41. The Book of Lost Things

* The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
cover illustration: Rob Ryan
published: August 2008




I'd say that John Connolly writes weird books. Weird in the sense that you don't quite know what to make of them. His books are unlike any other that i've ever read. They're dark, that's one thing for sure. Not that there's never a happy ending, but a happy ending in Connolly's books is not the kind that makes you want to celebrate it with all the main characters. It's more like a somber sort of happy ending.


The Book of Lost Things is a good example of Connolly's weird world. It's a fantasy for adult. Enchanting and scary, sad and at times very beautiful. It's about a boy, David, who was lost in a strange world of fairy tales, but the characters he found there were not quite like those he knew in story books. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were entirely different creatures here. And this land was ruled by a king who kept his secrets in a book, the Book of Lost Things. To return to his world, David had to find the king. But the way to the King's castle was by no means an easy ride.


There were times i got really scared when translating this book. Some parts were just... gory, bloody. All those creatures seemed to spring alive from the pages and came after me. I'd say this about Connolly's fantasy world: i'd be happy to be lost in Clive Barker's Abarat, or in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, or even in Neil Gaiman's Coraline, but i definitely wouldn't want to be lost in Connolly's the Book of Lost Things' world.