Book Review - The Book of Lost Things

This is the first book by John Connolly that I've read. The Book of Lost Things is different from the genre of books I normally read but I was fascinated by it. The author takes old fairy stories and re-writes them as the fears of the twelve year old boy David. Having lost his mother through illness he and his father try to adjust. David considers the rituals he used while his mother was ill, a method he developed in the hope it would keep her alive. After her death he wonders if he'd made a mistake somewhere with his rituals.

Things change as war approaches and his father marries again. They move into the family home of Rose, David's stepmum. Soon David has a baby brother taking his father's attention. David buries himself in the books that once belonged to Rose's uncle. They begin speaking to him. He hears his mother calling to him. One night when he hears her voice he goes out into the garden. A bomber plane is falling from the sky towards the garden. To avoid it David goes into the sunken garden and slips into a gap in the wall. He finds himself in another world. A world of fairy stories where the facts have been changed and/or have the wrong endings.

So begins an adventure. To get back home David must first see the king. He is helped by the Woodsman and a man called Roland but ultimately he has to work things out for himself. He also meets the Crooked Man,  known as the Trickster.

In many ways this is a sad story but also a fascinating one. The way the author weaves these stories into the book is spellbinding. The one I liked the best was Snow White where the tables were turned. It was the dwarfs who tried to poison her and as punishment they had to serve her, She was overweight, had  a fifthly temper and was still waiting for her prince, The dwarfs were so funny. They were communists and had no names, just numbers.

This is an adult fairy story, though young adults would enjoy it. There is a fair amount of blood and gore with each challenge seeming more impossible to solve. Does David solve them all? Does he get home? Let's just say David grows up a lot and sees things differently.

At the back of the book is an interview with the author followed by the origins of each fairy story used in the book and the story itself. In the case of Beauty & The Beast there are two accounts. Writing this book must have been quite complex and I applaud the author for this. I might have to look up another of John Connolly's books in the future!