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The Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67593.The_Invention_of_Hugo_Cabret?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Invention of Hugo Cabret" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170676646m/67593.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67593.The_Invention_of_Hugo_Cabret?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Invention of Hugo Cabret</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38120.Brian_Selznick">Brian Selznick</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13613764?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars As I was a little more that 2/3 through The Invention of Hugo Cabret when I started wondering how many stars that I would give it. At first, I was even considering giving it 3 stars, which suprised me since so many people had told me that it was amazing. I have, since settled on giving it 4 starts, because I can't really sum up my first reaction to the work as "It was amazing!" which corresponds to 5 stars. However, now that I have said that, the following criticisms that I have for it that have prevented me from giving it 5 stars err on the side of "overburdening criticism," namely that the language was somewhat stilted and the characters weren't particularly well-developed. I also may have a bias because I found Isabelle annoying when she kept insisting that Hugo was a thief and a liar and nagging him to reveal his life story. Related to this is one of the other things that I think would've made this novel better, a more complete, but subtle, address of what I think is an important lesson in the story, that people (Hugo, Isabelle, Papa George, etc.) keep secrets that isolate them from others, that keep themselves from forming deeper personal relationships. Now, after pointing out all these criticisms, let me say that, I loved this book. As it was meant, this book spoke to me through the beautiful pictures. Although I said that the language was stilted, one could argue, is it really a sticking point? If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then Brian Selznick (or, if you've read the novel, Hugo's automaton) has spoken a million words.
 
 Although the story was a familiar one insofar as it was reminiscent of a Charles Dickens rags-to-riches story, it explored the rich, largely untapped topic, at least in children's literature, of the beginnings of cinema and the wonder that it inspired. Through his illustrations, especially of the drawings of the labrynthine 1931 Paris train station and ending chase scene (As Hugo states, every movie should end in a good chase scene =), Selznick conveys this wonder, reawakens it, in an audience long accustomed to the magic of movies. Note, I chose to state that Selznick elicits wonder from his audience, not his readers. Initially, I wondered why Selznick didn't use a more standard graphic novel format until I realized, belatedly, that Selznick was using a novel to emulate film to convey the same sense of dreams made real, the feeling that Hugo and his father experienced the first, an every, time that they viewed Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon. Selznick succeeded beautifully, this book is a wondrous one, not only for children, but for adults as well, and also a springboard into the history of the origins of cinema. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/650953?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Jennifer's review
rating:
bookshelves: children-young-adult, manga-graphic-novels

As I was a little more that 2/3 through The Invention of Hugo Cabret when I started wondering how many stars that I would give it. At first, I was even considering giving it 3 stars, which suprised me since so many people had told me that it was amazing. I have, since settled on giving it 4 starts, because I can't really sum up my first reaction to the work as "It was amazing!" which corresponds to 5 stars. However, now that I have said that, the following criticisms that I have for it that have prevented me from giving it 5 stars err on the side of "overburdening criticism," namely that the language was somewhat stilted and the characters weren't particularly well-developed. I also may have a bias because I found Isabelle annoying when she kept insisting that Hugo was a thief and a liar and nagging him to reveal his life story. Related to this is one of the other things that I think would've made this novel better, a more complete, but subtle, address o...more As I was a little more that 2/3 through The Invention of Hugo Cabret when I started wondering how many stars that I would give it. At first, I was even considering giving it 3 stars, which suprised me since so many people had told me that it was amazing. I have, since settled on giving it 4 starts, because I can't really sum up my first reaction to the work as "It was amazing!" which corresponds to 5 stars. However, now that I have said that, the following criticisms that I have for it that have prevented me from giving it 5 stars err on the side of "overburdening criticism," namely that the language was somewhat stilted and the characters weren't particularly well-developed. I also may have a bias because I found Isabelle annoying when she kept insisting that Hugo was a thief and a liar and nagging him to reveal his life story. Related to this is one of the other things that I think would've made this novel better, a more complete, but subtle, address of what I think is an important lesson in the story, that people (Hugo, Isabelle, Papa George, etc.) keep secrets that isolate them from others, that keep themselves from forming deeper personal relationships. Now, after pointing out all these criticisms, let me say that, I loved this book. As it was meant, this book spoke to me through the beautiful pictures. Although I said that the language was stilted, one could argue, is it really a sticking point? If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then Brian Selznick (or, if you've read the novel, Hugo's automaton) has spoken a million words.

Although the story was a familiar one insofar as it was reminiscent of a Charles Dickens rags-to-riches story, it explored the rich, largely untapped topic, at least in children's literature, of the beginnings of cinema and the wonder that it inspired. Through his illustrations, especially of the drawings of the labrynthine 1931 Paris train station and ending chase scene (As Hugo states, every movie should end in a good chase scene =), Selznick conveys this wonder, reawakens it, in an audience long accustomed to the magic of movies. Note, I chose to state that Selznick elicits wonder from his audience, not his readers. Initially, I wondered why Selznick didn't use a more standard graphic novel format until I realized, belatedly, that Selznick was using a novel to emulate film to convey the same sense of dreams made real, the feeling that Hugo and his father experienced the first, an every, time that they viewed Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon. Selznick succeeded beautifully, this book is a wondrous one, not only for children, but for adults as well, and also a springboard into the history of the origins of cinema. ...less

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