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kaziaroo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I read this because of the connection to Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron, but was very disappointed.
This book is incredibly suspenseful and John Connelly is brilliant at creating atmosphere, but there were just too many sections that left a bad taste in my mouth. I had my misgivings at the start when racist slurs like "g*psies" were used casually, but it got worse and worse. The book is permeated with homophobia, fatphobia and misogyny. The complex characters are all men, while the female characters are either villains or damsels in distress (with the possible exception of Rose, who is still one-dimensional). There are two gay characters in the book (one briefly mentioned near the beginning and one with a major role later on) and both are linked with paedophilia and "unnaturalness". This was an incredibly spiteful book to anyone who isn't a straight, white, well-educated man.
I also didn't like how the author makes enemies of non-fiction books, encouraging the reader to look on reading the newspaper or textbooks with disdain:
"He couldn’t understand most of what they [the non-fiction books] were saying, but they spoke v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y as if what they had to impart was very important or the person to whom they were speaking was very stupid. Some of the books appeared to be arguing among themselves in blah-blah-blah tones, the way experts sometimes talked on the wireless when they were addressing one another, surrounded by other experts whom they were trying to impress with their intelligence."
"Newspaper stories were like newly caught fish, worthy of attention only for as long as they remained fresh, which was not very long at all. They were like the street urchins hawking the evening editions, all shouty and insistent, while stories – real stories, proper made-up stories – were like stern but helpful librarians in a well-stocked library. Newspaper stories were as insubstantial as smoke, as long-lived as mayflies. They did not take root but were instead like weeds that crawled along the ground, stealing the sunlight from more deserving tales. David’s father’s mind was always occupied by shrill, competing voices, each one silenced as soon as he gave it his attention, only for its clamour to be instantly replaced by another."
This is an incredibly dangerous idea to impress on potentially young readers of this book. Yes, fiction is wonderful, but reading and understanding non-fiction is vital.
Additionally, I found the key action scenes disappointing; after a lot of build-up, David seemed to get out of each situation relatively easily. The other characters kept praising how he was brave and achieved what grown men didn't and I was just like... Where? When did he do anything special that Roland (for example) couldn't have done? I felt like I was constantly being told to be in awe of David but I just didn't feel it. The ending felt too easy as well. I suppose it's good that David decided not to sell his brother to the Crooked Man, but simply holding out for long enough magically solved all of his problems – his two main antagonists, the Crooked Man and the Loups, simply disappeared and David trotted off into the sunset leaving the kingdom potentially in chaos, being suddenly without its monarchy.
Overall, I don't recommend this book and I certainly would never encourage any under-18s to read it, no matter the target audience (the book is written in a fairytale style and the protagonist is ~13–14 years old for most of the story). The content is dark and violent enough to make it unsuitable for young children, but I would be worried about even teenagers being influenced by this book. There are so much better things out there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy
rkazoo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
5.0
I’m incapable of reading this and not crying. So many beautiful themes and messages delivered by incredible characters. Ah!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Misogyny, Excrement, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
saskiajva's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Minor: Homophobia
val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Gore, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Sexual harassment
I'm not used to reading dark stories, so to me this was very VERY DARK. Please check all the warnings before reading this book.neni's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed the imagery and the writing style. The fairy tale vibes gone darker were quite well done. I didn't particularly care about the main character but the plot itself followed a path that made sense for a "fairy tale" type story, and these stories normally don't have main characters that are that complex and well developed anyways.
I really liked how dark the fairy tale retellings were and it was nice to see the main character's relationships with other people develop as he "grew up". The depiction of grief and overall of negative emotions in the eyes of the main character was also fascinating.
Overall a cool book, a great choice if you're into fairy tales and spooky stuff.
I really liked how dark the fairy tale retellings were and it was nice to see the main character's relationships with other people develop as he "grew up". The depiction of grief and overall of negative emotions in the eyes of the main character was also fascinating.
Overall a cool book, a great choice if you're into fairy tales and spooky stuff.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Homophobia
chloemakesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Deliciously scary, delightfully fantastic, solidly grounded in real appreciation for and understanding of fairy tales, this coming of age story made my heart ache and leap and pound.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Injury/Injury detail
booksploration's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
The Book of Lost Things is a dark and twisted story about loss, grief, and growing up. Regardless of its playful cover and the age of the main character, it’s not a children’s book.
Here’s a short description (taken from another edition): "Taking refuge in fairy tales after the loss of his mother, twelve-year-old David finds himself violently propelled into an imaginary land in which the boundaries of fantasy and reality are disturbingly melded."
I find the premise of the book exciting, the cover is beautiful, the author’s love for books shines through the story, and he manages to convey the complex feelings of grief well.
Despite all of this, I didn’t enjoy the book. "Disturbingly melded" summarises my overall impression (after reading the whole book) pretty accurately.
A few examples:
Blood and gore - I enjoy a good horror story and am not against scenes of graphic violence in general. However, I think the author sometimes overdid it a little in a way that didn't add to the story, especially since it’s about the adventures of a 12-year-old boy.
A few examples:
Blood and gore - I enjoy a good horror story and am not against scenes of graphic violence in general. However, I think the author sometimes overdid it a little in a way that didn't add to the story, especially since it’s about the adventures of a 12-year-old boy.
Paedophilia and the way in which it is addressed - In other parts of the book, the author described scenes of violence VERY graphically, but on page 47, he used a horrible "euphemism" to talk about the heinous crimes of a child molester: "Now, in another bedroom, he thought of Jonathan Tulvey and Anna, and wondered if a man from a clean little house, a man who lived with his mother and kept sweets in his pockets, had made them go down with him to the railway tracks. And there, in the darkness, he had played with them, in his way." I’m glad that Connolly didn't go into more detail here, but the choice of words ("played") seems VERY unfortunate.
Homophobia - I’m aware that David is "only" a child, but the same doesn’t hold true for the author who chose to write this:"David was being dragged along on a quest for a man whom he had never met, a man for whom only Roland had feelings, and those feelings, if the Crooked Man was to be believed, were not natural. There were names for men like Roland where David came from. They were among the worst names that a man could be called. David had always been warned to keep away from such people, and now here he was keeping company with one of them in a strange land." (p. 237)
And there's so much to unpack here:"A bedchamber contained a naked woman and a naked man, and the Crooked Man would bring children to them (not the special ones, the ones who gave him life, but the others, the ones he stole from villages or those who strayed from the path and became lost in the forest) and the man and the woman would whisper things to them in the darkness of their chamber, telling them things that children should not know, dark tales of what adults did together in the depths of the night while their sons and daughters were sleeping. In this way the children died inside. Forced into adulthood before they were ready, they had their innocence taken from them and their minds collapsed under the weight of poisonous thoughts. Some grew up to become evil men and women, and so the corruption was spread." (pp. 304-305)
Homophobia - I’m aware that David is "only" a child, but the same doesn’t hold true for the author who chose to write this:
And there's so much to unpack here:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, and War
Minor: Excrement and Alcohol
kestrel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
smithe22's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Violence, and Death of parent