The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Title: The Book of Lost Things
Author: John Connolly
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Fantasy
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The Story

12 year old David mourns over his mother’s death. He is angry and alone and when his father married to Rose and his half brother pops up into his life, his anger and loneliness become worst and he only have  the books on the shelf as company. But those books have begun to whisper to him and because he is to much occupied with his imaginations, the fantasy and reality begun to meld together. He started hearing his Mother’s voice and this brought him into a land strange. Then his adventures begun in this land of heroes and foul creatures which is ruled over by a faded king who kept his secrets in a book called…..The Book of Lost Things.

My Thought

When I read the first few chapters of the book, I just simply said to myself, “Is this another story of The Chronicles of Narnia?”. Yes, the idea is pretty much the same. The main character went to an unknown land with strange creatures and the conflict was there in the kingdom and he happened to be the next King who will put the conflict to an end. Does it sounds like Narnia to you? I do think so. But the different with The Book of Lost Things is that, the writer got a great idea of the stories within the story. David, throughout his adventures had been told stories by his companions about Little Red Riding Hood, Hensel and Gretel, Snow White and many more. But these characters and the stories are all twisted and very different from what I’ve ever heard. And the most twisted one is the story of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.where Snow White happened to be fat, disgusting, and cruel and 7 Dwarfs tried to kill her with the poisoned apple. Yeah, the story is skewed and twisted almost 360 degree. But it is such a great idea by the author. But all the stories were nicely tied together and the book becomes wonderful and enjoyable.

Despite of all the twisted fairy tales and David’s dangerous adventures, there is something to be learned from this book. Appreciate what you have now, so that you won’t regret it once they’ve been taken away from you. David who is holding on his past, get carried away with his emotions. The emotions make him blind and he didn’t realized the happy life he got. Fear of losing his memories with his late mother make him refused to accept a new family. But then, after all the adventures he had been through, he learned a lot of things and evolved from a child who is immature to a man who knows what is the real meaning of life. I love the ending of the book and it makes me think a lot. Such a wonderful story….simply love it!

Favorite Quotes

“For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.”

“Stories wanted to be read, David’s mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life.”