Book Review: The Book of Lost Things

I recently read John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things, a fairy tale for adults. A child escapes into a fantasy world, not unlike Narnia, where he goes from adventure to adventure which vaguely mimic fairy tales. But the fairy tales presented are twisted, warped, strange, and grotesque. It is a bildungsroman story of growing up, adapting to family changes, finding self, but it wasn't satisfying to me. I wasn't able to fully grasp the symbolism of each fairy tale, wasn't tracking the main character's growth. I didn't find epiphany or closure at the end. Nevertheless, it was an interesting retelling and revisit to the world of childhood that so many of us have left and forgotten, and I appreciated that reminder of what fairy tales feel like.

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