2020 EDIT: 'The Book of Lost Things' is still good and effectively creepy, gory and gruesome. It's all at once a great fairy tales/reality parallel, an other-worlds story, a Faustian tale, and a lost-in-the-woods-in-our-minds metaphorical journey.
I'm downgrading the book now mainly due to it being long-winded and slow moving, containing meandering fairy tale inclusions; not much plot progression happens in each chapter when the young protagonist, David, enters the fantasy/imaginary world (funny how sometimes, in books and in films, the real life, mundane world and characters at the beginning are far more interesting and compelling than the fantasy world once that enters the picture. How backwards). The pacing is a little off in a few points. David, even given his age and situation, can be very stupid sometimes for reasons of plot contrivance; and yet he can be genre savvy and clever in times of plot convenience--I mean, crisis. Not very consistent characterisation, even if it is all a "dream". Also the book has the Bury Your Gays trope.
But I recommend this well written scary book about fairy tales and what we humans can learn from them.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
Very few things I read actually scare me. I won't watch horror films, but for some reason horror books don't frighten me as much. Printed on paper, and told in prose and poetry, the scary things aren't dreadfully scary.
'The Book of Lost Things' profoundly terrified me. It was powerful enough to make me think about my life and about things that all of us, as human beings, fear the most: mortality, and what can hurt us - physically, emotionally and mentally.
'The Book of Lost Things' is a haunting treasure. Though it isn't very original. There are a lot of other works of literature and film that can be compared to it. It's the classic girl-falls-down-the-rabbit-hole-and-into-a-magical-world tale. Only the child in this story is a boy.
A poor, broken boy being pressured to grow up faster than he wants to.
Two ways I can best describe 'The Book of Lost Things' are: 'The Neverending Story' with an adult edge; and 'Pan's Labyrinth' meets a classic novel story (like 'War and Peace'). This masterwork explores childhood and fairy tales in their darkest, most repressed places - deep in the woods of our minds.
There are so many great passages on each page, that listing them all would take too much space, and so this would be less of a review and more of merely gushing praise fit for its own website.
Here are my more detailed thoughts and opinions on 'The Book of Lost Things':
David, the twelve-year-old protagonist, is faced with the worst of the realities that we realise, and that are hardest for children to deal with - the death of a parent, the fear of change, the bitterness and confusion towards strange adults and new arrivals, people not understanding us and our needs, and learning about bad people in the world; and that the stories told to us throughout our young lives might be glossed-over lies. Not everything has a happily ever after.
Set in World War 2, England, David understands and cares less about bombers and his father's role in the war (though he fancies seeing Dad as a spy, helping for the greater good against the Germans), than he does about the drastic changes in his family life - which is much closer to home. When he enters a mysterious world - and a chance to get away from it all - he might not want to go back.
But he may come to realise all he's lost, and what he may find - to know what it truly means to grow up and discover himself, before it's too late. Not coming to terms with what he has already lost, and not moving on and accepting inevitable things, may just sink him into deeper, darker despair. This is another story with a great 'be careful what you wish for' message...
I am a little sister. I have been the youngest in my whole family until I was in my late teens, and I have never felt the jealousy of having a younger sibling. So I cannot imagine how David must feel about having a new baby half-brother - so soon after his beloved mother's death and his father being with another woman, Rose. But I understand that this is another example of the troubles a lot of children face when they are not comforted by fairy tales and stories. They fear their parents not being around for them, either because they are gone for good or they are too busy for them. David becomes confused and angry at these "intrusions". The only comfort he has is in the books in his new room in Rose's family country house.
John Connolly, an author of adult novels, certainly understands childhood. He subtly theorises the connection between children and adults, and what their fears and frustrations are about life.
I love the twist of David being able to "hear" books whispering when he is in the same room as them, and what their characteristics are based on their content (for example, outdated leather-bound history books being worn, stuffy and tired in personality; feeling lost in their useless existence). This adds both the psychological and fantastical elements to 'The Book of Lost Things' early on, before it really develops and the magical world is introduced.
I think that, as the book nears its brilliant end, Mr Connolly does indicate that the mysterious magical realm is in David's mind; the fairy tale twists and subversions all reflect on David's problems in the real world. These reflections are on gender roles (including father and mother figures), sibling rivalry, world war, and on what the Grimm fairy tales actually intend with their messages - and what they say about humanity.
The fairy tales told and explored in David's magic world include: 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Snow White', 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and many others. These tales made me laugh, cry, think and shiver as I realised how much they both influence and prepare children with their dark, cautionary themes. 'The Book of Lost Things' has made me love and appreciate the power of fairy tales - whatever versions of them - even more than I already did as a fantasy fan.
Be warned: this book is not for younger audiences. There are decapitations, mutilations, burnings, bloody deaths, and eternal sufferings - the majority of which happen to children. This is real horror, and it is glorious in its bravery not to gloss over anything at all.
The characters are realistic, deeply flawed, loving, pitiable, admirable, tragic, and overall complex. For example, Roland is a great soldier/leader and male guardian to David in the magic realm, but his character is also a twist on David's other fear in the real world in the 1940s. I won't say what that fear is due to spoilers, but Roland is a non-stereotypical subversion of the kind of person 40s society wants David to generalise and hate. David will have to decide for himself who to trust and think as a hero on his journey.
The Crooked Man is a terrifying villain. He is Rumpelstiltskin and the inspiration for a whole lot of creepy and manipulative creatures that pop up in stories. A figure of our nightmares and deepest fears indeed...
Even while writing this, I honestly don't think I can do 'The Book of Lost Things' enough justice. If you like reconstructions and deconstructions of fairy tales, and if you're not too squeamish, then this is the book to find.
If I have to mention a negative, it's the overuse of the words 'that' and 'had'. They can make sentences overly-wordy and read in an awkward fashion. But the writing itself is still sure and solid and gets into David's thoughts and feelings spectacularly.
It is a horror fairy story that is beautiful, intelligent and life-affirming with its many subtexts. A tear-jerker from the first five pages, I am grateful for all the effort John Connolly put into creating this masterpiece.
I highly recommend 'The Book of Lost Things'. It is anything but lost.
And I'm glad to have found it in my local book shop.
Final Score: 5/5
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