Erin S. (nantuckerin) reviewed on 9/21/2009 + 158 more book reviews

"Stories want to be read. They need it."

Thus begins The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, a dark and twisted tale that takes readers into a land full of familiar, time-tested stories and beloved literary characters -- and then quickly reveals that, contrary to popular belief, there are no happy endings here.

The story is told through the eyes of 12-year-old David, who has lost his mother and is dealing with tumultous changes at all levels of his life. He lives in the war-torn England of WWII, his mother has recently died after a long illness, and his father has remarried a younger woman and had a new infant son. David finds comfort in the shelves of old, dusty books he finds in his new stepmother's home. He's always loved stories, and these are particularly intriguing. In fact, it almost seems as though David can hear the books whispering to him....

In The Book of Lost Things, David is mysteriously sucked into this land of literature, where many well-known fairy tale figures are waiting to greet him -- some less pleasant than others. Throughout his journey to find the Book of Lost Things -- a mysterious tome owned by The King, and supposedly the ticket to David's return trip back to his own world -- he encounters everyone from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty. But this is not a fairy tale homage for children. Everything is given a darker taint through Connolly's pen. For example, Red Riding Hood was actually in love with the wolf, and pursued him into the woods out of sexual desire. In fact, all of the werewolves and other wolf-man beasts of literature are apparently the result of their union. Snow White is a grotesque and crass shrew that berates the dwarves -- who tried to blame her failed poisoning on the evil queen, and are constantly looking for a prince to come take her off their hands. The dwarves themselves are communist labor supporters trying to rise up against their sizist oppression. You get the drift. Many funny things here, but none of them appropriate for younger readers.

The "bad guys" in this book are especially loathsome, including the aforementioned wolves -- who want to overthrow the kingdom and rule themselves -- and the main antagonist, The Crooked Man, who has stolen children and used them for his own horrible devices since the beginning of time. He alone holds the key to David's return home, and to defeat him, the little boy must become a man.

I enjoyed this book, but it also had a lot of problems. First and foremost is the painfully slow beginning. The first five or six chapters drag on endlessly -- I actually almost abandoned the book because it couldn't hold my attention. However, the action picks up quickly once David makes his journey into the new world. From there, the chapters and stories move along quickly. The book's structure reminded me a lot of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- although there was a primary journey for the main character, it was broken up into small interludes where new characters and stories were introduced. It was very easy to read in small doses, and very easy to pick up again. However, I have to say I never felt like I HAD to be reading it. It was an inventive story that I appreciated, but not a "must read."

Overall, I think anyone that enjoys fairy tales and can appreciate that tender time between childhood and adulthood would enjoy this story. Not quite as brilliant as Christopher Golden's forrays into the land of myth and literary legend, but definitely worth a read.

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