Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Amanda

Unfortunately, I wasn't all that impressed with Hugo Cabret. The drawings were absolutely amazing, the writing was good, but the story was just a story to me. It wasn't anything heart-stopping or all that memorable. I felt cheated out of something special when I was finished.


The plot begins with us meeting Hugo, a young orphan who was an apprentice to his alcoholic uncle, the timekeeper for a train station, who mysteriously disappears and leaves Hugo to tend the clocks himself or risk being caught and sent to an orphanage. Hugo manages on his own, constantly following his dream of fixing a quirky machine made of different mechanical parts that when fixed will write a message that Hugo believes is from his father. The reader learns more parts to the mystery of the machine, the note, and parts of history as the story moves on, while witnessing Hugo form bonds with the most unexpected of people.


I did have a favorite selection from the book to share:
"Did you ever notice that all machines are made for some reason?" he asked Isabelle. "They are built to make you laugh, like the mouse here, or to tell the time, like clocks, or to fill you with wonder, like the automaton. Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do. "
Isabelle picked up the mouse, wound it again, and set it down.
"Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose...it's like you're broken."

This little portion of the story did cause me to stop and think about just how Hugo was feeling and how I feel that way quite often. If someone's purpose is taken away, they are broken and lost. Again, a good book, but nothing I would put on a Top 10 list or even rate as "excellent," even with a great quote like that. It certainly is worth a read though, if for nothing more than the beautiful drawings intermingled within the text, helping to tell Hugo's story.