Lost in a Good Book

Published: 01 Aug 2008
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Pages: 512
Format: Book
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tales
★   ★   ★   ★   ★ – 5 stars

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own — populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

You know how sometimes you read a book, and from the first few chapters you already know it is going to be spectacular. That is what The Book of Lost Things is. I knew this was getting five stars and it held up its promise until the final word.

It tells the story of 12 year old David who struggles with the death of his mum and the new changes in his life as he struggles to hold on to the old. Trust me, this is not going where you think it is. As a character David loves books, loves to read and is always reading about fairytales and stories about knights and history. Anything he can get his hands on, but he always returns to the fairytales. For a kid his age David has pretty good insights. A lot are childhood irrationalities, but others are profound and well developed.

When David is propelled into a strange new world and must face what sits before him. Through his books he finds recognition as there are references to multiple fairytales and other books in Connolly’s story, but it is nothing like you expect and even more than you can imagine. It is like a book of fairytales gone mad, but in a sinister but amusing fashion. They clash and cross over and intertwine with myth and legend. There are deeper meanings, lessons and insights in everything Connolly writes and it makes even the stories being told seem like memories rather than works of fiction.

Connolly’s imagination and creativity is amazing, yes there are things he’s borrowed but where he takes them is beyond what they were intended for. The creativity he shows surrounding these characters is fantastic and allows you to see more than what the story requires but opens up this cavern of detail and insight about the rest of the world, what goes on when the story is not being told.

Not many books can make me emotional, like proper emotional. I am not sure what it was, but I’d like to think it was a combination of sadness and happiness, but also perhaps a little bit of admiration about this entire journey and story. They were not bad tears, there is something wonderful about books that make you cry, much like a movie. I’m also not saying you will start crying reading this story but when you finish, if you do not feel differently about the world, about friends, about family, about reading and growing up, then you must turn back to page one and try again because you’ve read it wrong.

Connolly writes this story with such honesty and truth that he hold nothing back about the realities of life, the impact of stories and the importance of family. It keeps you going and you know these things to be true and you admire the strength and heart that this book has. How you could not reread this a hundred times over is beyond me. This book is going to stay with me for the rest of my life and for every good reason