The Book of Lost Things

“They were both an escape from reality and an alternative reality themselves. They were so old, and so strange, that they had found a kind of existence independent of the pages they occupied. The world of the old tales existed parallel to ours, as David’s mother had once told him, but sometimes the wall separating the two became so thin and brittle that the two worlds started to blend into each other.”

Connolly draws attention to old fairytale stories to further the idea that stories and the worlds within them have magical qualities. David’s mother’s assertion about worlds blending together foreshadows the world David will cross into. The world David will enter is shaped by twisted versions of the old fairytales David and his mother treasured.

“This new world was too painful to cope with. He had tried so hard. He had kept to his routines. He had counted so carefully. He had abided by the rules, but life had cheated. This world was not like the world of his stories. In that world, good was rewarded and evil was punished.”

David sees the real world through the lens of his beloved stories, in which good triumphs and evil is defeated. When his daily routines fail to save his mother’s life, he feels like life has been unfair and has deviated from the rules he so carefully constructed. However, during his journey to the king, David sees the emptiness of his routines and replaces them with purposeful practices. He also begins to understand that the real world is not black and white, and facing reality means facing the good along with the bad.

“He had always wanted a brother or sister, but not like this. He wanted it to be with his mum and dad. This wasn’t right. This wouldn’t really be his brother or sister. It would come out of Rose. It wouldn’t be the same.”

When David learns that Rose is pregnant, he feels sadness coupled with anger. Although he’s finally getting a younger sibling, it will be the son or daughter of a woman who is not David’s biological mother and therefore, not the family he always wanted. David’s resentment towards Rose and Georgie fuels the Crooked Man’s pursuit of David and shows readers the way anger and bitterness can consume a person and make one vulnerable to evil.

“The ivy growing on the walls almost surrounded the frame, making his room look more than ever like a part of the natural world. Now that he saw it from a distance, he noticed the ivy was thickest at his window and had barely touched any of the other windows on this side of the house.”

Connolly’s description of the ivy shows a blurring of the lines between the natural world and David’s room. It also suggests that nature is moving of its own volition towards David’s room in particular, as if it is pulling David away from his home and into the other world through the sunken garden. Connolly uses natural imagery to create suspense and to foreshadow the personification of nature David will encounter in Elsewhere.

“The air smelled fresh and clean to him at first, but as he breathed deeply he caught a hint of something else, something less pleasant. David could almost taste it upon his tongue: a metallic sensation composed of copper and decay.”

This example of Connolly’s use of smells shows how scent imagery creates a sense of foreboding. As Connolly introduces the reader to this new world David has entered, he explains that something in the air doesn’t smell right, foreshadowing the two dead bodies David will soon encounter. In this instance, smells presage death, a recurring topic throughout the novel.

“He felt a kind of satisfaction in the knowledge that, by his absence, he had made himself more important in his father’s life. Now perhaps his dad would be worried more about him and less about work and codes and Rose and Georgie. But what if they didn’t miss him? What if life became easier for them now that he was gone?”

Through David’s questioning of how his family feels without him, Connolly shows the innate human desire to be loved and missed. The Crooked Man uses his knowledge of human nature to make David doubt his family’s love for him, which in turn feeds his anger, resentment, and fear. The moments when David feels least loved are the moments he is most susceptible to the Crooked Man’s manipulations.

“‘We all have our routines,’ he said softly. ‘But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all.’”

The Woodsman teaches David to adopt routines that have a purpose and bring satisfaction. By leaving his meaningless routines behind and taking on productive tasks, David steps away from childishness and towards adulthood. The Woodsman’s advice serves him well later on when he has a weapon and a horse to take care of, and David shows newfound independence and responsibility by assuming purposeful routines.

“‘You’re part of a story,’ said the Woodsman. ‘He likes to create stories. He likes to store up tales to tell. This will make a very good story.’”

The Woodsman’s words about the Crooked Man highlight one way that Connolly uses stories to create this world that David entered. The Crooked Man is portrayed as a storyteller, pulling the strings of the world to create stories to tell. This quote also foreshadows the many stories David will encounter both on his way to the castle, and in the Crooked Man’s lair beneath the castle. Connolly develops the theme of stories by weaving them into several aspects of this world, including the Crooked Man’s devious behaviors.

“‘They ate her,’ said Brother Number One. ‘With porridge. That’s what “ran away and was never seen again” means in these parts. It means “eaten.”’ ‘Um, and what about “happily ever after”?’ asked David, a little uncertainly. ‘What does that mean?’ ‘Eaten quickly,’ said Brother Number One.”

The dwarves that David meets on his journey provide comic relief in the danger and intensity of David’s journey. Their relationship with Snow White humorously deviates from the well-known fairytale. Similarly, their comedic explanations of the dark twists of fairytales in this world provide an entertaining explanation of classic fairytale terms such as “happily ever after.” 

“Up to this point, he had been largely dependent upon the goodwill of others—the Woodsman, the dwarfs—for his care and safety. Now he was on his own, and the possibility of survival lay entirely in his own hands.”

When David parts ways with the dwarves and finds himself imprisoned by the huntress, he realizes that it’s up to him to escape. He has no authority figure there to take care of him. Connolly shows that David is becoming more independent. In this do-or-die world, David relies on his own wits and bravery to escape the huntress, showing his advancement towards adulthood.

“This life is filled with threats and danger, David. We face those that we have to face, and there will be times when we must make the choice to act for a greater good, even at risk to ourselves, but we do not lay down our lives needlessly.”

David is surprised to learn that Roland doesn’t plan to pursue and kill the Beast. In his storybooks, knights and soldiers never ran away from danger. Roland’s explanation teaches David an important life lesson; one should not go running towards danger without the hope of being able to live. Life is precious and should not be thrown away carelessly. The world is not as simple as David’s black-and-white stories, and wisdom should accompany bravery.

“Roland’s words resonated within him. That was how he had felt about his mother. He had spent so long being terrified at the thought of losing her that he had never really enjoyed the time they spent together toward the end.”

Just as Roland’s fear of the death of those he loved kept him from fully enjoying spending time with them, so David’s fear of his mother’s death kept him from truly enjoying time with her when she was sick. Connolly highlights the inevitability of death, showing it as a reality that one must accept. If one spends life dreading death, one will miss out on really living and enjoying the time one has. Understanding this truth and accepting that his mother is dead proves to be a crucial part of David’s development.

“But David could not move. He was drawn by the dark eyes of the Beast, unable to tear his gaze from it. It was as though a fragment of his own nightmares had somehow come to life, the thing that lay in the shadows of his imagination finally given form.”

David’s connection to the Beast suggests that the Beast was born out of David’s imagination. Just as Jonathan Tulvey’s greatest fears were given form in the Loups when he entered this world, so David’s fears also came alive in the form of the Beast and the enchantress. Connolly’s specifications that the Beast is female and gives birth during the village attack suggest that the Beast symbolizes David’s anger and fear concerning Rose and the way her presence has changed his family. By facing the Beast and helping to defeat it, David faces and begins to break down his resentment towards Rose.

“When I agreed to take you to the king, I thought you would be a burden on me, but instead you have proved yourself worthy of respect and trust. I hope that I in turn have proved myself worthy of your respect and trust, for without it we are both lost.”

Roland’s words to David affirm David’s bravery and highlight the maturity that he has developed. Even though David briefly lets the lies of the Crooked Man come between him and Roland, their friendship is strong and mature enough to move forward. Connolly shows how lies can easily come between two friends and damage trust, but part of growing up is learning to make amends.

“‘They have forgotten you,’ said the voice of David’s mother. ‘This was once your room, but nobody comes in here now. Your father did, in the beginning, but then he resigned himself to the fact that you were gone and found pleasure instead in his other child and his new wife.’”

The enchantress uses the voice of David’s mother as well as magical rooms in the castle to attack David’s sense of belonging and family identity. Similar to the Crooked Man, she knows that making David feel alone and unloved will make him vulnerable to her power. Connolly reveals David’s insecurities and shows how they negatively affect his ability to reason and think clearly.

“David’s anger overcame his fear, and his rage overcame any thoughts of flight. In that moment, he became more man than boy, and his passage into adulthood began in earnest.”

When David sees Roland’s impaled body in the enchantress’ tower, his outrage over Roland’s death gives him the courage he needs to face the enchantress. David successfully defeats the fears inside his mind when he independently defeats the enchantress. He courageously avenges Roland, and as further evidence of his advance towards adulthood, honors Roland and Raphael by placing their bodies next to one another in the chamber.

“David admitted to himself, perhaps for the first time, that he had always known his mother was gone. He had just wanted to believe otherwise. It was like the routines that he had employed while she was ill in the hope that they might keep her alive. They were false hopes, dreams without foundation, insubstantial as the voice he had followed to this place. He could not change the world that he had left, and this world, while taunting him with the possibility that things could be different, had ultimately frustrated him.”

After defeating the enchantress, David finally accepts reality: his mother is gone. This quote supports Connolly’s theme that one must accept death as part of reality. David’s acceptance of his mother’s death and his new family situation with Georgie and Rose marks a significant progression in his maturity. He realizes that staying in this world does not hold any answers for him; instead, he must return home and make the most of his family and life.

“And you think that excuses you? As a child you saw things only in black and white, good and bad, what gave you pleasure and what brought you pain. Now you see everything in shades of gray. Even the care of your own kingdom is beyond you, so unwilling are you to decide what is right and wrong or even to admit that you can tell the difference.”

The Crooked Man’s words to the king show how as a child, Jonathan, like David, could only see the world through the lens of his storybooks—as a place governed by clear-cut rules. However, whereas Jonathan grew up and lost the ability to judge between right and wrong or make decisions, David has learned to be discerning and assertive. David’s final decision to risk death rather than betray Georgie shows the immense maturity and bravery he has gained and sharpens the contrast between he and Jonathan.

“The tone of them changed as they went on, the entries growing longer and more detailed, but also bitter and angry. They spoke of the arrival of a little girl, a potential sister, into a family, and of a boy’s rage at the attention being paid to the new arrival. There was regret, and nostalgia for a time when it had been just ‘me and my mummy and daddy.’ David felt a kinship with the boy, but also a dislike for him.”

As David reads Jonathan’s diary entries, Connolly points out the many similarities between Jonathan’s family situation and David’s. Just like Jonathan, David has a younger sibling who has stolen his parents’ attention, and as a result, both boys feel angry and resentful. However, the last sentence of the quote shows that even though they are similar, David recognizes the folly of Jonathan’s bitterness. By seeing how Jonathan’s anger consumed him, David acknowledges that it would be a mistake to strike a bargain with the Crooked Man, and he finally sees the childishness of his anger towards Rose and Georgie.

“‘I made you do nothing, Jonathan,’ replied the Crooked Man. ‘You did it because you wanted to. No one can make you do evil. You had evil inside you, and you indulged it. Men will always indulge it.’”

The Crooked Man recognizes that all people have evil inside of them from the moment they are born, and he finds a way to get what he wants by appealing to their sinful nature. His words act as a warning to David and the reader that one is responsible for one’s decisions. It’s easy to blame outside influences for one’s choices and actions, but in reality, the only person to blame is oneself.

“The clouds above were beginning to part, and sunlight speared through the gaps. The world was changing, transformed by the end of the Crooked Man.”

In response to the Crooked Man’s demise, nature transforms. Opposite to the dark and foreboding imagery of nature Connolly uses throughout the novel, this new description of the world shows the contrast between good and evil. Connolly uses imagery of nature to create a sinister mood through most of the novel, and then he lifts the mood to create a scene of comfort. His use of changes in nature highlights the sharp distinction between good and evil and the way the presence or absence of evil has a tangible affect in the world.

“David took from his saddlebag the package containing his tattered pajamas and dressing gown and put them on behind a bush. His old clothes felt strange on him now. He had changed so much that they seemed as if they belonged to a different person, one who was vaguely familiar to him but younger and more foolish. They were the clothes of a child, and he was a child no longer.”

When David enters this world, he’s wearing his pajamas, a symbol of his childhood. Now that he has matured and grown, putting his childish clothing back on feels strange. Connolly shows that David has grown up during his time away from his family, and now that he is about to return, David recognizes the many ways he has changed.

“Instead, while others aided you along the way, it was your own strength and courage that brought you at last to an understanding of your place in this world and your own. You were a child when I first found you, but now you are becoming a man.”

The Woodsman affirms the change that has taken place in David over the course of his journey. His words show that understanding oneself in relationship to the world is a key element of growing up. Connolly shows that character qualities such as independence, bravery, and acceptance are all necessary for growing up.