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The Book of Lost Things (The Book of Lost Things, #1)

John Connolly

Start date: June 1, 2014

Finish date: June 30, 2014

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What Members Thought

May 22, 2024 Natalie Pietro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: timeless, own, hooligans

This book enchanted me the more I ventured into the depths of this amazing book. Astonishing as this book was, I was more flabbergasted of how I came to inquire such a book. This book just arrived on my bookshelf magically out of nowhere. I can tell you when and where I got every one of my 600 books but this gem I can’t for the life of me remember obtaining myself. It just appeared one day and stay there for years and years until I decided to take a chance on this book. This book felt different ...more

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Apr 24, 2009 Susan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: friendship, paranormal, library-books, to-re-read, read-in-2009, do-you-believe-in-magic, family-relationships, own-in-book-format, fiction, remarkable-reads

John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things is a postmodern take on the classic fairy tale. Told through the eyes of David, a 12-year-old boy living in England at the beginning of World War II, it is a scrumptious book that is impossible to put down.

After losing his mother to a painful and debilitating illness, David's world seems to be crumbling around him. Not only does his father remarry quickly, but to add insult to injury, they have a baby, usurping the place David thought he should have withi John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things is a postmodern take on the classic fairy tale. Told through the eyes of David, a 12-year-old boy living in England at the beginning of World War II, it is a scrumptious book that is impossible to put down.

After losing his mother to a painful and debilitating illness, David's world seems to be crumbling around him. Not only does his father remarry quickly, but to add insult to injury, they have a baby, usurping the place David thought he should have within his family. Anger and jealousy fester within David, as he longs for things to go back to the way they were. Through an act of desperation, David is transported to an alternate reality, which seems to draw heavily on the fairy tales he grew up with.

During his journey through the un-named land, David encounters many strange and frightening beings. Many times, he wishes to be back in his own world with all the problems he had there, but he must conquer this new world in order to be released from it. By making his choice between good and evil, David begins to understand the true nature of love and forgiveness. He begins his journey as a child but ends it as a young man, and "all that was lost was found again."

Despite the fact that many of the creatures are shadows from tales of the Brothers Grimm, the story is wholly original in the telling. The Book of Lost Things sparkles with imagination and incredible detail. Connolly cleverly weaves the fabric of his novel around the classic fairy tales we all know and love, but focuses in on the darkness inherent in those tales. The book is well-written and told with the deliberate pace and style of a classic fairy tale. The characters are colorful and twisted versions of their familiar fairy tale counterparts, and the enemies step right out of the recesses of your deepest, darkest nightmares.

This is not a story for children (or for the faint of heart for that matter.) The Book of Lost Things is delightfully creepy, and I can't imagine the kind of nightmares it might produce in the child reading it. That being said, it was a truly delicious read, and I loved every minute of it. ...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Donna rated it liked it

This book ended up not being quite what I thought it would be (as in: not as readable) but, not as bad as I originally thought upon commencing to read. While I was enamored of the concept of books and stories being ones friends (as they have been mine since I was tiny) much of that focus was soon lost in this world of upside down fairytales and topsy turvy myths. That being said, still eminently readable, though most unlike Connolly's other books. ...more

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Nov 09, 2018 Debie Orrell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Amazing book written to turn our childhood stories and fears into reality. Mr Connelly uses some of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales to create a fantasy for David which then shows him what he really wants.

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Sep 21, 2009 Sarah Posey rated it really liked it

This is a great book with a wonderful moral. I actually read this book aloud to Andy on our last trip out of Georgia. It's an adult fairytale. Quick read, very descriptive, a little gruesome, but very enjoyable. We found ourselves talking about it in between reads. ...more

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Aug 03, 2013 Mandy rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, fairytale-stuff

A very clever take on fairytales and stories and their power over us. Once I got into it, I flew through it, even though I could see where it was going. A little heavy on the moral but very clever nonetheless.

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