Customer Reviews

Lost Ate My Life: The Inside Story of a Fandom Like No Other

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lost Ate My Life covers the true staying power behind the TV series - the fanbase. By weaving tales of the show with those of internet fandom, a truly compelling tapestry is created. What is a fan, what are their responsibilities, and what are they owed? Just how did interaction between creator and viewer occur on the level it has with Lost? The story of how it all went down is a unique one. Highly enjoyed.

Do you need to be a member of the online Lost fandom to enjoy this book? No. Do you need to be a fan of Lost to enjoy this book? Not necessarily. You just need to be a fan. It doesn't matter what the subject is - if you discover the stranger standing next to you on bus is also fan, spend the rest of the trip discussing knitting... or the Boston Red Sox... or your favorite TV show, you'll understand and enjoy this book. While there is some discussion of Lost and how it came to be, this is mostly a book about fans. It's about how the fans came together, how they interact with each other and the creators of Lost. So, what makes the Lost fandom unique? Read the book.

If you have ever set foot online to search for information about Lost, lurked on a message board, or you simply enjoy the show and you want to know what other fans of the show are like you need to read this book. It gives an extremely entertaining and good image of what Lost fandom is like from the inside.
The book tells you what life as an online fan might bring. It tells about how much this show really has meant to some of its fans. Most of all though, the book talks about the people making lost and how much the fans means to them.
"Lost ate my life" is a book for anyone who loves Lost, and for people interested in the amazing phenomenon a fandom is.

As a member of the Lost fandom and the much mentioned Fuselage, I enjoyed the different fandom facets covered by John and Amy in the book. The photos were fun for me since I didn't get to attend the functions and this put faces on names I had read about but hadn't seen. The only reason it didn't get a 5 star rating from me is that the Lost fandom is constantly evolving and, unless they plan to write an added chapter later, it will miss some of the great things the fans have been involved in like sending care packages to the writers during the strike and a fan got to name the "secret" scene for the Season 5 Lost finale. If you love Lost and are part of the fandom, this book is a must.

I'm sorry to bring up all the comparisons to Harry, A History, but the two are just so similar, both being histories of fandoms, as opposed to your standard analysis books.

Let's begin at the beginning. The foreword of this book, written by the amazing Javier Grillo-Marxuach, was one of the best parts of the entire thing. I mean, if I were you, I'd buy the book just for that. But, no worries, the rest of the book continues to be absolutely amazing. As opposed to Harry, A History, Lost Ate My Life actually focuses on the fandom as a whole, all the different aspects. Sure, there is some extended focus on The Fuselage, but that makes sense, as that is the focal point of the fandom, while in HaH, MuggleNet, half of the whole fandom, was completely cut out. Lost takes the extra time to mention all the sites (although I'm a little miffed TLE wasn't mentioned, but, y'know, considering everything else, still pretty impressive). There are moments of braggery, though, that make parts of this book very unpleasant to read. hijinks' story about meeting Bryan Burk just seems so much more down to earth than Melissa's meeting JKR. She doesn't brag, she's very humble about it, and it makes it more relatable and friendly. There are times when the book has a little too much background info, and other times when it has too much insider info, but sometimes, it manages to strike just the perfect balance between the two. And really, leaving out Penny/Desmond? Tsk, tsk. ;)

Rating: 4.5/5

The writers of this book try to have the most objective "view" of "Lost", analyzing one of the things that distinguish this show from the others: the relation of "fans with writers". If you're a great fan of the show this book will help you to understand "why" you love it so much. If you're a person that follow Lost, but you have fear to be disappointed by the final in 2010, this book will let you understand some things, that maybe will help you to decide if you want to be uncertainly anxious or if you just want to enjoy the show with a more serene pleasure till the end. It only depends on "you"! Do "Lost" deserve "you" as a fan? But do "you" deserve to be a "Lost" fan? These can be two strange questions, but reading this book, you'll probably have your answers! I enjoyed a lot this book and I really "wish" you the same!

Elena

This book is a must for every LOST fan. It gives a thorough background how the internet fan base grew from the beginning of this television show into what it is today: A great community obsessed with everything LOST. If you're a fan of the show, this is YOUR life!

I got a late start into the world of Lost. The first episode I watched as it aired was the season 2 finale. That information is vital to this book. Here's why.

I regular read "DocArzt's" website, so for me to pick this book up was a no brainer. My only complaint about it is how much is dedicated to the very early fandom of Lost: the first ARG, the conventions, the Fuselage, etc. Now, this is by no means a knock on the authors. It's my fault because I wasn't part of the community at that point to experience any of this.

That said, the book is an excellent look into the world of devout fandom. Whether you're a Lost fan who writes on message boards for hours, one who watches episodes frame by frame to find every Lost Easter Egg, or even a devoted fan to some other show/movie/book, you should definitely give this a read. As a huge Kevin Smith fan, the message of the book rang home. Everything in the book applied to his fan base as well. While the examples are specific to Lost, the bigger picture is in the fact that fans (and creators) of anything can use the Internet and each other to build a wonderful (and possibly eccentric) community.

I was really looking forward to this book, but what I got was a self-congratulatory, sycophantic, sloppily written door stop.

The authors spend page after page patting themselves on the back for the fact that they "know" behind the scenes personnel from the TV show, LOST. They brag on and on that they are "well known" in the LOST fan community and by the show's producers (they are practically stars themselves to hear them tell it) and describe ad nauseum how important they are to the LOST legacy.

Despite the fact that they claim to be bosom buddies with the show's top brass, the best they could get to write a forward was a loooooong departed producer that will not be remembered as a forerunner of this excellent program.

At the end of it all, you'll find yourself shaking your head for having spent this much money on what amounts to a self penned valentine to herself by a fangurl, and some other guy who, though less self congratulatory, is no less inconsequential. Some people have no business writing books. This is a great example of that.

Basically it's a fanboy writing about his fanboy life and his Lostie friends. Nothing spectacular but gives a nice insight in how the person with one of the best Lost fansites [...] goes about.

Don't expect anything too exiting or revealing, it's a nice read though.