A Review, The Book Of Lost Things

Illustrated by Rob Ryan.

My Cover

"Everything You Can Imagine is Real." —Pablo Picasso

'The Book of Lost Things' (2006) by John Connolly is by far my favourite read, it appeals to both my inner-child but also satisfies me as an adult reader by not brushing over the harsh sides of the original fairy tales that Disney have made 'child-friendly'. I see this book as a testament to the benefits of reading fairy-tales as an adult reader but also as a indication towards Connolly's belief that it is a shame that it is now unexceptionable to expose children to this side of the fairy tale. I personally believe that the original stories are much more beneficial to the reader, regardless of age, as they create a safe environment to teach important, albeit uncomfortable or frightening, morals and lessons about reality (for all of you who are interested in the Fairy Tale Origins try this article or wait for my post on the subject). In my opinion, children should not always get a happy ending at the end of each story, as you are impinging that life is the same. Perhaps however this, for the sake of an easier life, does not apply to stories told directly before bedtime. This being said, I don't think that this novel is in any way aimed or should be read to a child as it goes into the metaphors that even the Victorians tried to brush over.

This novel has the dark tone, as well as Gothic and Macabre aspects, found in Connolly's other novels, however seems to be in another world to them, being that it is not similar to anything else he has written. It seems also to have a lot of aspects of the bitter-sweet Victorian fairy tales which were also dark in content as I have mentioned. It is particularly a study of the psyche of the protagonist, David, and how he deals with the death of his mother and his childhood, in a way it is a bildungsroman that is either situated internally in David's imagination or in the fairy tale world. It also addresses how some children who have been protected for harshness may become more unstable (David has obsessive compulsive disorder and is hearing voices of books in his psychiatrist's office, which is actually an amusing section) if they are not able to confront adult concerns in childhood in a way that they need to, being that David's father disapproves of his fixations with fiction, encouraging him however to engage with newsprint, which I assume David finds too real.

For those of you who have not read it I have included a brief plot summery below.

Plot Summery (warning, you may see this as spoilers)

It begins with a boy, named David, who is losing his Mother during the 2^nd World War. After her death he moves to the county side near London with his Father and his new wife Rose, his Mothers carer. It is a short time before this that David starts having black outs, odd dreams and can hear books talking amongst themselves. His dreams are also affected and in these dreams that we are first introduced to the world of Jonathan Tersely (who used to live in his new house) and the Loupes (A peculiar man, wolf hybrid). During an air raid, David enters the world and becomes fully submerged in a land full of perils that feel too fictional to be deadly. But he learns, as the book progresses, Connolly give a real sense of growth in this character, the plot is in fact a very excellent way of telling a coming of age story. David encounters distorted versions of every fairy tale imaginable including Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Sleeping ‘Beauty’, and Little Red Riding Hood and her ‘litter’ as it were. Some of the stories he encounters include four that are told to him by other characters, as well as one of the most notorious of fairy tales villains, Rumplestiltskin.

Of Intruders and Transformations', My Illustration.

'Of The Deer Girl'. My Illustration

Of All That Was Found And All That Was Lost - The First Chapter

Connolly uses a strong sense of imagery and character placement in this novel, so that as a reader you never feel lost, to me it felt more like I was reading a new form of text that was openly extracting places and association from my memories due to the familiar use of fairy tale and the character found within them. The detail of environments were very impacting which added a richness to the writing. As a novel, is is quiet emotional if you as prone to growing attached to characters.

I was listening a lot to this song (Yeasayer, Wait for the Summer) and others on the same album when reading this, and I just think that the video to this song as well as the entire sound of the album, All Hour Cymbals, embodies the feel of this novel and I would recommend it as a quiet background soundtrack to this read.

I really hope that you may be inspired to read this and as it really is am amazingly captivating piece of work. Also please note that the book also comes with notes at the back of the book which explore the origins of the fairy tale and includes a print of each fairy tale that Connolly used when writing, so its really like two books in one.

'Of The Loups and How They Came into Being', My Illustration

'Of Anna', My Illustration

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17 September, 2014