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A review by book_concierge
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
5.0
5***** and a ❤
Hugo Cabret is an orphan who lives in the Paris Train Station, taking care of the clocks as his uncle trained him to do. His secret project, though, is finishing the invention his father was working on when he died. He steals parts from a toy shop – small gears and screws and springs. But when he’s caught, he gets embroiled in an even bigger mystery.
What a treasure! This inventive, unusual novel in words and pictures, won the Caldecott medal for illustration. The reader really needs to spend some time pouring over these intricate drawings, for they forward the story. The text skips from section/chapter to section/chapter, with the intricate illustrations filling in the plot.
The book is intended for children, but will delight adults as well. The story of Hugo, Isabelle and Papa Georges is enthralling, and kept me guessing. But the drawings … oh, the drawings! They are rich and subtle and complex and detailed, showing incredible depth of field and use of light and shadow.
It's a hefty book - some 525 pages, and the paper is thick. But it's a very fast read. The first time I read it straight through in just a couple of hours. But on this second reading I took more time to pour over the illustrations, really studying the detail.
(NOTE: updated Sept 2017, after second reading)
Hugo Cabret is an orphan who lives in the Paris Train Station, taking care of the clocks as his uncle trained him to do. His secret project, though, is finishing the invention his father was working on when he died. He steals parts from a toy shop – small gears and screws and springs. But when he’s caught, he gets embroiled in an even bigger mystery.
What a treasure! This inventive, unusual novel in words and pictures, won the Caldecott medal for illustration. The reader really needs to spend some time pouring over these intricate drawings, for they forward the story. The text skips from section/chapter to section/chapter, with the intricate illustrations filling in the plot.
The book is intended for children, but will delight adults as well. The story of Hugo, Isabelle and Papa Georges is enthralling, and kept me guessing. But the drawings … oh, the drawings! They are rich and subtle and complex and detailed, showing incredible depth of field and use of light and shadow.
It's a hefty book - some 525 pages, and the paper is thick. But it's a very fast read. The first time I read it straight through in just a couple of hours. But on this second reading I took more time to pour over the illustrations, really studying the detail.
(NOTE: updated Sept 2017, after second reading)