Lost in Time [Hardcover]

Hans Magnus Enzensberger (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up

In this innovative time-travel tale, Enzensberger treats history with the same wit, knowledge, adn charm that he broght to mathematics in The Number Devil.

When fourteen-year-old Robert blinks, he is pulled into the place and time of whatever he happens to be looking at. A television documentary leaves him shivering in Siberia in 1956, a movie drops him into the opal mines of post-war Australia, a photo on a mantle zips him off to impoverished Weimar Germany. And that's only the beginning. Hans Magnus Enzensberger takes us through seven countries and historical periods, recreating in each place the mood and temper of the time. But how can Robert return to his own home and kitchen? Landing in seventeenth-century Holland as apprentice to a great painter, Robert comes upon a solution -- but only if he can recall the future, perfectly.

Readers will be swept along by Enzensberger's fast-paced plot, keen eye for detail, fine sense of romance and intrigue, and clever techniques for propelling Robert along his journey. An enchanting introduction to world history, Lost in Time is an engaging novel for readers of all ages.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A 13-year-old travels deeper and deeper into the past in this clever if not entirely satisfying tale by the author of The Number Devil. Robert seems ordinary enough, except for his photographic memory and "something funny about his eyes." Watching television one evening, he finds himself inexplicably transported to the scene on the screen: Siberia in the 1950s. He is to have six other time adventures, all achieved by "entering" pictures of different sorts. Among his destinations: his German hometown in 1930, Norway in 1860 and the Alsace during the Thirty Years War. Robert manages to get by on his own cunning and with the simplest of tools; after all, "Robert had once been camping somewhere in the mountains, with no TV and no bathroom, so he knew that you could get by somehow if you must." Little connects one journey to the next, and although rich in historical details, the episodes themselves may sometimes seem randomAat least they may to American readers, who will have less familiarity with European history than Enzensberger's original German audience. At one point Robert muses that "human beings were capable of anything, the worst of evils and the greatest of wonders," but this theme is never followed through and no overarching motif rises to give purpose to the episodes. However, Enzensberger's humorously deadpan narrative voice, his taste for witty ironies and Robert's sheer moxie offer a surfeit of pleasures in and of themselves. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-Robert, the 13-year-old protagonist in this time-travel odyssey, has always known there was something unusual about his eyes. He sees flickering lights and odd pictures, but these sights are his secret. Then one afternoon, the German teen is suddenly transported through time to Siberia and then takes a train to Moscow. The year there is 1956 and Cold War paranoia is in full bloom. After numerous difficulties, he escapes to a theater. Frightened and homesick, he rubs his eyes and abruptly finds himself in the middle of the movie, which is now very real. Thus the pattern for the rest of the book is set. By looking at various pictures, Robert is telescoped back in time through seven different escapades, each one taking him further and further from the present. The book is basically a magical history tour, where Robert comes face to face with the flesh-and-blood people who lived during the various times he visits. In one episode, he meets his great grandmother in pre-World War II Germany. In another, he becomes involved with a band of highway robbers during the Thirty Years' War in Europe. In all of his journeys, Robert is taken in and accepted without question by at least one person. This and some of the other plot devices are weak, but each adventure introduces readers to fascinating historical details. Robert's return to the present is cleverly executed. While this book will not have wide appeal, it will attract students who are curious about the past in a way that goes beyond the superficial treatment found in textbooks.
Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (October 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805065717
• ISBN-13: 978-0805065718
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hans Magnus Enzensberger is one of Germany's greatest living writers. In The Number Devil he has written a book that is essential reading for anyone - of any age who has ever been mystified by maths. The author lives in Munich.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An original, well-crafted time travel story, January 10, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost in Time (Hardcover)

In Hans Magnus Enzensberger"s Lost in Time, a boy daydreams and sees strange scenes when he rubs his eyes; but one day finds the visions all too real when he lands in the past and finds himself caught in increasingly complex political worlds. Robert covers close to four hundred years of history as he jumps through time in search of the elusive way home. Lost in Time is an original, well-crafted, and totally involving story of time travel with a different tone and twist.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great concept but...., September 13, 2004

By 

lenore531 (Wichita, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lost in Time (Hardcover)

Also known as "Where were you, Robert?", "Lost in Time" has a fascinating premise: that just by rubbing your eyes you can jump into the world that you see on tv, in movies, or in paintings. Well, at least 13 year old Robert can, and the first time he does it, it's by mistake and he ends up in Soviet Russia. His further travels take him back further and further in time - oh how will he ever get home?
My main problem with the book is that the story is full of leaps in logic. Even science fiction worlds create their own rules and when these rules are broken for the sake of the plot (as they are here), it is disconcerting. It is especially weird how total strangers always invite him in and let him sleep in their own beds. And the places he goes to are totally random (although one is too big of a coicidence to even believe), and not much really exciting happens (mixing paint for days on end, just hanging out with an uptight, stingy Norwegian family for months, etc).
Its a 5 star concept with a 2 star execution, so I'll give it 3 stars overall.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read for all imaginitive students, September 21, 2001

By 

"andycity" (Seoul, South Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost in Time (Hardcover)

Maybe I read this book more than 10 times. I can not say I was boring about this book. A boy named, Robert went to many Worlds. But there are not originalitical World. There are past world. He went to cold laundry in the Rushia, Austrailia, etc. And he met many troubles, sad, exiting things!
Probably all the student, who likes to imagination will love this book. If you are their parents, try to gift them this book. Maybe you are not go to repent to buy this book. Also this book is very good for their parents, and you can think about, what your son and daughter's thought is.
Exactly, this is for adult. There is any bad words, or bad things. So, I thought 10-15years old can read, and if you read this book(If you are their parents or family), then you will 99% exhortation to others.