The Book of Lost Things

If John Connolly’s collection of short stories has shown us anything, it is that he is such a diverse writer who cannot be typecast.  The Book of Lost Things highlights Connolly’s excellent writing skills.  Fans of this author beware, this is not a crime novel.  In fact, it leans more towards horror than anything else; a scary retelling of some of our favourite childhood fairy tales.  Apart from being the title of the book, The Book of Lost Things is an integral part of the story and the one thing that binds the good and bad together.

The Book of Lost Things is set in England at the beginning of World War II and is the story of a lost boy.  David, the young boy whose story is entwined in this book, loves stories: the one thing that keeps him happy and the one bond that he shares with his mother before she dies.  However, prior to her death he begins to believe that the books are talking to him.  This is something that he initially dismisses out of hand but it happens more frequently after the death of his mother and the remarriage of his father.  David and his father move in to the large house of his stepmother and he finds himself with a bedroom full of books that he can indulge in. When he gets a new brother, he begins to feel excluded. His behaviour reflects this, especially as his dad is often away from home working as a code-breaker. David's mind is like his father's: at home in a labyrinth.

After a family scene and during an air raid, David disappears - into a land where all the myths, fairy tales and romances come from.  David’s entry into The Book of Lost Things thrusts him into a surreal world.  He finds himself on a quest (not unlike one of the Knights of the Round Table) and in a place that appears to come straight out of nursery rhymes, fairytales, classical stories and other mythical tales.  Along the way he encounters some extremely vicious Loups wolves (that spend part of their time not only dressed like humans but behaving like them as well), an abyss full of harpies, and a gang of seven downtrodden dwarves who have their own mining community and live with an extremely un-pc fat, sluttish Snow White, amongst other things.  His journey takes him to the castle of thorns where his mother may be held captive and to a pitiful and despondent king who holds to his return.  Along the way, he is helped by a nameless woodsman and a disinherited knight while being pursued and threatened by the Crooked Man who wants to use him for his own nefarious means.

This is a very post-modern book. Initially one thinks that there is a very unreliable narrator - is it John Connolly or, in fact, David narrating the story? The novel plays any number of games with stories famous and forgotten.  Connolly has brought together the conventions of not only fantasy writing but also horror and the angst of a disturbed teenager.  The Book of Lost Things may come across as sinister, but in fact Connolly evokes well-known stories and well-known versions with horrific rewrites.

The Book of Lost Things is absolutely fascinating, atmospheric yet claustrophobic, and is written in such a manner as to be evocative of the best-written fairy tales. An appealing, mysterious, thoughtful read, this is a novel to relish and enjoy; it keeps you enthralled to the last page.