Review of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World"

I recently gained access to a Kindle. I have been very anti-kindle in the past because I just love books so much. I will review the Kindle in a following post, but let me just sum up my thoughts on the kindle in one word: Addiction. I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I am totally addicted. There were 53 books on the Kindle that I managed to get my hands on, and I chose a book that interested me, that I had read before, and that I knew I enjoyed. If you haven’t figured it out by the title of this post, it’s “The Lost World” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You may know Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his Sherlock Holmes stories, but let me tell you, “The Lost World” is definitely worth the read.

I had remembered the basic concept from when I had previously read it, but had forgotten a good portion of it. Honestly, the last time I read it was in middle school. As I normally do with books I read, I’m going to tell you what I liked about it and what I didn’t like about it. Before I lose you, I’m going to sum up the story:

This is an epistolary story (where the story is told in the form of letters… a.k.a. epistles). A fickle woman says she wants to marry a man of adventure, so our main character, Malone, a writer for a newspaper, decides he is going to become a man of adventure. He encounters Professor Challenger, gets a black eye, and volunteers to go to South America with Challenger in search of pterodactyls. Along for the ride are two others: an outdoorsy hunter type named Jon Roxton and a professor, Summerlee, who wants to prove Challenger a fool. Off they go into the Amazon. Let me be brief: anthropoid apes, betrayal, dinosaurs, poison darts, volcano, dinosaurs, no escape, prisoners, marshes, dinosaurs etc. They return to London with an insane sounding story. I won’t tell you the end though, because I like it a lot and I want you to read it.

Now, onto the things I liked and disliked. Let’s start with the positive.

What I liked about “The Lost World”:

• Dinosaurs
  
• I love the camaraderie between the four men who go adventuring. 
• I love Gladys’ choice at the end
• I love Challenger and his wife
• Dinosaurs
• When things happened in this book, I was all attention. I may not know much about the iguanadon, but by George, I was enthralled!
• I’m fascinated by what the people of the early 1900’s thought about this book. Did they think it was real? I mean… is it real?
• It’s interesting to see how ideas and perceptions have changed since this book came out. A good anthropological study.
• Did I mention dinosaurs?

What I disliked about “The Lost World”:

• Everybody seemed so optimistic all the time. Just once, I wanted someone to have a total breakdown. There were some definite points that came close, but they just did not quite get there. 
• Anthropoid apes. It’s not that I have a problem with them from a literary point of view, I just don’t like them. Then again, you’re not supposed to like them. To quote an awesome movie, “Get your stinking paws off me, you damned, dirty ape!” [Planet of the Apes, 1968]
• The story took a little longer to start than I wanted it to. 
• There was no sequel, though the ending totally sets it up for one.

Before I become too long winded, I can safely say that the good of this book clearly outweighs the bad. I love the way SACD writes, and would recommend any of his books to you. Like a good mystery? Check out Sherlock Holmes. Like dinosaurs? Welcome to the club… and read “The Lost World”.