Book Title: The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Author: Mathias Malzieu
Date Started: March 3rd 2014
Date Completed: March 8th 2014
Genres: Romance, Adventure
Rating: Five stars
Review:
The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is an amazingly quirky, unique, heart-warming and tragic little story. The fact that the book has been translated from French doesn't affect it's beauty and untouchable originality. Both the writing, characters and story are like nothing I've ever read before. It's just perfect in every way.
Jack's heart didn't work when he was born. So, instead, he was given a cuckoo-clock to keep his heart pumping. But there's three things he must do to stay alive: firstly, he mustn't touch the hands of his cuckoo-clock heart; secondly, he must master his anger; and thirdly, he must never fall in love, or else his little mechanical heart will not be able to cope. But, however simple it may seem, Jack begins to disregard those rules one by one until only the most lethal is broken.
Of course, as the story has been translated, it's likely that the writing wasn't exactly as it is in French. But Sarah Ardizzone (the translator) has a talent, it's fair to say. The writing was stunning; poetic, yet still managed to capture a slightly inventive and modern edge.
There were some passages in it where I had to read it over and over again just because it was so beautiful. The descriptions brought everything to life and made it seem like I was in a fairytale. The narration was so honest that I could imagine everything perfectly in my mind like magic.
This novel has the perfect story about life and moving on. It captures just how hard life, love and living can actually be when it feels like the world's against you. I've never read anything quite like it, and I don't think I ever will again. In essence, that's what makes the story so heart-warming and tragic at the same time. Bad things do happen, but good things do as well.
Even in the end, when your heart is breaking for all the characters, there's a sort of finality that allows you to understand that, even though no one is really where they wanted to end up, they've come out of it being a different and stronger person. I think the end was exactly how it should be for the book.
The characters in this book are surprisingly real for such a whimsical story. Furthermore, you become extremely attached to them without even realising it, until you're completely in love with each and every one of them. Right in time for your heart to be broken.
Jack was a perfect protagonist for this book. His narration is completely open and beautiful to match the story. He understands that he's risking himself throughout the book, yet he can't help himself, and there's something about that that everyone can relate to in one way or another. Furthermore, the fact that he's so honest about this just makes him even more loveable.
Miss Acacia is another astoundingly realistic character. She reminded me somewhat of Daisy from The Great Gatsby: although originally she has the best life, things start to go the wrong way and she makes some bad decisions. But that's what happens in real life. (I also absolutely loved the whole glasses idea where she just didn't wear them because she wanted to be beautiful, but then ended up walking into things.)
I even empathised with Joe who, I think it's fair to say, isn't a very nice person. But the story is designed to make you realise that even seemingly bad people actually have their own lives and struggles and things that have made them that way.
And then there's Melies who, of course, was my favourite character. I recognised him immediately as being based on the early film-maker and inventor George Melies (which made me quite smug, I admit). He was just a wonderful companion to Jack and an overall great character.
This is a short little book, so there isn't really anywhere for the pace to dwindle. Furthermore, the story has so many little parts and such an amazing journey, there's always something to catch the reader's attention.
I would recommend The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart to everyone. It's a beautiful story that's written magnificently. I captures the nature of love and life exactly and was just perfect the whole way through. You'll become attached to the characters and fall in love with the story. It's just amazing.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/
6671933-the-boy-with-the-cuckoo-clock-heart
The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is an amazingly quirky, unique, heart-warming and tragic little story. The fact that the book has been translated from French doesn't affect it's beauty and untouchable originality. Both the writing, characters and story are like nothing I've ever read before. It's just perfect in every way.
Jack's heart didn't work when he was born. So, instead, he was given a cuckoo-clock to keep his heart pumping. But there's three things he must do to stay alive: firstly, he mustn't touch the hands of his cuckoo-clock heart; secondly, he must master his anger; and thirdly, he must never fall in love, or else his little mechanical heart will not be able to cope. But, however simple it may seem, Jack begins to disregard those rules one by one until only the most lethal is broken.
Of course, as the story has been translated, it's likely that the writing wasn't exactly as it is in French. But Sarah Ardizzone (the translator) has a talent, it's fair to say. The writing was stunning; poetic, yet still managed to capture a slightly inventive and modern edge.
There were some passages in it where I had to read it over and over again just because it was so beautiful. The descriptions brought everything to life and made it seem like I was in a fairytale. The narration was so honest that I could imagine everything perfectly in my mind like magic.
This novel has the perfect story about life and moving on. It captures just how hard life, love and living can actually be when it feels like the world's against you. I've never read anything quite like it, and I don't think I ever will again. In essence, that's what makes the story so heart-warming and tragic at the same time. Bad things do happen, but good things do as well.
Even in the end, when your heart is breaking for all the characters, there's a sort of finality that allows you to understand that, even though no one is really where they wanted to end up, they've come out of it being a different and stronger person. I think the end was exactly how it should be for the book.
The characters in this book are surprisingly real for such a whimsical story. Furthermore, you become extremely attached to them without even realising it, until you're completely in love with each and every one of them. Right in time for your heart to be broken.
Jack was a perfect protagonist for this book. His narration is completely open and beautiful to match the story. He understands that he's risking himself throughout the book, yet he can't help himself, and there's something about that that everyone can relate to in one way or another. Furthermore, the fact that he's so honest about this just makes him even more loveable.
Miss Acacia is another astoundingly realistic character. She reminded me somewhat of Daisy from The Great Gatsby: although originally she has the best life, things start to go the wrong way and she makes some bad decisions. But that's what happens in real life. (I also absolutely loved the whole glasses idea where she just didn't wear them because she wanted to be beautiful, but then ended up walking into things.)
I even empathised with Joe who, I think it's fair to say, isn't a very nice person. But the story is designed to make you realise that even seemingly bad people actually have their own lives and struggles and things that have made them that way.
And then there's Melies who, of course, was my favourite character. I recognised him immediately as being based on the early film-maker and inventor George Melies (which made me quite smug, I admit). He was just a wonderful companion to Jack and an overall great character.
This is a short little book, so there isn't really anywhere for the pace to dwindle. Furthermore, the story has so many little parts and such an amazing journey, there's always something to catch the reader's attention.
I would recommend The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart to everyone. It's a beautiful story that's written magnificently. I captures the nature of love and life exactly and was just perfect the whole way through. You'll become attached to the characters and fall in love with the story. It's just amazing.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/
6671933-the-boy-with-the-cuckoo-clock-heart
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