Scan barcode
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
niliii's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Death of parent
nicoley3's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.5
This story is an allegory about a boy named David losing his childhood innocence and being forced to grow up all too soon, told through fairy tales.
It is definitely an adult fantasy with some mature themes and frequent violence. The darkness in it reminded me a little of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. None of the darkness or violence seemed senseless though . . . it all served the story's purpose and was symbolic, portraying David's headlong fall into adulthood. It offered me a new and interesting take on life and faith in a dying world--hope and light in conflict with darkness and despair. I may not be great at explaining what this book meant to me, but it was 100% worth the read.
It is definitely an adult fantasy with some mature themes and frequent violence. The darkness in it reminded me a little of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. None of the darkness or violence seemed senseless though . . . it all served the story's purpose and was symbolic, portraying David's headlong fall into adulthood. It offered me a new and interesting take on life and faith in a dying world--hope and light in conflict with darkness and despair. I may not be great at explaining what this book meant to me, but it was 100% worth the read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Blood, and Death of parent
readuntilthelastpage's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
Moderate: Body horror and Death of parent
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
cnohero's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.0
A terrifying retelling of Fairytales. Morbid yet creative. I would would have had nightmares if these were the tales I’d been told as a child.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Child death and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Death of parent
nae20's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, and Death of parent