The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly ISBN: 9781442429345
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on November 7, 2006
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 339
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High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother. He is angry and alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a land that is a strange reflection of his own world, populated by heroes and monsters, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book... The Book of Lost Things.
An imaginative tale about navigating the journey into adulthood, while doing your best to hang on to your childhood.
Characters: 7, the character of David was outstanding- relatable, realistic, but I still wanted him to succeed. The secondary characters were less developed but still on the complex side. Given this is written like a fairytale, and includes some very grimdark stuff, I didn’t feel like the lack of complete secondary character development in any way subtracted from the story. That isn’t to say there’s no development there- both the Woodsman and the Knight, for example, have unspoken but suspected motivations behind their help, and some of the villains appear to be acting against their will or in short-sighted ways.
Atmosphere: 8, this story was very immersive. Both the bits taking place during WWII in London, from the macro “there’s a war on but it’s sort of vague in our day-to-day” to the micro “I resent that someone has taken my dead mom’s role”, the world felt tangible. And of course, the haunting fairyland bits did as well. There are some parallels between the Nazis and the Loup, which added a nice layer of depth, and I had a hard time putting it down.
Writing: 8, I thought the writing style was a good blend of descriptive and action, with consistent pacing and voice throughout. I didn’t catch any typos or writing flubs that might send me out of the story, which is nice, but I also felt like the author balanced complexities seen through a narrow (childlike) lens in a way that was neither patronizing, nor shallow. I would read other books by this author, for sure.
Plot: 7, the pacing was excellent and I did have a couple of surprise moments. The re-imagined fairytales were just unique enough that I couldn’t guess at their ending. Some ‘aha’ moments I cottoned on to early, but this is not a book whose sole value lies in plot twists, so that was not bothersome at all. The threats to the MC felt manageable, for the most part, but the effect of his actions on others is what drove a lot of the tension. Which also makes perfect sense, as this is a book about growing up, in a way.
Intrigue: 6, once I was reading it, I didn’t want to put it down. But it wasn’t so compelling that I gravitated toward it over other activities. That may have just been my mood, because I’m struggling to clarify why it didn’t grip me that much.
Logic: 7, both the historical fiction/real world bits and the fairyland bits followed their own logic and characters acted in accordance with that. In the fairyland parts, the villains all had one straightforward motivation for their unethical actions, which they were happy to baldly tell the MC. That’s a very fairytale villain thing- being more transparent than people are in reality, and owning without hesitation the evil of your actions because you feel them entirely justified. The non-villain characters were more complex in that they mostly acted from places of fear and guilt, which seems more of a logical human thing to do.
Enjoyment: 8, this was a nice escape story and I got a bit teary-eyed at the end. I think every reader can find something of themselves in the MC, and perhaps something of others they’ve known in other characters (and even the villains).
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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