A Bookworm's Corner: Lost Dreams

In a story that echoes of the 1986 movie “The Labyrinth” and the original Grimm fairytales before someone edited all the gore away, David Connolly’s “The Book of Lost Things” both terrifies and excites with both childhood reminiscence and the many references of the adult world.

In a pseudo-autobiography, twelve-year old David begins hearing books talk after the death of his mother. Then, as his distant cryptographer father falls in love with another woman and remarries, he begins to have random blackouts in which he glimpses another world. The episodes intensify as his baby step-brother, Georgie, seems to steal all the attention until the fall of a German bomber plane sends David into an alternate dimension where the familiar fairytales he is so fond of are twisted almost beyond recognition, and a mysterious Crooked Man lurks behind the curtains, manipulating the events around the boy.

Set at the eve of World War II, the story treats many of its underlying adult themes in a remarkably gentle, child-like way. Even the diction itself creates a fairytale-like atmosphere, and in true Grimm tradition, fountains of blood, frequent beheadings, and other elements of horror seem mundane until you actually reread the sentence and realize what’s going on. The sexuality in the various tales told by different characters seems threatening but not explicit, and Connolly uses circumlocution to describe both Raphael and Roland’s relationship and Billy Golding’s brutal murder. Still, as a reviewer on “Amazon” pointed out “It should be said (and already has been) that this rendering is not for children. And it is not for the faint of heart.”

Overall, David’s world, if indeed the other dimension was influenced by his own thoughts, comes off as misogynistic with its females either dead or monsters. However, it becomes slightly less infuriating once you realize that the boy is projecting his problems with Rose onto the magical world.

And although Connolly, in the interview at the back of the book, calls fairytales “elemental” and mentions that the Brothers Grimm found similar tales in every society, he puts an additional spin onto the stories. When young David moves into his new house, he mixes his own books with Jonathan Tulvey’s, altering the stories. Thus, the harpies speak in poetry and the seven dwarves are communists.

The underlying themes of the story such as dealing with loss are probably the most poignant part of the tale as David goes through stages of grief with a child’s obstinacy, clinging to the remotest possibility that his mother is still alive. It’s his growing up throughout the story that makes for an interesting read as it’s been a while since I saw so much character development. And finally, Connolly skillfully arranges the narrative to blend reality and fantasy so that there’s no way to figure out how much of the action is real. While David glimpses his original world from the fairytale land, implying that he’s dreaming, Roland points out that he can feel pain and experience hunger and thirst during his adventures. Combined with the mysterious blackouts, it’s implied that David may not be dreaming.

Overall, Connolly’s novel combines 19th century formality with a plot sure to echo with anyone interested in European mythology. It’s a definite must for fantasy lovers.

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