The
middle grandson said he liked this book and since the movie is coming
out and we might want to go see it together I decided to get a copy.
Yikes! I asked him if he knew it was monstrously large at 533 pages.
With much eye rolling and sighing he informed me it has a lot of big
margins, pictures and blank pages and I could handle it. He and I and
my other grandson went to the bookstore on a Sunday and I read it
that evening after they went home.
It
is beautiful. As soon as I finished I went to the scholastic website
to investigate where I learned that Selznick wanted the book to feel
like an old movie. At
http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_hugo_intro.htm
there is also a wealth of information about the author's inspiration,
old movies mentioned in the book, the real train crash, and
information about automata, specifically the one that was the
inspiration for the automaton in this book. But I digress.
In
1931 twelve-year-old orphaned Hugo is trying to survive living in a
Paris train station. His uncle who is the clock keeper for the
station is missing, and though Hugo keeps the clocks running and
picks up his uncle's checks he doesn't have any way to cash them.
Having no income, Hugo is forced to steal food and try to remain
undetected. Hugo also is skilled mechanically and steals nuts,
bolts, metal, and gears from the toy seller to work on an automaton
that his father had been working on before he died. Hugo's existence
is threatened when he is caught stealing. There is suspense, a train
wreck, and a close encounter with death.
I
don't know how to adequately describe this book. Pages of fascinating
illustrations are followed by pages of text and I couldn't read fast
enough or look long enough at each picture. I read it, explored
information about the author and the real people and events portrayed
in the book and then read it again. It would be a lovely book to
share with a child and I am looking forward to the movie. Hope my
grandsons will let me go with them.
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