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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [Signature]Reviewed by Neil GaimanAlmost 10 years before his The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen took many of the figures of Victorian popular fiction on a remarkable romp, Alan Moore, in collaboration with underground artist Melinda Gebbie, began Lost Girls, with a similar, although less fantastical, conceit: that the three women whose adventures in girlhood may have inspired respectively, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Wendy and the Wizard of Oz, meet in a Swiss hotel shortly before the first World War. Wendy, Dorothy and Alice, three very different women—one jaded and old; one trapped in a frigid adulthood; the last a spunky but innocent young American good-time girl—provide each other with the liberation they need, while also providing very different (and, for this is a pornography, very sexual) versions of the stories we associate with them. We go with the girls, in memory, to the incidents that became the Rabbit Hole, Oz and Neverland. As a formal exercise in pure comics, Lost Girls is as good as anything Moore has written. (One of my favorite moments: a husband and wife trapped in a frozen, loveless, sexless relationship, conduct a stiff conversation, laced with unconscious puns and wordplay, moving into positions that cause their shadows to appear to copulate wildly, finding the physical passion that the people are denied.) In addition to being a master-class in comics technique, Lost Girls is also an education in Edwardian smut—Gebbie and Moore pastiche the pornography of the period, taking in everything from The Oyster to the Venus and Tannhauser period work of Aubrey BeardsleyMelinda Gebbie was a strange and inspired choice as collaborator for Moore. She draws real people, with none of the exaggerated bodies usual to superhero or porno comics. Gebbie's people, drawn for the most part in gentle crayons, have human bodies,.Lost Girls is a bittersweet, beautiful, exhaustive, problematic, occasionally exhausting work. It succeeded for me wonderfully as a true graphic novel. If it failed for me, it was as smut. The book, at least in large black-and-white photocopy form, was not a one-handed read. It was too heady and strange to appreciate or to experience on a visceral level. (Your mileage may vary; porn is, after all, personal.)Top Shelf has chosen to package it elegantly and expensively, presenting it to the world not as pornography, but as erotica. It is one of the tropes of pure pornography that events are without consequence. No babies, no STDs, no trauma, no memories best left unexamined. Lost Girls parts company from pure porn in precisely that place: it's all about consequences, not to mention war, music, love, lust, repression and memory. (Aug.)Neil Gaiman is the author of the bestsellers Anansi Boys and American Gods. Films based on his books Stardust and Coraline are due in 2007and 2008, respectively.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Although Moore (Watchmen, 1987; From Hell, 2000) is arguably comics' most popular writer, many fans and more libraries may be scared off from his latest project, an unabashedly porno graphic novel in which Wonderland's Alice, Oz's Dorothy, and Neverland's Wendy reveal their carnal natures by relating their past sexual encounters and coupling in the present, especially with one another. While explicit sex, including incest, is on virtually every page, Moore has an agenda beyond titillation. The work voices an impassioned defense of artistic freedom that stresses that fiction and fantasies aren't the same as actual events and behavior. "Only madmen and magistrates cannot discriminate between them," one character proclaims. Gebbie's delicate, painted style, rife with art nouveau references, somewhat mitigates the sensational subject matter. She and Moore have labored on Lost Girls since 1991, and the book's lavish production (three oversize, hardcover volumes in a slipcase) monumentalizes their dedication and adds a high price tag to the red-flag contents to put off all but readers and collections highly tolerant of the transgressive. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
280 of 297 people found the following review helpful
By
J. Downey
on September 5, 2006
Format: Hardcover
4 Comments
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Just about the oddest preconceived notion in literature is that sex--generally a positive experience in real life--is widely considered dirty, low brow, and smutty (to list very few adjectives), whereas violence--generally a negative experience in real life--is considered exciting, entertaining, and, in some form or another, a remarkably suitable metaphor for the human condition.
I'm sure this puzzles lots of us, but thankfully Alan Moore was puzzled enough to write something about it. Melinda Gebbie nudged the grizzly author into just the right position, and together they got down to business. After sixteen years in production, the world is presented with the fruits of their efforts: Lost Girls.
Lost Girls, you've no doubt heard, is a 240-page, 3 volume story about Lewis Carroll's Alice, L. Frank Baum's Dorothy, and J.M. Barrie's Wendy meeting in 1913 in a curious hotel in Austria near the borders of Switzerland, Germany, and France. To any interested student in European history, this time and place should ring a bell as a geographical ground zero for World War I. Not coincidentally, Moore works with the relationship between sex and violence throughout Lost Girls, arguing beautifully that sex is just a reliable a tool in fiction as anything else.
As always, Moore's writing is beautiful and new. He's one of the great formalists of our time. Lost Girls is told in 30 chapters of eight pages apiece, with intelligent panel work that Moore fans have come to expect. Gebbie's art is gorgeous and colored without computers--you won't see coloring like this in any other comic.Read more ›
I'm sure this puzzles lots of us, but thankfully Alan Moore was puzzled enough to write something about it. Melinda Gebbie nudged the grizzly author into just the right position, and together they got down to business. After sixteen years in production, the world is presented with the fruits of their efforts: Lost Girls.
Lost Girls, you've no doubt heard, is a 240-page, 3 volume story about Lewis Carroll's Alice, L. Frank Baum's Dorothy, and J.M. Barrie's Wendy meeting in 1913 in a curious hotel in Austria near the borders of Switzerland, Germany, and France. To any interested student in European history, this time and place should ring a bell as a geographical ground zero for World War I. Not coincidentally, Moore works with the relationship between sex and violence throughout Lost Girls, arguing beautifully that sex is just a reliable a tool in fiction as anything else.
As always, Moore's writing is beautiful and new. He's one of the great formalists of our time. Lost Girls is told in 30 chapters of eight pages apiece, with intelligent panel work that Moore fans have come to expect. Gebbie's art is gorgeous and colored without computers--you won't see coloring like this in any other comic.Read more ›
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75 of 79 people found the following review helpful
By
Danielle M. Smith
on September 12, 2006
Format: Hardcover
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When I first heard about Lost Girls several months ago, I was almost immediately turned off. Alan Moore, I thought, has more important things to do than show readers underage, make-believe boobies. But as he and his partner gave more and more interviews, I found their enthusiasm for the project infectious and anticipated the release for weeks.
I read the entire tome in one, four-hour sitting and was not disappointed, but I don't know if I'm ready to call this Moore's masterpiece.
The elements of fact, traditional fiction (the fairy tales and folk stories the work draws on) and Moore's own story are blended together seamlessly. You are challenged to examine your own concepts of that which is truly beautiful, that which is truly perverse, and what is just plain sexy.
While the story is smart and unique, I found that often the dialogue was outshone by the art on the page, and not just because of its explicit nature. The artwork is so beautiful and lovingly crafted that the dialogue seems flat and inadequate in comparison, instead of working with the pictures. I wanted what the characters were saying to match the sparkle and humanity of the overall plot and art.
The greatest testament to the strength of the book, however, is the fact that it stays with you - the parts that didn't excite you, but that challenged, offended or made you feel funny keep coming back to visit you. I will probably be rereading it very soon, after I've had some time to chew on it.
I can understand if you're not willing to pay $75 for a massive porno you're not sure if you'll dig, but I consider this a sound investment. Highly reccomended for anyone willing to put their inhibitions aside for just a moment to learn something new about sex, lying, trust, love and fantasy.
Just keep it away from the kids.
I read the entire tome in one, four-hour sitting and was not disappointed, but I don't know if I'm ready to call this Moore's masterpiece.
The elements of fact, traditional fiction (the fairy tales and folk stories the work draws on) and Moore's own story are blended together seamlessly. You are challenged to examine your own concepts of that which is truly beautiful, that which is truly perverse, and what is just plain sexy.
While the story is smart and unique, I found that often the dialogue was outshone by the art on the page, and not just because of its explicit nature. The artwork is so beautiful and lovingly crafted that the dialogue seems flat and inadequate in comparison, instead of working with the pictures. I wanted what the characters were saying to match the sparkle and humanity of the overall plot and art.
The greatest testament to the strength of the book, however, is the fact that it stays with you - the parts that didn't excite you, but that challenged, offended or made you feel funny keep coming back to visit you. I will probably be rereading it very soon, after I've had some time to chew on it.
I can understand if you're not willing to pay $75 for a massive porno you're not sure if you'll dig, but I consider this a sound investment. Highly reccomended for anyone willing to put their inhibitions aside for just a moment to learn something new about sex, lying, trust, love and fantasy.
Just keep it away from the kids.
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114 of 127 people found the following review helpful
By
R. Laincz
on September 6, 2006
Format: Hardcover
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I have waited almost 15 years for this book and I have not been disappointed. A beautiful work for book lovers and important work as erotica for women. Lost Girls boldly looks at the lines between fantasy and reality, desire and fear, the essential honesty of stories and the hypocrisy of social reality. This is a story about all the horrible and wonderful things that we (especially women) are told we mustn't think about "for our own good".
Melinda Gebbie's artwork, using bright pastels and occasional collage, is lush, warm and inviting. As always, Alan Moore's story is incredibly multilayered with literature, history, and rich characters. A particularly beautiful chapter involves the women watching the performance of Stravinsky's ballet "Rite of Spring". The scene alternates between phantasmagoric images of the ballet itself and the erotic excitement it inspires in the viewers. My favorite aspect of the story is the intertwined accounts of Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy's sexual awakenings. Couched in references to the more well known versions of their tales, each woman recalls the curiosity, terror, ecstasy, and violence of the loss of innocence. By sharing their similar adventures they help each other and allow their selves to become free and whole, free from being victims and whole as sexual women.
My only wish would be for an edition with notes on all the references, but that could easily double the size of the box. I will be content with doing my own research.
Melinda Gebbie's artwork, using bright pastels and occasional collage, is lush, warm and inviting. As always, Alan Moore's story is incredibly multilayered with literature, history, and rich characters. A particularly beautiful chapter involves the women watching the performance of Stravinsky's ballet "Rite of Spring". The scene alternates between phantasmagoric images of the ballet itself and the erotic excitement it inspires in the viewers. My favorite aspect of the story is the intertwined accounts of Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy's sexual awakenings. Couched in references to the more well known versions of their tales, each woman recalls the curiosity, terror, ecstasy, and violence of the loss of innocence. By sharing their similar adventures they help each other and allow their selves to become free and whole, free from being victims and whole as sexual women.
My only wish would be for an edition with notes on all the references, but that could easily double the size of the box. I will be content with doing my own research.
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By
Snowlock
on September 19, 2006
Format: Hardcover
3 Comments
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I read this whole thing as soon as I got it, which was weeks ago now. And yet, I still can't decide if I like it. The whole work was beautifully done, though the dialogue just didn't match with the illustrations. It felt flat and stilted. The illustrations could have told the whole story probably without words and they were beautifully crafted.
But... I realized what truly bothered me later. I enjoy comics and graphic novels. Not too many people actually bother collecting or reading them. When I mentioned to a friend during conversation what I had been reading recently the obvious question "what's it about" came up. I couldn't decide how to answer. Admitting to reading a comic book about orgies, childhood sex, and all sorts of other interesting topics just isn't the best thing to talk about over dinner. How do you explain something like this to people not 'in the know' with comic books? This question has bugged me enough that I truly question whether it will go on my shelf with other great comics or be hidden away like the pornography that Moore claims it to be.
If nothing else, it defintely makes you think.
But... I realized what truly bothered me later. I enjoy comics and graphic novels. Not too many people actually bother collecting or reading them. When I mentioned to a friend during conversation what I had been reading recently the obvious question "what's it about" came up. I couldn't decide how to answer. Admitting to reading a comic book about orgies, childhood sex, and all sorts of other interesting topics just isn't the best thing to talk about over dinner. How do you explain something like this to people not 'in the know' with comic books? This question has bugged me enough that I truly question whether it will go on my shelf with other great comics or be hidden away like the pornography that Moore claims it to be.
If nothing else, it defintely makes you think.
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