Hugo's father worked at a local museum part-time. One night, he came home telling details of a fascinating machine, which he calls an automaton. Automatons are self-operating machines made of clockwork and does a series of activities like a robot would, like playing music or writing. An automaton was usually used by magicians to help out their acts during this time. His father would stay at the museum late at night to work on it. His father said that the automaton would probably write a message, and Hugo couldn't wait to find out what it was. But a fire started one night, and Hugo's father and the automaton were inside. All that Hugo had as a remembrance of his father and the automaton was a notebook full of his father's sketches of the automaton.
Hugo's uncle took him in, and he worked and lived at the train station as clock-keeper. He taught Hugo how to steal food and money and how to fix the clocks, which was quite an accomplishment, since he was drunk most of the time. One day, his uncle didn't come back. After a few days, he snuck out to the remains of the museum and finds the automaton, in horrible dis-repair. He takes it back to their little apartment and tries fixing it up with the help of the sketches in the notebook.
Three months passed, and Hugo hasn't heard from his uncle. He stole toys from an old man's shop in the station for parts for the automaton. But the old man caught him, and took the notebook away, threatening to burn it. The contents of the notebook surprised the old man, Hugo could hear the emotions of fear and recognition cutting in his words.
But young Hugo didn't give up. He kept the clocks running, tried to get the notebook back with the help of a girl his age named Isabelle, and kept building the automaton. Finding he didn't need the book's help much even once he got it back, he finished the automaton, and it drew a picture of the moon with a rocket in it's "eye", the scene of a movie Hugo's father described seeing to him.
Film, magic, curiosity, and sneaking, all fit together perfectly to play out the plot and pictures show the story unfolding in ways never done before. The pictures made it feel like you were really there with Hugo experiencing these things where words fail to describe. Some of you might feel that the pictures must mean that its childlike or confusing, but it makes the tapestry of the story even richer and more thickly woven than you might think. You will see how film took its transformation from everyday life to those of the most ridiculous dreams, all from the start of one man who plays a surprising role in the book. You learn a little bit of history in a way you wouldn't have expected.
The things I liked best were how Hugo seemed to make clockwork relate to everyday life, and the interesting film history disguised as a unique adventure. When Hugo talked about the world being one big machine, and how every machine has a specific part for a specific reason to make the machine run, and then related it to people, I marveled at how the connection fit together. Like the gears going in my head fitting together, I thought about what my purpose could be, what I wanted to be a part of in this world, and found a deeper meaning to the book that Brian Selznick so cleverly meant.
After reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret, I started wondering how certain things work, and how amazing certain events truly are. I would recommend it to everyone, whatever your age. This book sparks imagination and fascination with the wonders in the world, and starts you on your adventure to find where your cog fits in this big clock of a planet.
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