Book Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Rated by 6 members
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that the hero of the story has a sad
life. Orphaned, alone, and homeless, he lives by stealing and
scavenging, and no one is kind to him until late in the
book.
Families who read this book could discuss some of the research-based themes the author includes. How can an automaton be made to write poems and draw pictures? How do they work? How were the earliest films made? Many kids will want to learn more about mechanical machines and automata, and about the history of film, especially the work of Georges Melies. And they may also want to see the films referred to in the story.
Common Sense Media Review
And now for something completely different.
This book is like nothing you've ever seen before. When you or your child first pick it up, it looks like one of those fat fantasies that are so popular these days. When you open it, it seems similar to a graphic novel. But lengthy sections of wordless illustrations (284 pages of drawings!) are interspersed with pages of more traditional novelistic prose. Neither text nor pictures can stand alone without the other.
The pictures are in black and white, printed on black paper, so that they look like they're projected on a screen, like a silent movie. And they resemble the storyboard for that film, with close-ups, tracking shots, zooms, etc. The overall effect is a strikingly successful cross between a book and movie.
Selznick's brilliant hybrid is put in service of a complex and heartfelt story that involves a plucky orphan, the history of early cinema, the mechanics of clocks and other intricate machinery, and a little bit of magic. The whole is a work of great beauty and excitement, with breathless pacing ramped up even further by the wordless sections. Selznick has created a new, hybrid art form that succeeds as art, literature, and entertainment. Let's hope it's the first of a new genre.
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