Lost Girls is a pornographic re-telling of some classic children's stories (Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan to be specific) by graphic novel mastermind Alan Moore. Moore's creativity is prevalent in the book--he uses the tropes of fairy tales and psychology to create a story of coming of age and sexual discovery. The result is entertaining, clever, and eventually tiresome. Lost Girls is divided into 3 books. The first book sets the tone, introducing the characters (Dorothy, Alice, and Wendy) and the setting (a decadent hotel in Vienna, Austria just days before the start of WWI--in fact, the characters reference the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand multiple times). These three women get to know each other--both in the Biblical sense, and also by telling stories from their childhoods. The second book focuses on the beginnings of these stories, which are relatively innocent; the third book focuses on the "climax" of the stories, which tend to be pretty extreme (incest, rape, BDSM).

My favorite of the 3 books was the second one. The stories the women tell in this book were far more sensual than the all-out depravity of the third book (the depravity didn't offend me, per se, but it did make me cringe). Dorothy, for example, has her first sexual experiences with a farm hand who bales hay (a man of the straw, you might say...) and is sexy, but kinda dumb (no brain...get it?). Dorothy gently lets him know that she can't be with him anymore before she describes traveling down a metaphorical road of sexual discovery. Likewise, Alice's stories involve exploring sex with other girls at her boarding school. I liked the emphasis on female sexuality and sexual awakening--and how not all the sex acts involved traditional heterosexual intercourse. Despite the Sadean sexual insanity of the third book, Moore has respect for sexuality as part of one's identity--something to explore and own, rather than to be ashamed about and repress. For these reasons, the book was enjoyable, fun, and somewhat thought-provoking. But not for the faint of heart, obviously. ( )

The erotic charge of this astonishing exploration of the sexuality of childhood fantasies seen through adult eyes is immense but it becomes relentless by the final volume and I felt as though I was being battered by an almost didactic epistemology. Perhaps I should have read it in smaller portions. ( )

An interesting read. ( )

First, I recommend reading the reviews below. I will not repeat a lot of what is said there, most of which is excellent.

Although there is a ton of sex in this series of books, they are not about sex, in the same way that Moby Dick is not about whaling.

Moore and Gebbie essentially assault you with sex, surround you with sex, fill you with sex, and get you all worked up about sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. But that is a ploy.

I heartily recommend reading volume III in one sitting. It makes the ending that much more poignant. ( )

As if we didn't know that Alan Moore was a very strange man...

Lost Girls doesn't always make for comfortable reading, but a lot of it is very... enjoyable. The rest is thought-provoking. The art is gorgeous.

I should probably add that I haven't read any of the three works it's based on. I probably should... ( )