Words can't express how much I enjoyed this book. I think it might be the best book that I read so far. Maybe not the best, but it's surely my favorite. I loved everything in it, the story, the characters, the movie pictures and the ART.
I adored every single illustration this book had. I would recommend this book to literally everyone who likes reading. It was just that good. Oct 03, Beverly rated it it was amazing. Gorgeous illustrations and lovely story. Aug 16, Mish rated it it was amazing Shelves: drama , fiction , y-adult , historical , favourite , middle-grade.
Simply the most imaginative, stunning book I have ever read. Brian Selznick is a talented artist. He uses his remarkable skill to create an incredibly beautiful and poignant story of an orphan boy, Hugo Cabret, who secretly roams the tunnels of the Paris train station, keeping the clocks in running order.
He rescues an automata from a burnt down museum, in hope to restore it to its original form and to uncover its hidden message.
Selznick combines pencil drawings, photographs and word to tell the story; in that even when the text ends, the story is still being told visually through the illustrations or photographs from when the text left off. It a book that really does stimulate the senses.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is set in Paris. It was hard to believe that I was reading a fairly recent book. Beautiful, magical book. I hope more books are written in this format. View all 5 comments.
Jan 26, Jennifer rated it really liked it Shelves: children-young-adult , comics-manga-graphic-novels. At first, I was even considering giving it 3 stars, which suprised me since so many people had told me that it was amazing. I have, since settled on giving it 4 starts, because I can't really sum up my first reaction to the work as "It was amazing! However, now that I have said that, the following criticisms that I have for it that have prevented me from giving it 5 stars err on the side of "overburdening criticism," namely that the language was somewhat stilted and the characters weren't particularly well-developed.
I also may have a bias because I found Isabelle annoying when she kept insisting that Hugo was a thief and a liar and nagging him to reveal his life story. Related to this is one of the other things that I think would've made this novel better, a more complete, but subtle, address of what I think is an important lesson in the story, that people Hugo, Isabelle, Papa George, etc. Now, after pointing out all these criticisms, let me say that, I loved this book. As it was meant, this book spoke to me through the beautiful pictures.
Although I said that the language was stilted, one could argue, is it really a sticking point? If a picture is worth 1, words, then Brian Selznick or, if you've read the novel, Hugo's automaton has spoken a million words. Although the story was a familiar one insofar as it was reminiscent of a Charles Dickens rags-to-riches story, it explored the rich, largely untapped topic, at least in children's literature, of the beginnings of cinema and the wonder that it inspired. Note, I chose to state that Selznick elicits wonder from his audience , not his readers.
Selznick succeeded beautifully; this book is a wondrous one, not only for children, but for adults as well, and also a springboard into the history of the origins of cinema. Feb 13, Jonathan Terrington rated it really liked it Shelves: books-with-films , children-s-literature , graphic-novels.
I'm including this in graphic novels because that is probably the best description for this rather unique book. After all it's a novel consisting of many beautiful graphics and some written pages. While The Invention of Hugo Cabret is aimed mainly at a younger audience of children it appears to be the kind of perfect novel for parents as well.
I can imagine a modern parent trying to interest their child in reading by sitting down and reading this work with their child. It is in many ways a modern I'm including this in graphic novels because that is probably the best description for this rather unique book. It is in many ways a modern fairy tale story and therefore I imagine a great novel for a younger audience. Even reading it now as an eighteen year old; while no longer the little trusting child who loved fairytales I still enjoyed the way Selznick constructed this volume.
It was in my eyes a carefully put together piece of art. And even if I found it a little simple for my taste I still award it four stars because I appreciate the beauty of this book and moreover the fact that Selznick is creating artwork that children can enjoy.
I know that if I had had this book as a seven year old I would have adored it. On the whole my verdict is that Selznick has created an informative and artistic novel that allows children access to a visually inspiring idea. So I would encourage you to read this while trying to think how you would have enjoyed it as a child and if you have children to read it to them.
It's not a long book despite the pages because most of those pages are taken up with large print words or pictures spread across two pages.
Afterword - Having just watched the movie I think it's one example where the movie does perfect justice to the book. The book's main strength is the artwork and the film takes that story and makes it a visual artwork Scorsese style! View all 7 comments.
Oct 22, Vanessa rated it really liked it. I wasn't sure what to make of this book at first, because I typically don't read children's or middle-grade literature, whatever category you would slot this book into.
I also didn't have really any idea of what it was about, but the beauty of the book itself made me decide to give it a try - and I as not disappointed! The book follows a young orphan called Hugo Cabret, who lives inside the walls of the Grand Central station in Paris, mending clocks and stealing toy parts from a local vendor. Whe I wasn't sure what to make of this book at first, because I typically don't read children's or middle-grade literature, whatever category you would slot this book into.
When he is caught by the toy vendor, he becomes enveloped in a mysterious world of automatons, movies, and magic. What I loved about this book was the second part, which is where it really kicked off for me and captured my full attention.
The illustrations that Brian Selznick does himself are also really well done - they are all done in pencil, so at times it can be a little hard to see what is going on, but the facial expressions of his characters are beautiful, and he beautifully represents the streets of Paris and the busyness of the station itself. I would highly recommend everyone check this book out, even if it's not normally something you would pick up.
It's a work of art, so get the physical edition, and just allow yourself to be enveloped in a magical, fun-filled story. You won't regret it. This is one of those rare books where the movie is much better than the novel. Skip the book, but do see the movie, "Hugo", which is marvelous. The audio reader's style didn't help matters. Jeff Woodman reads the book like he is narrating it to kids. Very likely that's his main audience, but his reading style is so self consciously slow and declamatory, it detracts from the story.
Per the suggestions of GRers Jefferson and Judy This is one of those rare books where the movie is much better than the novel. Per the suggestions of GRers Jefferson and Judy see comments below I will reread and update the review accordingly.
Apparently this is one book where the audiobook alone doesn't do the book justice as there are many illustrations, tricks with typesetting, etc. Mar 23, Jo rated it liked it. OK, Goodreads was being a twonk and ruined my life by making all of the lovely pictures that I wanted to post look dodgy and skew-whiff. So, everyone close your eyes and pretend there are pictures here. Lots of lovely pictures. More lovely pictures.
Even more lovely pictures. Imagination is fun. You may wonder why I am posting so many pictures of this book for my review. Where are the words? Does that make sense? Want me to use some more italics? Alright, fine. I loved the illustrations in this book. I could quite happily get lost within them and look at them all day. However, what story there was was absolutely spectacular. While I was at uni, I studied both English Lit and Film studies, so film will always have a special place in my heart… especially the earlier ones.
Looking at the pictures of the films from the dawn of cinema brought back some really great memories of studying them. Actually, the main reason why I picked this book up at all was because I saw the trailer for the film directed by Martin Scorsese and I was completely enchanted.
I think not. So that was lovely. I think I had just set my expectations a little too high. The best way I can describe it is a love letter to art, film and magic. You can find this review and lots of other exciting things on my blog, Wear the Old Coat. May 10, Jonnie rated it really liked it Shelves: young-adult , historical-fic , graphic-novels.
It was nice and simple to read, had a sweet end and made me feel all cozy and warm. Basically, it made me feel like this and this Shelves: historical-fiction , reviewed , zz-5star , groups-buddies , orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids , fiction , readbooks-male-author-or-illust , childrens , z , picture-books. It is special, very special. I see that said about so many books, and sometimes the comments are hyperbole and sometimes they are accurate. More than half the book is pictures.
Many of the text pages consist of a single paragraph, or two, though there are sometimes a few pages in the row that are full of text. Any reader who loves movies, art, books, which I do, and magicians and magic, of which I normally have little to no interest, is likely to greatly appreciate this book. The characters are interesting, appealing, and come across very authentically.
Overall, it was written well. I did notice one error where the ly was left off a word and I found that disappointing because it otherwise seemed close to flawless. But, I loved this book. The story is wonderful; the pictures are amazing.
It was a no-brainer for me to give it a full 5 stars, and it very nearly made my favorites shelf, and I might change my mind at some point and add it to that shelf. Readers also enjoyed. Young Adult. About Brian Selznick. Brian Selznick. Hello there. I was born in in New Jersey. I have a sister who is a teacher, a brother who is a brain surgeon, and five nephews and one niece.
I learned all about Hello there. My first book, The Houdini Box, which I both wrote and illustrated, was published in while I was still working at the bookstore. Books by Brian Selznick. Related Articles. As this strange summer of staying put winds down, one thing remains truer than ever: Books offer us endless adventure and new horizons to Read more Trivia About The Invention of Quotes from The Invention of You are the true dreamers.
Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I often think about that - the necessity to find clear bold images has had quite an influence on my work. He now has about 20 books to his name, both solo and collaborative works.
Many are inspired by or make reference to film - The Boy of a Thousand Faces is about a boy obsessed with the actor Lon Chaney and old black and white monster movies. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is also steeped in cinema, but here things took an unexpected turn. So I made a radical decision; I cut all the descriptive passages and replaced them with drawings. In contrast to the nine-foot gorillas of his shop-window days, these drawings started off very small - just a few inches across.
He uses carefully chosen models to pose for the compositions, photographs them, and then draws with a soft pencil on watercolour paper which gives the line a grainy sensitivity. He enlarges them, "to loosen them up". The book's reproductions retain all the subtle textures of the drawing, and all the tonal variety, ranging from intense velvety blacks to the kind of airy luminosity you find in the conte crayon drawings of Seurat, another of Selznick's heroes.
Most of the action takes place within the walls of the railway station where Hugo secretly lives and works. There are shades of Edward Gorey's quirky technique in these claustrophobic, closely hatched interiors.
Selznick makes cunning use of perspective, and the angles and shadows created as the pages turn add extra depth to those long dark corridors and hidden passages. It's a crepuscular, lamp-lit world that constantly evokes the flickering spirit of the silent film, and it's the perfect background to the eerie awakening of the automaton.
At this point in the conversation he plucks from his bag the up-to-date magic of a small computer, and shows me a video clip of a 19th-century mechanical figure. It is mesmerising in its self-contained clockwork grace, and its astonishing ability to dip its pen in the ink in order to draw and write poems. Melies himself had a collection of these automata, which had somehow been abandoned and left to rot.
I imagined a young boy finding and restoring one of thse figures, and at that moment my story was born. Combining magic, mystery and adventure with a gentle gravitas, this is a strikingly unusual book and the film rights have been snapped up by Warner Bros. Follow us. Newsletter Exclusive news delivered to your inbox. Mar 9, Share. The year is ; the city, Paris.
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