Connolly draws on familiar fairy tales to tell the story of a boy who travels to a far-off land to work through his grief and anger over his mother's death. As he fights for survival among strange creatures and evil beings, he also makes the journey from childhood to adulthood. The book reminded me of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," partly because it was set in the same era (World War II) and the same settings (a mysterious country house, a sinister fantasy land), and partly because the themes were similar: learning to cherish and understand the people who love you, learning to deal with death, learning how to become an adult. I enjoyed the story, but was never completely gripped by it.

The book has an extensive section at the end with an interview with the author, and then the author's analysis of the fairy tales and archetypes he drew on in writing the book. This adds a lot to the reading experience.

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Revels in the darker side of the fairytale genre. If you like the reality Grimm reality behind the fairytales we all grew up with, you will enjoy this book.
This is a strong morality tale with out becoming preachy or overbearing - good guys win, bud guys loose, and sometimes heros die for what they believe in.

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Truly one of the most imaginative books I've ever read. Its like riding a roller coaster with your eyes closed. You have no idea where you're going but its one heck of a ride. It reads almost like a children's fairy tale with some adult themes and a very dark side. Well worth the read.

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I picked up this book quite a while ago and am just now getting to reading it. The book starts out a bit dry but ends up as a wonderful classic retelling of some of my favorite fairytales.

As so many of these books about children wandering into unknown lands start; this book starts with David who is in a bit of a slump. With his mother dead, his dad re-married, a new baby brother, and England at war; David is depressed and hateful of his position in the world. That is until the books start talking to him and he starts having fits of unconsciousness. In these fits he finds himself in a different world of castles and kings. After fleeing a warplane crashing into his house, David finds himself in the other world for good this time; and it is a darker place than the darkest of his fears.

David's tale is cleverly told as he weaves his way in and out of the classic fairytales we all know and love. Except that in this book, the darkness and goriness of the fairy tales David encounters make the Brothers' Grimm look positively sunny. The book is well-written and told at a deliberate pace; the writing style stays true to a classic fairy-tale style of writing. I love fairy tale retellings and re-imaginings and this book was an excellent and beautifully crafted fairy tale. As with all fairy tales the book teaches a lesson that both makes the reader hope and despair. The characters are colorful and twisted versions of the fairy tale characters we know and love. The enemies pull at your deepest, darkest fears.

As for this being a childrens' book. That, it is not. I found this book to be delightfully creepy but I can't imagine what kind of nightmares some of the gorier scenes would give a child. I could definitely see this being a good young adult horror book. It teaches a good lesson and is a delight to read. I loved it and couldn't put it down. Now I can't bear to part with the book and know I will read it again some time in the future. As soon as I finished it I started looking up other books that John Connolly has written; hopefully he will write some additional novels that fall into the dark fantasy category because he did a great job with this one.

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Not sure how to classify this book, I guess dark fantasy/fairy tale would suit it best. While the protagonist is a 12-year-old boy, the book itself is a bit gruesome to be considered children's fiction. Perhaps for mature YA it would be okay. There are quite a few gory, bloody scenes and a lot of unhappy endings to the stories within stories--bit like Hans Christian Andersen meets Quentin Tarantino.

David, a young boy who lives in London during WWII, loved his mother very much and watched her die a slow and painful death from what sounds like cancer. When his father remarries a short time later and they relocate to his new wife's home, a large rambling house on the edge of the city, David seeks solace in his second love--books. His small bedroom on the top floor of the house is full of books; some are David's and some old, leather-bound volumes that once belonged to an ancestor of his stepmother. Soon David becomes lost in his world of books and even hears the books whispering to him, has blackouts where he cannot remember being gone. Once medical reasons are ruled out, David's father has him see a psychiatrist and things begin falling apart from there. Very intriguing tale of adventure, but also of life, love and loss. Although the ending to me was a bit of a sappy cop-out, when looked at from another perspective, I guess it works. The story itself though makes it totally worth it.

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I felt the book started out a little slow and even though the blurb made it sound like it was a fantasy novel, I was a little worried it was going to be like the movie "A Beautiful Mind" where it just wasn't real. Especially since the lead character had an OCD problem in the beginning of the story.

This was definitely NOT a book for younger children as it has elements of gore, sexuality and violence. (Teens could probably handle it just fine, though.) However, it was all quite fitting for the story, which had a number of variations of old fairy-tale classics and lots of interesting characters I'm sure you'll recognize.

Overall, it was a wonderful book that I couldn't put down. I'll definitely be looking for more by this author.

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"Stories want to be read. They need it."

Thus begins The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, a dark and twisted tale that takes readers into a land full of familiar, time-tested stories and beloved literary characters -- and then quickly reveals that, contrary to popular belief, there are no happy endings here.

The story is told through the eyes of 12-year-old David, who has lost his mother and is dealing with tumultous changes at all levels of his life. He lives in the war-torn England of WWII, his mother has recently died after a long illness, and his father has remarried a younger woman and had a new infant son. David finds comfort in the shelves of old, dusty books he finds in his new stepmother's home. He's always loved stories, and these are particularly intriguing. In fact, it almost seems as though David can hear the books whispering to him....

In The Book of Lost Things, David is mysteriously sucked into this land of literature, where many well-known fairy tale figures are waiting to greet him -- some less pleasant than others. Throughout his journey to find the Book of Lost Things -- a mysterious tome owned by The King, and supposedly the ticket to David's return trip back to his own world -- he encounters everyone from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty. But this is not a fairy tale homage for children. Everything is given a darker taint through Connolly's pen. For example, Red Riding Hood was actually in love with the wolf, and pursued him into the woods out of sexual desire. In fact, all of the werewolves and other wolf-man beasts of literature are apparently the result of their union. Snow White is a grotesque and crass shrew that berates the dwarves -- who tried to blame her failed poisoning on the evil queen, and are constantly looking for a prince to come take her off their hands. The dwarves themselves are communist labor supporters trying to rise up against their sizist oppression. You get the drift. Many funny things here, but none of them appropriate for younger readers.

The "bad guys" in this book are especially loathsome, including the aforementioned wolves -- who want to overthrow the kingdom and rule themselves -- and the main antagonist, The Crooked Man, who has stolen children and used them for his own horrible devices since the beginning of time. He alone holds the key to David's return home, and to defeat him, the little boy must become a man.

I enjoyed this book, but it also had a lot of problems. First and foremost is the painfully slow beginning. The first five or six chapters drag on endlessly -- I actually almost abandoned the book because it couldn't hold my attention. However, the action picks up quickly once David makes his journey into the new world. From there, the chapters and stories move along quickly. The book's structure reminded me a lot of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- although there was a primary journey for the main character, it was broken up into small interludes where new characters and stories were introduced. It was very easy to read in small doses, and very easy to pick up again. However, I have to say I never felt like I HAD to be reading it. It was an inventive story that I appreciated, but not a "must read."

Overall, I think anyone that enjoys fairy tales and can appreciate that tender time between childhood and adulthood would enjoy this story. Not quite as brilliant as Christopher Golden's forrays into the land of myth and literary legend, but definitely worth a read.

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This is my first John Connolly book and it surely won't be my last. What a gripping read! It starts off with a boy named David who is very happy and content with his life. He especially loves his mom. His mom gets ill and he tries hard, in his own way, to keep her alive. Unfortunately she doesn't make it. Eventually his dad remarries and he and his new wife have a son. David is very jealous of his brother. This is just the beginning. David ends up in a different world. A kind of "fairy tale" type world where things can be quite dark and scary. He goes through many trials and meets new people and in the end learns a big lesson. I highly recommend this book. May be a little dark and scary for younger readers.

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This book was strange, yet I could not put it down. It is one of the few books I read lately that actually blocked the rest of the world out while I was reading. The author takes time-honored stories and twists them around to make a new story. This books screams from imagination filled with fantasy and horror. As with any 12-year-old boy, the main character gets to be the hero. This book is not to be taken lightly and is definitely not for children. This "fairy tale" is written in Grimms' traditional mode of horrifying graphics and not-so-sweet endings. This is different from any other fictional work I have read lately and was a nice change of pace.

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OEN OF THE SCARIEST BOOKS I HAVE READ...BUT EVEN THOUGH I WAS SCARED I COULD NOT PUT THE BOOK DOWN. DEFFINATELY A PAGE TURNER.

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This was a kind of fairy tale that has its roots in other fairy tales, only it is not the watered down kind for children we are used to today. Good story with a modern fairy tale happy ending.

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