately) set in World War II era England.
Young David and his mother shared a love of books. She would always read to him and, as her unnamed disease ravaged her body, David began reading to her. One day, while at school, David learns that his mother succumbed to the disease.
After his mother’s passing, David begins to hear his books whispering to him. They whisper their tales, and entice him to read them. While spending his time reading, David doesn’t realize that his father has entered a relationship with another woman. Taking an instant dislike to Rose, David is distraught when his father marries her, and father’s a child—David’s new half-brother—named Georgie. As his emotions roil, David begins having “fits”. He passes out, and catches glimpses of another world: one with impossibly tall trees and beautiful castles. He also catches quick glimpses of a sinister-looking “Crooked Man” that frightens him.
To keep his family safe from the terrors of the ongoing war, David’s father moves them into Rose’s old family home. David is given a room at the top of the house; a room filled with books, because Rose thought he would enjoy them. As he settles in, David discovers a book that was created by Rose’s uncle. He asks Rose about him, one day, only to find out from her that when her uncle was young, his family adopted an orphan named Anna. One day, Rose’s uncle Jonathan and Anna disappeared, never to return.
David has a falling-out with Rose, one day, and his father refused to see his side of the argument. That night, David sneaks out of his house, and heads to the sunken garden in the back yard, and enters it. He feels that this garden is a special place. Through a gap in the garden wall, David believes he hears his mother calling to him. He is hesitant to enter the gap, but is forced to, because a German plane is careening through the sky and makes a crash landing in the garden.
When David crawls through the gap, he finds himself in another world. A world that is not unlike the one he caught rare glimpses of during his “fits”. The world, he soon finds, is wrought with many dangers. David, however, believes his mother is here and he must find her.
David learns from a woodsman that the king of the land that he is now in has a Book of Lost Things. He tells David that he may learn the whereabouts of his mother, and the way to return home to his own world, from that very book. David sets out on an adventure to do just that.
On his journey, David meets an entire cast of fairytale characters, and characters from other books (most of which happen to line the shelves of David’s bedroom). A grotesque, overweight Snow White and her seven Communist Dwarves, terrifying Loupes, wolf-like creatures that may have been born of a tryst between Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, and a number of trolls and harpies are just some of them.
David’s journey is one of growth. When he loses his mother (which was very heart-wrenching), David’s venture into this growth begins, in a way. He is on the path of self-discovery, but meets with many setbacks. A new stepmother, another child to draw attention away from him, and a move from the home he lived in all his life.
The world David enters, through the gap in the garden wall, mirrors his own, even though it is so different. David’s issues, especially the issues he has with Rose, are personified in many ways. He overcomes these issues though not very easily. One can believe that he overcame the issues more easily than he would have if he had to face them in his own world.
The Book of Lost Things had several heart-wrenching moments, which began with the passing of David’s mother. As a reader, I think these moments are quite necessary, as they allow you to experience David’s growth as you were experiencing your own. These moments really put you into the mind of the character, which is important (to me, at any rate) when you have to sympathize with someone who is out of your age range.
It is definitely a worthy read, especially if you enjoy some…weirder…takes on fairytales that you already know. John Connolly also talks at length, after the story, about why he chose the fairytale elements he did. He also reprints the fairytales (usually the original versions) for the reader to enjoy.
Next week, I plan to cover something a lot less kid-friendly. I will be reviewing my current read, Choke by Chuck Palahniuk!
