The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick
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Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

I just didn’t enjoy this book. I read it in one night, because Michelle told me it was so awesome, and I kept waiting for it to get awesome, but it never really did. I almost feel like I should apologize for disliking this book, because everyone in the whole world seems to adore it, but…it just wasn’t for me.

I like the concept a lot, with the pictures not just adding to the story but also TELLING part of the story – that is cool. But I know that an audiobook of this exists, so I couldn’t stop wondering, every time I flipped a page and saw that the story was actually moved along by a picture instead of text…how in the world was it handled in the audiobook??

OK, as for actual reasons why I didn’t enjoy it. The automaton parts of the story seemed too science-fictiony to me. I guess automatons were actually real things? But I don’t really care enough to research it. I also didn’t like any of the characters. Hugo stole things throughout the whole book! It kept distracting me. The old man was mean and I thought that the whole story wrapped up too neatly and coincidentally in the end. I won’t go into that too much because I want to avoid spoilers, but everything fit together like a puzzle. A little TOO well.

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