The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

A Twirling Clockwork Romance

The Boy With The Cuckoo-Clock Heart is one of those literary fairytale keepsakes that comes along only once in a life time. Brilliant, clever, ingenuity at it’s best, truly a masterpiece destined to become a classic for many years to come. It is also a very difficult book to describe and doing it justice in a written book review is challenging, because the story is quite a simple one and an age old tale we’ve seen performed a thousand times before in books, poems, movies, and plays. The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is a love story. Gene Kelly Singing In The Rain kind of joyous love, mixed with Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca style tragic sad affair. A boy, a girl, their passion, their joys, their trials show more and tribulations, their heartaches and loss that end up in a chest of memories in someone’s dusty attic. So, the basic story is nothing new. It’s how Mathias Malzieu tells this soulful tale that makes the story come alive with magic and wonder, laughter and tears, and with all the ingredients that make our hearts thump. This precious little fairytale is made of pixie dust and moonbeams, shimmering snowflakes, the freshness of spring and walking in the rain. It’s a drama, it’s a comedy, it’s a musical, and a fantasy steam punk romance based on what the human heart can conjure up in the midst of unconditional love. What a glorious opulent opera this would make!

Dr. Madeline is a midwife to fallen women who can’t afford to keep their bastard children. On the coldest night of the year, in a tiny Edinburgh village, she adopts a baby boy with a faulty heart and replaces it with a cuckoo-clock. Little Jack’s heart beats with an odd tick and strange tock, and is raised to believe his heart will not withstand the shaky tumult that falling in love can cause. Dr. Madeline warns him over and over, to stay away from love, to avoid matters of the heart, for his little wooden clock is much to frail to bear the excitement of love and the hurt it eventually brings to those who fall prey to cupid’s darts. Ignoring her wisdom, and as Jack becomes a young man, he ventures out into the world to one day meet a beautiful singing girl in the town square. Her angelic voice beckons, his heart thumps wildly, and Jack must have this sexy siren called Miss Acacia. From here to the end of this twinkling little book that shines like a beacon in the night, a glorious love story unfolds that will have Jack traversing across Europe through London, Paris and the mountains of Spain, as he follows his wooden heart and experiences the ups and downs of love and lust as Miss Acacia leads him on a merry chase. The whirlwind treasure trove of mixed up emotions that cause earthquakes in Little Jack’s soul, and tremors to his mechanical cuckoo-clock heart, will have readers cheering him on as he learns the ways of courtship and love from a ragtag band of unlikely friends and foes.

Due to the flavor and sexual content, this is not a children’s fairytale. It is for adults only and one that would make a wonderful Valentine’s Day gift or any gift of the heart from one lover to another, or for any hopeless romantic. My only wish would have been to see the book published with illustrations for additional enhancement. This book is optioned for a film and one can find a very creative and entertaining video trailer of the story online that is worth seeing. Sparks of Edward Scissorhands and tidbits of The Corpse Bride come to mind when reading this book, and for certain it does have that Tim Burton flair to it.

Mathias Malzieu’s premier debut knocked my socks off. His talent for story telling and ability to weave passages of beautiful words were akin to the creation of a fine oriental carpet. Full of vivid life and spirit, this book is one of those gems that will sparkle and stay on people’s book shelves forever never to be parted with. Bravo, Bravo, Bravo…Don’t miss this folks!!! Don’t even think about missing out on this literary experience! show less

Una muy bella historia que muestra aspectos de la naturaleza humana como son el amor y el sacrificio; el arrebato de los adolescente, además del egoísmo que puede llevar a la destrucción de quienes somos y quienes amamos. Conjuga la música, el ensueño y el despertar del dolor Malzieu nos transporta a este frío y descomunal Edimburgo, donde más de uno quisiera vivir por al menos un día.
No obstante el libro no es perfecto, los personajes secundarios muchas veces apuntan a lo caricaturesco, y hay errores temporales durante la narración. El epilogo, que si bien para mucho no ha sido un buen añadido a la historia, considero que es u agregado bueno, ya que da un último giro, pero este te hace percibir a todos los integrantes de show more esta historia de una manera distinta. Es un cambio radical el que hace este libro, por inicia mágico y esperanzador y al final te corta las alas sin que esto signifique una razón para desvirtuarlo. show less

Born on the coldest night on Earth, Jack's frozen heart is replaced with a cuckoo clock that helps to keep him alive. It ticks oddly from his chest and when he's excited it lets out a loud cuckoo noise. Dr. Madeleine, his foster mother, warns him that his cuckoo heart is too fragile for him to handle the turmoils of love, and that he should avoid it at all costs. But he sees a pretty little dancing girl who bumps into things, he can't help but fall for her. Thus begins a journey that take him to Paris, where he meets a mad clockmaker/magician on to Spain in search of his love.

This is a supremely sweet fairytale. The writing is textural and vivid and the world in which little Jack inhabits comes to life as he describes it from his show more uniquely romantical point of view. It's often sorrowful, but is really so charming and beautiful that I love it completely. show less

Delectable writing tells the story of baby Jack, born on the coldest night in the world. "Fountains metamorphose, one by one, into bouquets of ice....The trees stretch their arms, like fat fairies in white nightshirts yawning at the moon, as they watch the carriages sliding over the cobblestone ice rink. ... It is so cold that birds freeze in midflight before crashing to the ground." Since his heart was frozen, the midwife, Dr. Madeleine, installs a cuckoo clock in his chest to give his heart a little jump start. This is how the tale of Little Jack begins.
On his tenth birthday, Dr. Madeleine takes him to the city where he sees a girl singer performing. Jack is smitten, and knows that one day this half-blind beauty will be his.
Five show more years later, Jack goes off in search of his little singer, knowing only that she may be in Andalusia. Stopping first in Paris (after having had a run-in with Jack the Ripper) to find a clockmaker to look after his heart, Jack and new-found friend Melies succeed in tracking her down. Of course she is performing at the Extraordinarium, (he spots a poster with her likeness "The paper roses stitched on to the little singer's dress trace the treasure map that is her body. The tip of my tongue tastes electric. I'm a bomb ready to explode--a terrified bomb, but a bomb all the same") where Jack quickly finds employment, too.

The story here is surely secondary to the writing. It was a bit surprising to see that this was a translation--how difficult it must have been to allow the author's quirky, sensuous language to come through. This is a book to read, not because of what happens, but because of how it's told. The language is ripe for wallowing; passages beg to be read aloud. If you enjoy interesting images, bizarre but lovable characters, and a lushness of language, pick up this book! show less

The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu was published originally in French as La Mécanique du coeur and later turned into a 3D animated film, Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart. As I saw the film (also translated to English) before reading the book, I will be comparing the two.

Both versions begin with a warning:

FIRSTLY: don't touch the hands of your cuckoo-clock heart
SECONDLY: master your anger
THIRDLY: never, ever fall in love. For if you do, the hour hand will poke through your skin, your bones will shatter, and your heart will break once more.

Both begin with a birth during the coldest winter day in Edinburgh's history. Both have a child with a poor APGAR score given a second chance of life with the help of a wind-up show more heart. Both have a horrendous school experience with a bully named Joe. Both have a brief encounter with a flanco dancing singer named Miss Acacia. Both have a trip to Andulusia and the help of Méli`s.

But the journeys through those way stations are completely different and the final destination is a 180 degrees different between book and film. This different destination in the film, though, isn't a bad thing.

And here's why:

The written word — even one that's translated — has the freedom of word play. Within the bounds of multiple definitions, idiomatic phrasing, double entendre, and so forth, is the magic of the metaphor and the simile. There's no reason to push things beyond the word play to tell the story.

The photoplay — to use the word popular when Georges Méli`s was making his fantasy and science fiction films, is an art-form that thrives on special effects. The animated film has a long tradition of being a favorite for the fantasy genre.

So when given a choice between metaphor or reality, the book chose metaphor and the film chose reality.

Which one do I prefer? I like them both. show less

El proyecto, desde luego, es atractivo. Las ilustraciones góticas, con un estilo más oscuro y atractivo, y un argumento con tintes oscuros que viaja desde Edimburgo a Granada (hermosa Granada), deteniéndose en la magia de París. El protagonista es un joven con un corazón mecánico. Estamos ante una representación vaga de lo que se conoce en literatura como realismo mágico, pero sin llegar a alcanzarlo en realidad. Pues, sin lugar a dudas, la historia no es verosímil ni por asomo. La fantasía chirría, y el reflejo de la realidad, con la Alhambra de fondo, casi molesta.

Leí esta novela por curiosidad, y creí que podría encontrar un cuento interesante (se decía que leer 'La mecánica del corazón' era como ver una película de show more Tim Burton). Sin embargo, a pesar de que el trasfondo no semejaba ser malo, la calidad literaria es pobre, poco explotada y mal esculpida. Un ritmo vertiginoso e infantil hace imposible que un lector exigente sea capaz de disfruta de tal simpleza. Ni siquiera los personajes, que prometían ser enternecedores, llegan a cobrar vida en ningún momento. Una verdadera lástima.

Creo que estamos ante un ejemplo del poder del dinero para todo. El autor es un músico de un grupo de rock, de una buena posición social. Un poco de inversión, un buen ilustrador, una buena editorial, publicidad desmesurada y... 'Voilá', novela publicada, sin que nadie se haya preocupado de medir su calidad real.

Es una lástima, porque si esta historia hubiera caído en manos más hábiles (un escritor negro, por ejemplo) tal vez pudiéramos haber estado ante toda una obra alegórica sobre el amor, con increíbles escenarios de fondo que el escritor apenas se ha molestado en describirnos. Y también, habíamos podido disfrutar de diálogos más creíbles y que reflejasen la verdad de las personalidades de los protagonistas. Al final tenemos a un anti-héroe enamorado insulso y a una joven bailaora bastante carente de calidez. show less

First, you must view this, and then you can really feel that this little story of clockwork hearts is a ticktock whimsical fantasy. I suspect the video helped this story rise above "just okay" for me; having a soundtrack of sorts definitely created a little more mood.

Reading this should have felt a tiny bit like being dropped into one of the song and dance numbers from "Moulin Rouge!" with its unlikely creatures and its sad little love story - the love of a foster mother for her "son," as well as the love of a little boy for his songbird girl.

I really wish it worked for me. While I was in love with the idea, the characters and the setting, ultimately the prose just didn't create that immersive experience I always wish for in a good show more read. When I read a book I love, characters (even places,) come alive for me and I can hear their own unique voices in my mind as I absorb story. I wish I could blame my disconnect with Cuckoo-Clock Heart on poor translation, but unfortunately, I think it was the present tense that tanked this one for me. I've always had difficulty becoming immersed in present tense narratives (curse you Margaret Atwood, I desperately want to read your Oryx and Crake, but I just know I'll never make it through. Grr...) and this little novella was no exception.

I felt as though, in reading, I merely rode the surface of a sad, sweet, and quirky little story. Pity. show less