Younger-me loved this book and current-me can totally see why – this is a poignantly written story about growing up, wrapped up in the fantasy and dark reality of fairytales (although a part of me wonders how I even found this book at such a young age!).

The Book of Lost Things starts with David losing his mother. As she slowly declines from her illness, David develops what some of us may recognise as OCD. Things rapidly deteriorate after David mother’s dies and his father quickly moves on with a woman named Rose. While Rose tries to make an effort to connect with David, his anger and grief turns into hatred towards her and his new half-brother, George. One day, the Crooked Man comes and David is led into another land. In order to get back, he must go find The Book of Lost Things, which is currently held by the King.

Do you know what this book reminded me of?

Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe.

Although Brave Story draws on the tropes in RPG games and The Book of Lost Things draws on the dark tradition of the original fairy tales, at its core, both of these stories are stories of loss and the need for the protagonist to grow up. The Book of Lost Things is a little bit more self-conscious about this journey (especially if you’re a literature student – more on this later), but for the most part, it’s a beautifully written story that shows how David emotionally develops as he meets various people that support but also (literally) fail to accompany him all the way to the goal.

I quite obviously loved all the fairytales that were retold within this story. The book opens with David’s love for stories, and that leads to a world infused with them. If you are a fan of the history of fairy tales, you’ll probably appreciate both the tales in the books and the appendix, where the author writes about how he transform the tales to fit certain aspects of the story, its origins, and shares a traditional version of the fairy tale.

I also liked the characters in this book. While some of the characters in the other world were quite obviously evil, I appreciated the fact that the people surrounding David in his ordinary life weren’t complete villains. While I do think that David’s dad moved on a bit too fast, I liked that Rose wasn’t the stereotypical evil stepmother, and her stress helped show why David needed to learn to work through his emotions.

Overall, I thought this was a beautifully written book about the nature of grief and the process of growing up. Most of the book is pretty dark, but there is a bit of lightness from the chapter on Snow White and the communist dwarves. I’m really glad that I rediscovered this book, and that I had the chance to read it again.