While some are going to balk at the stories-within-stories and the trampling at some of their preferred myths and legends, I really enjoyed this! I would suggest this to anyone with an interest in the affects of grief on a family or the affects of myth on how we view life.

Very well written, though sometimes the prose is very-- weighty, shall we say? It left me very thoughtful in the end, and I like that about it. ( )

This was a re-read for me in preparation for the recently published sequel (of sorts), The Land of Lost Things. Because I devoured the book last time, I couldn't remember many of the particulars, so this time round I was able to pay the story a great deal more attention, and pick up subtleties that had escaped me last time. Before I would likely have given the book five stars; because I picked up more nuances this time, my overall opinion is a bit more mixed.

The narrative in The Book of Lost Things very much emulates the voice in which these fairy tales were told, which is both one of the book's strengths and its ultimate weakness. Where we follow the main character David on his journey to adolescence, particularly where he struggles to come to terms with the death of his mother and the subsequent arrival of his stepmother and half-brother, the narration is engaging and heartfelt, and rings very true; on the other hand, the voice that depicts events in Elsewhere largely appears rather detached, so that I struggled at times to engage with what was happening on the page, even while I was able to appreciate David's character development and admire the author's inventiveness and ability to add a different spin on well-known tales.

The author has appended a number of fairy tales and myths that influenced the story, along with his thoughts, which makes for very intriguing and illuminating reading.

It'll be interesting to see how the follow-up compares to the original. ( )

Not my cup of tea. I didn't enjoy the story, or the narration. The fairytale style wasn't my preference - I prefer more Faerie if that makes sense. It was a bit childish, I guess. Struggled to finish it. ( )

Un canto de amor a la lectura en general y los cuentos de hadas en particular, Si te gusta leer, este libro te encantará.
No es un libro para niños: tiene partes algo oscuras. ( )

I'm still trying to decide what I think this book is about. On the surface, it's sort of in the vein of Maguire's [b:Wicked|37442|Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years, #1)|Gregory Maguire|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WuYKK3vEL._SL75_.jpg|1479280]: the reader enters a fairy tale world that is much more sinister and grown-up than the way we imagined it as children. Just from this angle, it's a really interesting, imaginative, sort of disturbing yarn. Snow White becomes this obese menace who roars at the poor dwarves. Sleeping Beauty is your worst nightmare with fangs. Prince Charming seems to be tragically in love with another knight. And within these retellings of familiar stories, there are new, creepy fairy tales told by the characters.

In addition to this, you have a coming-of-age story about a boy who's suffered the death of a beloved parent. His journey is moving and realistic. So I guess this book is a twofer. You get bowled over by the eery imagination of the author and you get that warm tingle from the growth and development of the boy. Maybe they seem contradictory, but that's life: wondrous and scary. ( )