I’m currently sniffling and wiping tears from my eyes, having just finished this book. I totally didn’t expect the ending, and it really moved me.
The general story is that this Mormon family moves from one place to another. Their move is due to financial difficulties. In the new place, they are having all kinds of troubles, she is pregnant with the fourth child, there are problems with the Church, his job is pretty near awful - and their kid starts seeing visions. He starts having imaginary friends, and naming them. Then it turns out the kids are names of kids gone missing, presumably dead, and he knows their nicknames, too, which were never in the paper.
Well, it’s 528 pages I couldn’t put down. I was feeling a lot of things, like a faint disgust for them having more kids when they were having trouble with the three they already had, a great deal of pity and sympathy for the troubles they were going through, anger at the stupid teacher, anger at the people that were making it even more difficult for them. The characters were well fleshed-out and deep. But in the last 20 pages
You find out that the kid was *seeing * the dead children that had been killed by the serial killer. Actually *seeing * them. And the kids were buried under the house. And on Christmas Eve, he finally figures out how to make them visible to his parents. But the clincher - the thing that started my tears - was that the kid, himself had just died, I think a few days before (by that time I wasn’t paying too much attention to details). He had just died before and he was trying to figure out a way to say goodbye to his parents. And the love with which they listened, and sent him off to their God, and the fact that the parents got to see them one last time - it really got to me.
I wanted to choke the family of the original homeowner for their silence.
OSC really shines when he writes about children, but damn.
This book disturbed me more than anything in a long time. So much so that I left it around the house in hopes that one of my roomates would read it and I would have someone to talk about it with.
It still gives me chills when I see it on my shelf.
Oh, yes. This was my first Orson Scott Card book, and that ending stayed with me for DAYS. I’m pretty sure I got teary also, but at the same time there was a warm-hearted and tender (saying goodbye) aspect to it.
It was several years ago, but I remember being impressed with the whole story, mostly by the intricate detail Card puts into this family’s life. IIRC, there are fully detailed events that occur that don’t necessarily drive the plot forward or contribute to the “lost boys” in any way, but nevertheless were appreciated because I was enjoying this family. (Does that make ANY sense at all?)
I’m not really big into fantasy, but if I decide to try reading it I’ll probably try some of his fantasy novels since I enjoy his writing styles and his characters.
When I read this book I absolutely did not see the ending coming. I remember the OMG I felt when I read that the parents now knew that there were eight bodies under the house, not the seven that their son had told them about
Card is Mormon, but he didn’t portray LDS members as all perfect. I found it amusing when he wrote about frayed tempers in the local congregation surrounding the annual Christmas program.
I read this page-turner years ago, and as the mother of two young boys, it really freaked me out.
I think I got my husband to read it, too, he doesn’t read much fiction but I am pretty sure I got him to read that one.
It seems to me that I recently either read a book or heard of/saw a film with a very similar plot, but I can’t put my finger on what it was.
Not having read the book (but very interested now), I would have to guess the movie, by my initial reaction to reading some of the spoilers (yes, I spoiled the ending of the book for myself. Sounds like it’ll still hit), is that it’s pretty similar to the BRILLIANT, ORIGINAL ( :rolleyes: ) twist in The Sixth Sense. Y’know, the kid sees dead people, and the therapist helping him through the movie turns out to be dead himself. Maybe what you were thinking of?
Having said that, I read the original novella when it was published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the late 80’s.
It was wrenching enough that I didn’t want to read the book. I don’t doubt that the book is as well written as any of OSC’s books tend to be, I just am not sure I’d want to go through that again.
Of course, I’ve been kind of down on OSC’s fiction for a few years since I tried reading the final book in the trilogy of Ender’s Game, and Speaker for the Dead. (Sorry, I can’t recall the title, now.) Contrary to some of the complaints I’d heard about the third book being largely prosyltizing for Mormonism (A charge I didn’t see, but I can’t deny - it doesn’t matter to me, after his support for Catholicism in Speaker, why shouldn’t he be allowed to do the same for his own religion?) I just couldn’t stand seeing one of his main characters slowly, and excruciatingly, going insane. I imagine I’ll start reading the Alvin Maker books again, soon, and look for more of his short fiction - but even then, I’m likely to keep giving Lost Boys a bye.
And, yes, while OSC is prominent in his church (The current version of the Hill Cummorah Pageant being acted ever summer at the nearby Joseph Hill homestead was written by him. Any dopers want to get together this summer to watch it, btw? I’ve never been and keep telling myself I should.) he’s never been one to make Mormons appear anything other than people. Usually good people, but ordinary people.
I remember reading this book when I was flying to Florida for a business trip. It just seemed so weird. The missing boys really didn’t have anything to do with the story until the last 50 pages or so. All this really weird stuff happened to the family, people did and said really weird things. And all of a sudden, there’s all these dead bodies buried at their house
It really seemed like a lot of work to get there. The stuff about the home computer industry in the early 80’s was cool.
I recently read the short story Lost Boys which I hadn’t known existed. I thought it worked better as a short story, though, unlike the novel which seemed drawn out, it seemed a little rushed. I also liked the way Card used himself as a character in the short story.
Thanks, Only, but it wasn’t The Sixth Sense.
It was something very recent. I will try to figure it out. If I do, I’ll post it.
(It’s driving me crazy!)
I read this book for the first time when I was in high school, and I still love it. I also think people who thought “Ender’s Game” was his best written book are insane - this book is head and shoulders above that one.
I read this one before I had kids; I wouldn’t read it now. It’s a great book, but not something I want to go through again.
One thing I enjoy about OSC (being a Mormon and all) is his accurate depiction of us as a culture. He has a lot of fun with that. Not, mind you, that most wards have control-freak old ladies ‘seeing visions’ on behalf of everyone else. BTW, while he is prominent in the Church in that he’s a famous Mormon who a lot of people have heard of, he does not hold any prominent position in the LDS Church organization. Sort of like calling Kerry a prominent Catholic, I guess.
A lot of this story is the author’s own life; he wrote some of it as a way to get his feelings about his son on paper. His own son with cerebral palsy died last year–he was about 16, I think. And they live in North Carolina, in Greensboro, so a lot of the culture shock is autobiographical too.
Aanamika, I’m not sure I understand your ‘faint disgust’ about the family having another child? What would you have had them do?
My own favorite OSC book is probably Pastwatch. I have a signed copy that says “Romping barefoot through history…”
dangermom, please don’t be offended at my answer. You asked, so I will answer honestly.
Have an abortion would have been my first choice but I’ll soften it with giving it up for adoption.
I hate to give it to you straight like that, but those are my beliefs. I can’t help it. i feel very sad when I see more mouths being brought into the world with no guarantee of feeding them or properly taking care of them. I don’t want to debate on this, however, it is not the purpose of this thread. You asked, so I answered.
And no, I would not reread it were I to have kids. I think it would break my heart and give me nightmares.
I don’t want to debate on this, however, it is not the purpose of this thread. You asked, so I answered.