(Review) Brian Selznick's "The Invention of Hugo Cabret"

I had never heard of Selznick before two weeks ago. I typically spend an afternoon (usually Saturday or Sunday) watching the trailers for new movies on the Apple site. For one, I like to see what kind of ideas are being produced by Hollywood and for two, it's a good way to figure out if the stories I'm telling (and will continue to tell) are relevant. I stumbled across the trailer for this movie (directed by Scorcese), which I found out later was based on the book. I was fascinated by the idea and bought the book immediately.

The movie looked like your standard kid's movie with a bit more whimsy. The book, however, was a 525 page beast filled equally with text and pictures. Some of the pictures were huge charcoal drawings of more complex scenes. Others were video stills taken from old silent movies like "Modern Times," "Safety Last," and one that plays a crucial role in the story, "A Trip to the Moon." Every picture is beautifully rendered and is important to the overall narrative.

Hugo Cabret, a boy living alone in the walls of a train station, fixes and keeps up the clocks in silence. His father and uncle both died or disappear early on the book, leaving him to fend for himself. In order to survive, he turns to thievery. Bottles of milk from the cafe, day old bread from the trash, and machine parts from the toymaker's store...parts that Hugo uses to repair a man-like doll called an Automaton that used to be his father's. This automaton, when in working order creates pictures and writes poetry. Magicians used to use these to impress and astound crowds. The idea of magic in general becomes a very central theme early on.

While a kid's book, I found myself completely engrossed. I had sympathy for Hugo's situation, but like most kid's books, many of the problems put in his way were simply unrealistic. Barring that, the story was engaging. The automaton seems like it plays a very important role in the first half of the book, but then becomes nothing more than a device for a larger story that seems more interesting, but less fleshed out by the time we get to the end. The concepts of movies and magic, both separate and together, become the focal point. I believed the book to be a more fantasy-based (see: a state of unreality or surreality) text that never manifested itself.

I know that Selznick has another book coming out this month called "Wonderstruck." The synopsis from Amazon has me interested, but it will probably look exactly like this one with different, nuanced changes. I'll still pick it up, regardless:

"Ben is struck deaf moments after discovering a clue to his father’s identity, but undaunted, he follows the clue’s trail to the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City. Flash to Rose’s story, told simultaneously through pictures, who has also followed the trail of a loved one to the museum--only 50 years before Ben. Selnick’s beautifully detailed illustrations draw the reader inside the museum’s myriad curiosities and wonders, following Ben and Rose in their search for connection. Ultimately, their lives collide in a surprising and inspired twist that is breathtaking and life-affirming."

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