The Eyes of the Dragon – Stephen King

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

Ben and Locke talk about Stephen King, and several of the author’s books influenced the Lost creators.

Thoughts:

This book is very different from King’s other books, as it was written for a younger audience, and I have to say… he should do more of this! Stephen King excels at wordcraft as a rule, and this adds to it with a level of innocence that contrasts with the darkness of certain characters and situations. The result was a fun and intelligent fairy tale with the slight drawback of predictability. But then, all fairy tales are predictable, aren’t they?

O Pioneers! – Willa Cather

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

I only included this book because it was on some other peoples’ Lost books lists, for the flimsiest of reasons. The main character in the book is named Alexandra, and she’s in love with a man named Carl. This may possibly have a connection to Danielle’s daughter Alex(andra) and her boyfriend Karl, who both lived with the Others for most of their lives.

Thoughts:

What disappointed me was the way the book is advertised as a book with a strong heroine, supposedly an area of interest of this author. However, there are two major female characters, and neither really fit the part. I thought Alexandra might, since she was a good businesswoman who kept the farm going. But in the end, she had an emotional breakdown and only got better when the man she loved came back to her. The other main woman was Marie. First, she cheated on her husband, which is really the exact opposite of strength. Her issues are only solved by her death, which is also not the way to go. But I’m only bringing this up because of the book’s reputation. I’ll try to judge it on its own, not based on my expectations. Overall, the book went from bland to tragic and then tried to pull off a happy, or at least bittersweet ending. None of the characters were particularly memorable. It made a fine tribute to pioneer life in all its diversity, which was perhaps its strongest point. I didn’t hate the book, but I don’t need to read it again.

Lost: Signs of Life – Frank Thompson

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

Again, this book took place during the first season of Lost, though it didn’t include the crash like the others did. This one includes the motifs of art, dreams/visions, and ghosts.

Thoughts:

I liked that it actually added to the Island mysteries, as opposed to Endangered Species, which was basically about a jungle adventure. I liked that, unlike the other two books, it actually incorporated the show characters into the actual plot instead of using them as props to frame the scene and convince us we were in Lost. However, it does miss out on the use of original secondary characters on the Island, which Hapka’s works at least tried to do. Besides that, it annoyed me that Jeff spent half his flashback time sleeping around, which I consider especially wasted space because he’s otherwise the most developed and realistic of the three books’ main characters. The most obvious flaw in the book, though, is its serious need for editing. There were many technical errors, like referring Jeff as Jack within the book and Nick on the back cover blurb, of all places. There were times when the author did things like suddenly jump between character perspectives or break from the Island-flashback-Island chapter structure. Then there was the ending. Just like the Return of the King movie, this book suffered from several false endings after the climax. All in all, this book had more promise than the other two character-wise and plot-wise, but it comes across as a very unfinished product.

The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

Desmond packs it up as he’s leaving the DHARMA Swan hatch.

There are a bunch of similarities, but these are the big ones…

• AFTERLIFE/TIME/ETERNITY: Apparently, eternity can be reached through a church in either universe, and it takes people a while to realize that they’re dead.
• BLACK AIR: The book frequently references a (fictional) physicist/philosopher named de Selby who has a lot of crazy theories. One is about “black air” produced by volcanic activity, which creates night. The Island, of course, has its own black smoke problem.
• THE BLACK BOX: (No, not the black box from an airplane.) The main character in the book is questing after this black box throughout the book, while the Losties all have other things that they’re obsessed with. The black box contains omnium, or energy, which can make anything. . It’s a bit like a metaphor Ben gave Locke.
  • Ben: What if I told you that, somewhere on this island, there is a very large box and whatever you imagined, whatever you wanted to be in it when you opened that box, there it would be?
• THE BUNKER: As in the Swan hatch, the novel has a bunker where two men must keep strange equipment closely monitored. As it turns out, they don’t have to; it’s just another guy messing with them, which is one thing that Desmond thinks as he’s pushing the button in the hatch in Lost.
• CRIME: The main character is a robber/murderer, and the majority of the book takes place in a police station or around police, while Lost is packed with cops and criminals.
• NAMES: The main character doesn’t know his name, though he puts some effort into coming up with one. On the Island, there are plenty of aliases going around, and there’s the Man in Black who’s never given a name.

Thoughts:

For a heavily metaphysical book about a murder in hell, this was a surprisingly comfortable read. It’s hard to say more than that, except that I laughed a bit and that I’ll never look at bicycles the same way again.

Lost: Secret Identity – Cathy Hapka

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Like the first novella in the series, it’s set in the Lost-universe just after the crash.

Thoughts:

This one is pretty on par with Endangered Species, and again, the author tackles a common Lost theme: secret identities, obviously. Out of curiosity, I did some research on the author and found that she’s written a bunch of books – some of them tie-ins for companies like Disney and Lego, essentially professional fan-fiction. That really is what you get when reading Secret Identity and Endangered Species: good fan-fiction, no more and no less. You can tell the author is in love with all the existing characters, but it does mean that in both books, original characters apart from the main one don’t get much development. But no one reads these things for the literary value, right? Just enjoy them for what they are.

Lost: Endangered Species – Cathy Hapka

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

This semi-canonical novella is set on the Island immediately following the Oceanic crash (except for the flashbacks, of course).

Thoughts:

The writing seemed amateurish, especially in the unnatural dialogue. However, it did move along at a good pace, and it handled some of the themes that readers would expect in Lost, if in a heavy-handed way. (The main character’s name is Faith, she struggles with self-confidence, she has a secretly violent past, etc. It is also formatted so that the 23 chapters alternate between Faith’s present and her flashbacks.) The big upshot for this book was that it did, in fact, focus on someone other than a member of the show’s main cast. It makes sense, considering how many people were on that flight, and I’m glad those responsible for these tie-in books decided to take that route. So, don’t expect anything deep, but your average Lost fan would probably get some enjoyment out of the experience.

The Cricket on the Hearth – Charles Dickens

Rating: 2/5

Lost References:

Desmond has read it.

Thoughts:

I don’t mind the occasional domestic novel (Alcott’s Little Women, for example). This one, however, was overly simplistic, even taken by itself and not compared to Dickens’s other works. It does suffer enormously by comparison. For instance, the antagonist experiences an instant, unbelievable transformation from grumpy miser to lonely old man, and the instant change is completely out of the blue, unlike the change in Scrooge from Dickens’s Christmas Carol. If I were to say one good thing about the book, it would be that Dickens continues in his solid command of the English language; he knows how to turn a phrase. But his talents are better displayed elsewhere.

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Desmond’s read everything by Dickens.

Thoughts:

As usual, Dickens cleverly connects his storylines. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stand the protagonist and his obsession with the cold and unpleasant girl who was clearly toying with him.

Notes from Underground – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Ilana has a Cyrillic edition of this book; Hurley finds it after her death. Thematically, it’s about suffering, and it touches on the free will vs. predestination debate. Also, the philosopher Rousseau is referenced (the one Lost’s French woman is named after).

Thoughts:

I’ve read some of Dostoyevsky’s short stories before, but remember enjoying them more than this novella. (I’m afraid I’m just not a fan of existentialism.) As in Notes, he sketched characters so vividly and realistically (flaws and all) that I have to admire him for that. Also as in Notes, he doesn’t always trouble himself with much plot, but that’s easier to get away with in a short story. Here, the first half of the book was taken up with a philosophical essay, and even after that was over, the narrator still did a lot of musing. I think I’ll take a break from Dostoyevsky before diving into The Brothers Karamazov, though I hear it has more of a story line.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Ben has this book on his shelf.

Thoughts:

I loved this book at first – there was more humor and excitement than I expected. Then the storyline took a nosedive and the rest of the book became a string of ethical discussions. Stowe just seemed to lose the plot and ramble instead.