Review: Lost - Gregory Maguire

 

Lost is a somewhat postmodern work. The main character is a writer who travels between Boston and London, so there were lots of cultural references for me to recognize and smile at, as well as many literary references (especially Dickens, etc). So from that standpoint, I definitely enjoyed it. I appreciated the craftsmanship of it, and even liked the philosophizing... and yet somehow it simultaneously left me feeling incredibly dissatisfied.

I've figured out that it's not because I'm not postmodern myself, but because I am, that I don't want to immerse myself in the chaotic craziness of the world when I step into a book. 'Lost' itself even confirmed and solidified this same idea that I've had for a while now. Here's a lengthy quote about Alice in Wonderland that I can't trim down any further because it just says it all:

A reading child back in those early days, corseted, even strait-jacketed by Victorian certainties, could delight in a story stuffed with nonsense. Time was malleable during a mad tea party in which there could be jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but never jam today. Creatures could shift shapes, a sheep into an old lady, a baby into a pig. Fury could win out over reason. In the nineteenth century, reading Alice was refreshing because it was an escape from strict convictions about reality.

But now? Now? Children... hated the Alice books, couldn't read them, and why should they? Their world had strayed into madness long ago. Look at the planet. Rain is acid, poisonous. Sun causes cancer. Sex = death. Children murder each other. Parents lie, leaders lie, the churches have less moral credibility than Benetton ads...

No wonder Wonderland isn't funny to read anymore: We live there full-time. We need a break from it.
So Victorian kids turned to madness to escape the strict stuffiness of their world, and I turn to the Victorian times or other fantasy worlds to escape the madness of my own. The wheel of time turns...

Escape. It's great. But, if it doesn't trouble you to read postmodern works... try this one. You'll probably love it.