Lost Boy Lost Girl

by Peter Straub

Book Overview

A woman commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son--beautiful, troubled fifteen-year-old Mark Underhill--vanishes from the face of the earth. To his uncle, horror novelist Timothy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400060923
• ISBN13: 9781400060924
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

My Review

This is the thing about Straub's books: They are folded in on themselves so tightly that sometimes I'm left wondering just what the hell happened. Now, I don't think this is a bad thing because Straub seems to be the only writer out there willing to walk the tight rope to write the kind of books that will not only challenge his readers, but push back as well. lost boy lost girl is such an amazing book because of the fact that it's folded so tightly. One of the things Straub does best is to fit a story inside the story. There always seems to be something dancing and jittering below the surface--Straub plays with reality and his unrealiable narrators will spin you around so fast your eyes won't settle down for a week. With all of his books you've got to PAY ATTENTION to everything. When I finished lost boy lost girl I had the feeling of being sunk: I've read all but three or four of his books and I knew at my core that I had missed something important, something that would unlock the novel for me. If you haven't read this book--do so. I won't tell you what it's about or what came to me when the book spred itself wide open. I'll just say this: Look for the book within the book. Pay attention to everything said and how it's said. I love Straub's books--but this one really blew me away. Have fun.

Lost Boy, Lost Girl

This was recommended to me by a friend. I am grateful. I had a difficult time getting started with the book. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked though. I flew through it. I liked the POV. I enjoyed the setting. It was well orchestrated. I enjoyed the cast. I picked it up because it was a ghost story first. It is much more than that. It was, as advertised, a collection of my favorite elements of horror. I think it has something for almost all walks of horror fans. Check it out.

Remembrance Of Things Past

Lost Boy, Lost Girl begs the question of what horror really is. Peter Straub as writing a wide spectrum of books. True scary horror like Floating Dragon (one of my all time favorites) and gems like this one where no blood is shed on stage and despite the backdrop of both a past and present serial killer is really a piercing look into a mechanism that can frighten or delight. Tim Underhill, a successful writer returns to Millhaven when his sister-in-law commits suicide. He finds that his brother Phillip is more concerned about the effect of Nancy's death on his career than he is about its effect on his own son, Mark. Only a short time later Tim returns again. This time to look for Mark, who has disappeared in the midst of a serial killer scare. What he finds is the story of a youthful obsession with a neighborhood house where another killer had lived twenty years before. Somehow the mystery of the house led to Nancy Underhill's suicide and Mark is determined to find out how. The story switches from Tim's narration to Mark's story as piece by piece the story comes out - old insanity, shame, and guilt. An exquisite burden with a hidden, and astonishing payoff. At first you will think this is a coming of age tale similar to Stephen King's It, and then you will decide it isn't. But everything comes full circle and Mark will be transformed and Tim will find a new faith as new and old are woven together. It is hard to discuss this story without giving too much away, but the underlying theme is the persistence of memory (if I can steal a phrase from Dali). People and events do not simply happen and disappear, some part continues. Perhaps as ghost or atmosphere, perhaps in us, or perhaps as something waiting for an opportunity for fulfillment and closure. Straub's written is exemplary - carefully chosen prose, changes of viewpoint that are deftly managed, and characters that are hauntingly vivid. If you come here expecting traditional suspense and bloodletting you may be disappointed. Or unnerved in a way you have never been before. We are invited to be frightened, to wonder, and even to be uplifted. The choice is in the mind of the beholder.

spellbinding

it's 5:30 in the morning and i'm on line to buy my 15 year old son a copy. I absolutly loved it. Sure it may be a bit sureal but no one does that better then Peter Straub. He does nothing but get better with age and he was top of the line to begine with. I could not put it down. And I will never forget it.

The Best Book of the Year

Did it all really happen, or is it a story that Tim Underhill made up to cope with the loss of his nephew? This is a fantastic book with many layers. You could read it from cover to cover and take everything literally, and enjoy a good serial killer story. Or you could stretch your brain muscles and read between the lines.Much like the characters in the book I believe you, the reader, should not believe everything you see, or read. A hint that Tim Underhill might not be a reliable narrator comes at the very beginning of the book. Tim believes he is a witness to a hit and run accident that leaves a man dead. However it turns out that it was just a movie being filmed and the man hit by the car is fine. This just sets up that nothing in this book (even the book itself, in my opinion) is as it appears.When you're done with the book ask yourself, did I really read what I thought I did, or is there more in the background? I would love to go deep into examples of why I feel that Tim is an untrustworthy narrator, but I don't want to ruin anything for people who want to read this. Like I said you can read this as a straight forward mystery, or you can question the narrator and see where the answers to those questions take you.As the X-Files said: Trust No One