For those of you who have not seen the film or read the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret is the story of Hugo, an orphaned boy living in a train station in Paris in the 1930's. Hugo works as the time master, winding all of the station's many clocks, but must do so in secret in order to avoid being picked up by the Station Master and sent to an orphanage. Up in his apartment, Hugo wiles away the nighttime hours repairing an automaton with the help of his father's notebook. However, when the old man who runs the toy booth in the station confiscates Hugo's notebook when he finds Hugo stealing, a series of events much bigger than Hugo is set into motion. I imagine that, for most readers, picking up a physical copy of Hugo Cabret would be intimidating. Certainly, I did not expect a children's book to be 500+ pages. However, what is so unique about this novel are its illustrations. These illustrations are clustered throughout the novel and really add to the text rather than dominating it and don't remove the opportunity for the reader to use his/her own imagination. I found that the illustrations even added to the book's motifs, creating a cinematic experience similar to those described in the novel itself.
It sounds strange to call a book with 500 pages short, but that's how Hugo Cabret felt. Overall, it's a short, simple story that seems to only skim the surface of something much larger. It's quite rare that I prefer films over books, but in this case I think there were some aspects of the book that the film was able to improve. For example, while reading the book, there were some parts which I wished had deeper explanations and a greater background, such as with the history of film and the work of George Melies, which the film provides visually. However, I would say that in general the novel has a more melancholy tone to it, while the film is more uplifting--due in part, I think, to ways in which it pads the original plot with sentiment and drama. This isn't to say that I didn't like the film, because I did. But I also like the book for different reasons.
As a standalone novel, Hugo Cabret is a beautiful tale that made me nostalgic for the days when all of the books I read had illustrations. It's special in that it crosses a lot of boundaries, between novel, picture book and film, and between children' book, young adult novel and general fiction, and could be read in regard to any of these categories, with varying levels of appreciation and understanding. I believe that this multiplicity is why so many people have been drawn to it.
Genre: Children's Lit, YA Lit
Recommended To: Fans of the film, anyone interested in the origins of film in general, and/or readers of all ages.
Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Quote: "I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and types of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason, too."
