The Book of Lost Things

John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things is one of the best books I've read recently. It tells the story of a young boy, David, whose mother dies and whose father remarries. Upon his father's remarriage, he moves away from London to the country, where he begins to hear books talking to him. After a series of fights with his new step-mother, and ultimately, his father, David is drawn into a fantastic world created from the books he has read.

Connolly's prose is unbelievably beautiful, and even more than that, has incredible flow that draws you into the story and effortlessly pulls you along. It was one of those books that made you keep reading. Actually, words like "pull" and "made" are too strong of words to describe the effect of Connolly's prose, since they suggest force. It was more like floating down a river on an inner tube, being guided by a gentle current.

I only put the book down once, and that was after David escaped from a particularly horrible situation. A note of warning: although the hero of the book is a young boy, this is not a book for young children. Some of the images are horrifying and gruesome, and the fairy tales in the fantasy world are the original versions, not the watered-down, Disneyfied ones that always have happy endings.

For me, what made this book so appealing was how real it was. Throughout the story, David feels incredible guilt over the death of his mother, thinking that if only he had carried out his daily routines more diligently, she would still be alive. I know that these feelings were definitely ones that I could identify with. David's character is just one example of this; even though most of the story takes place in a fantasy world, Connolly carries this reality throughout his book. He doesn't shy away from the horrible things that happen in life, nor does he shy away from the beautiful things. And because of this, it makes the joy, wonder, and hope that David experiences that much more real for the reader.