Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
All the Reviews are On-Target, February 15, 2001
Every so often I see a film or read a book that 'disturbs' me for several days. Symptoms including a dazed/off-center mental state and a distraction from 'reality' possessed me in the days after seeing. 'Schindler's List', 'The Sixth Sense', and reading Malachi Martin's 'Hostage to the Devil'. This 'disturbance' has its good and bad qualities. Best of all, it is stimulating, helps clear my mind and provoke deep thoughts. So I was surprised when 'Lost Boys' affected me the same way.If you're a parent, this book will disturb you in many ways. OSC puts in writing every nightmare a parent has over the sanity and safety of his/her kids--- kids getting lost, adjustment problems at a new school and town, creepy people whom you're not quite sure to trust your kids with, the evils of computer/video games, child predators... On a par with 'Ender's Game', 'Lost Boys' has good plot and fine 3-D characters. For you Ender fans, OSC spins a different kind of story here---one about the mundane issues of everyday family life. However, as you turn the pages, you care more and more about what happens to the family, while suspense and creepiness build higher and higher. Card skillfully moves the story and mood along. You also get an interesting and frank look at husband-wife relationship dynamics that portrayed each's side very well. Some OSC readers (or the uninitiated) may criticize the way he weaves 'Mormonness' into his work. I always found the tie-in of his Faith to his books as interesting and informative adjuncts to his story, and not as 'missionary work' for his Church. 'Lost Boys' is no exception. Faith and Family are important elements of this story, and Card gives us a little more than a peek at what Life-As-a-Mormon is all about. I agree in part with the reviewer who loved all but the ending. True, the pace is sluggish for the first half, and then increases steadily. The ending comes hard and with a jolt. But that's not all bad. Because at the end, that 'disturbed' feeling hit me, and I reflected long and hard about things I hadn't seriously thought about before.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A heartbreaking yet uplifting tale of family love., November 5, 1997
I'm not a science fiction fan, so I almost missed this one. But having read another Card book (Saints), I took a chance on this one, and I'm very glad I did. I read Lost Boys about two years ago, and I'd read it again if I thought I could handle it. It's a beautiful story of a family being subjected to terrible hardship and stress, a family whose faith and love strengthen and keep them together through the worst kind of sorrow. A word of caution: if you have ever buried one of your children (as I have), be careful with this one. You don't have to be a Mormon to enjoy this novel. The doctrine is presented as part of the story, it's easy to understand. The plot is rather complicated, but basically concerns a recently relocated software designer and his family who find themselves facing religious prejudice, serious problems with the husband's new employer, self-righteous busybodies, a severly disabled newborn, and a serial killer. All at the same time. They are blessed with a truly exceptional eldest child, Steven, who seems to be a conduit of supernatural forces. Yes, the ending is wrenching, and yes, you will cry, but that is the essence of life, isn't it? If you want to escape to a place where all the endings are happy, don't read this book. If you want to experience a slice of Mormon theology mixed with suspense and tragedy, then don't miss this one. You'll find yourself counting your blessings and hugging your children a little more tightly afterwards. I'm glad I read Lost Boys, and I recommend it to anyone with an open mind and a tender heart.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderfully empathic non-science fiction book, June 15, 1996
By A Customer
Orson Scott Card, best know for writing Science Fiction (Ender's Game) and Fantasy (Journeyman Alvin), took a different route with this book about an American family in the early 1980's.
The details of this story are not important. What is important, and what makes this book so wonderful, is Card's deft handling of his characters. Each character is a finely crafted player, their life laid bare before the reader. There are no secrets. This book is about a family, and about how a family deals with problems. It is about parents, and about letting your children grow up to be their own selves. It is about children, and understanding them. It is about life. It is about death.
Card has always demonstrated that rare gift of being able to write good child characters. He never talks down to children, and the parents in Lost Boys treat their children with respect, while remaining parents. They are not lax, nor are they ignorant. They are intelligent enough to trust that their children have learned well from the example set before them. And they trust in God and in their church.
The family is Mormon, and this fact, if such a thing is possible, makes the book even more fascinating for someone who is not a Mormon. The religion is treated in a remarkably even-handed manner. Never proselytizing or evangelizing, but simply showing.
In the end, Card's book is about love, about about letting go of your children and trusting them to choose what's best. It is a deeply moving book, and I always struggle through the last two chapters, fighting back the tears that blur my vision. It is a sad book, but at the same time it is so filled with joy that I feel better each time I've read it. In the end, the book is about hope and about life.
-Lewis Butler (1996)
www.nyx.net/~kreme
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