Reviews with content warning for Death - The Book of Lost Things

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

36 reviews

queenshrike's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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renpuspita's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gue masih ingat sekitar 2012 (lama ya), temen2 BBI banyak yang baca buku The Book of Lost Things atau yang diterjemahkan jadi Kitab Tentang yang Telah Hilang. Karena gue juga kepo, akhirnya beli walau tetep aja ditimbun dan akhirnya baru dibaca tahun 2023. Mestinya gue baca ini tahun 2024 aja biar lama ditimbunnya sama kayak usia tokoh utamanya, David, yang berumur 12 tahun. Tapi ya sudahlah, kan niatnya habisin timbunan yak.

Gue awalnya mengira ini hanya fairy tale biasa dengan dark twist, semacam A Tale Dark and Grimm karya Adam Gidwitz. Gue ga mengira, ceritanya bakal DEPRESIF, GELAP dan SADIS . Dari awal emang udah ngebatin, kenapa kisah fairy tale dengan tokoh anak kecil dikategorikan sebagai novel dewasa. Mutual gue di Twitter bilang kalau ini ceritanya banyak konten gore dan juga kayak Narnia tapi versi lebih dark. Buku ini sepertinya ditulis Connolly untuk membuat Narnia versinya sendiri, yang digabungkan dengan kegilaan ala Alice in the Wonderland dan vibe sadis, depresif yang berasal dari setting bukunya yaitu awal Perang Dunia II. Buku ini emang mau ga mau bikin teringat Narnia, mengingat sub genrenya sama - sama portal fantasy (dateng ke dunia lain) dan juga terjadi di awal serangan Jerman ke Inggris di tahun 1940. Bedanya hanya David ini sendiri, sementara anak - anak Pevensie ada berempat. Tentunya tidak ada Turkish Delight disini. Yang ada hanyalah aura suram, binatang jahat yang ingin jadi manusia dan manusia yang juga keji.

Diceritakan sepenuhnya dari sudut pandang orang ketiga serba tahu tapi tetap berfokus pada David, Connolly banyak bermain dengan kisah - kisah dongeng yang kita tahu. Dongeng aslinya yang sudah suram (dengan harapan sebagai pengingat untuk anak - anak. Ingat ya, versi Disney itu versi yang jinak), sama Connolly dibikin lebih suram lagi. Ada awal mula kaum Loup (atau werewolf) yang bermula dari Kisah si Tudung Merah, ada kisah Hansel and Gretel yang tidak berakhir bahagia, para kurcaci yang benci kapitalis dan Snow White yang sangat ga snow white banget XD. Lalu ada juga kisah Goldilocks dan Tiga Beruang yang..yah anda benar, pokoknya ga happy end. Kisah Putri Tidur yang ga biasa, pemburu gila yang suka membuat chimera (gabungan manusia dan binatang) dan kehadiran makhluk jail bernama Lelaki Bungkuk yang membawa David ke Negeri Dongeng dan ga ingin bocah itu pergi. Tapi, walau banyak kekejaman dan kebengisan yang menerpa, David pun bertemu dengan bbrp orang yang membantunya seperti Tukang Kayu dan Roland si prajurit.

Endingnya sendiri menurut gue bisa dibilang "bahagia", tergantung sama definisi bahagia itu kayak gimana. Tapi gue akuin abis baca buku ini gue berasa hampa. Memang benar kalau buku ini tuh sebenarnya lebih ke perjalanan David secara emosional, aka coming of age. Menurut gue juga ini cara Connolly menceritakan David untuk memproses rasa dukanya akibat ibunya yang meninggal terlalu cepat dan rasa amarah serta tersisihkan karena ayahnya menikah lagi dengan Rose yang notabene dulu perawat ibu David bahkan sampai punya anak. Bagaimana David akhirnya menerima kalau ibunya sudah meninggal dan juga akhirnya belajar mencintai keluarga barunya. Menurut gue, bagian terakhirnya memang bagus banget ketika David tiba di ujung perjalanannya. Sayangnya, rasa hampa itu tetap ada karena gue merasa apakah kekerasan dan kekejaman di buku ini emang perlu? Gue merasa dengan tema horror dan twisted, terlalu banyak konten gore dan mutilasi yang terjadi sampe gue mati rasa waktu baca. Apalagi si Lelaki Bungkuk yang hobinya menyiksa orang hanya untuk hiburan. Gue berkali - kali mikir apakah porsi kekejamannya ini diperlukan agar David beranjak dari anak kecil menjadi dewasa?

Buku ini memang banyak content & trigger warningnya. Keterangan "Novel Dewasa" emang bukan sekedar tempelan meski tokohnya anak kecil karena banyak bagian cerita yang berpotensi bikin kamu mual bagi yang ga biasa . Pun buku ini dibaca pas moodnya lagi baik, karena endingnya emang bikin kayak tertegun dan ngerasa hampa. Tapi kalau kamu suka kisah dongeng dengan bumbu horror dan banyak versi twistnya, buku ini cocok untuk dibaca. Yang jelas ini bukan buku untuk anak - anak. Ini untuk orang dewasa yang ingin dongeng yang cocok untuk mereka, karena orang dewasa pun masih butuh kisah dongeng sebagai pengingat.

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marinasjd's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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zsabella's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this is a deceptively simple coming of age story of a young boy transported into a dark, fantasy world. the story carries the same energy and atmospheric quality of the movie pan’s labyrinth (2006) by guillermo del toro but with a less fascistic, war-torn angle. at first I was pretty enchanted by the fairytale-like writing until the crooked man was introduced and I could literally feel my skin trying to crawl off my body. I liked the adult retellings of classic fairytales and fables, along with reading a few others that I had never come across before. I also really enjoyed the woodsman and roland characters who served david as interesting companions! such a solid read for any fantasy fan that needs a stand-alone novel and not an entire series to win them over.

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lisas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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saskiajva's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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literautres's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. (…) they were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being. they lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. they could take root in the imagination, and transform the reader. 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.”

‘the book of lost things’ is a story about a boy named david whose mother has just passed away. while still mourning and trying to deal with the overwhelming grief that comes with it, his father marries another woman and now he is suddenly living in a new house, a new room, and with a new baby brother. between battling with his sadness, loneliness and anger, david takes comfort in books and the world of stories.

however the books start to ‘talk’ to him, taking the form of voices of whispers in the dark and a mysterious black figure that often appears in david’s window, and one day even in david’s room, making the border between imagination and reality even more blurred and blend into each other. when david’s life feels like it is even more ruined, at the same time, david falls into a huge pit of darkness that is the gate of another world where dangers and strange, blood-thirsty creatures lurk and threaten him from every corner.

this was a wild and intense journey. the first pages that portray how david tried to cope with her mother’s sickness and death was hard to go through as well. there is this intense depiction on david’s OCD, that started to occur during her mother’s illness and only gotten worse after she passed away, which just shattered my heart. david delving into stories as a form of escapism is also something that is painfully relatable, and i believe a lot of us dived head first into reading for this very reason. reading this during quarantine while i was sick with covid was a much needed distraction, takes form in a great and enthralling story.

i love the twisted fairytales in it too. never thought i could read a version of snow white where she is actually the villain enslaving the dwarfs and the dwarfs plotting revenge after revenge (they just keep failing, idk). some of them are quite gore—that woman who mutilated animals to combine them into a completely different creature, very much horrifying and a complete nightmare, reminded me of dr. moreau btw. safe to say david went through SO MUCH in both worlds. how was he able to go through that without losing his head completely (figuratively and literally) is beyond me. although actually not really, since he was driven by strong will (albeit a bit delusional—his delusion was caused by insurmountable grief though (and black magic) do not blame the boy) to find her mother who was actually already passed away.

there is so much in this story, the transcendental portrayal of what grief can do to a person, how one can be so enslaved in envy and greed in a much terrifying level one can expect, the desperation of a child, the cluelessness and naivety of parental figure (and yet it is needed so badly), and the most important of all, the magic and the power of stories and imagination.
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pre-review

THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD STORY HUHU its a story within stories just wow. rtc

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