I listened to this tale being beautifully narrated by Jim Dale, and I was intrigued from the start. I often find myself drawn to stories about characters who are a bit different or plot lines that are a bit dark, and this tale fits right into that. The story starts off with the birth of young Jack on the coldest day of the year, when the midwife who delivers him discovers he has a frozen heart. The birth mother does not want anything to do with the child, so the midwife (who is also a witch) takes him in as her own and finds a way to cobble together a cuckoo-clock heart prosthesis that gives him a chance at life.

The story unfolds from Jack’s perspective throughout the years as it spans his development from an infant/toddler, to a young man, and finally into adulthood. All along the way, Jack is coping with the social difficulties that being different can bring and he takes us on a journey through some hard learned lessons about life and growing up.

Some of the big lessons are: Dealing with bullies… The struggle of first setting off on your own, away from your home and family…Making new discoveries and friends…Falling in love…Figuring out who should and should not be trusted - with your heart and with your secrets…Giving life your all and realizing that sometimes even that’s not enough to make sure everything works out just so…Learning that everyone has flaws and the potential to let you down…

There’s also quite an interesting revelation that comes quite abruptly at the end of the story for Jack when he comes to learn news that turns his world upside down and puts a new perspective on everything he’s ever believed. It’s a hard lesson that I think marks a big transition from childhood into adulthood and something everyone must reconcile with as they get older.

Spoiler

It’s never easy discovering first-hand that even our parents have flaws and insecurities, and that they make mistakes, too - however well meaning their intentions.

The characters are all quirky and interesting in their own ways, and overall it’s a pretty neat little story.

El inicio es bueno, puedo imaginar ese Edimburgo, donde el sol no sale, nieva. La visión del primer amor y sus peligros y consecuencias. Sin embargo, creo que en la parte del desarrollo y sobre todo el final, algo hace falta. Tanto así que hay un epílogo, donde explica la mayoría de las interrogantes que quedaron abiertas.

No esperaba un final feliz, después de todo es de un autor francés. Pero tampoco esperaba esa resolución. Al final la mayoría de los personajes quedan varados en esa especie de pasado estático, que ningún futuro lo puede arrancar. Entiendo y justifico el pesimismo, pero creo que Jack merecía algo mejor. Y la historia también. La historia se apresura por concluir, en lugar de darse su tiempo y ello desmerece mucho el libro.

Not in French, though. In English this was called, The Boy with the Cuckoo Clock Hear.

An odd little book, and I can't quite determine if I liked it or not. It begins well, and I initially liked the writing, but the longer the book goes on, the more a sense of disillusionment manifests itself.

This is a tale of both fancy and creepiness, yes, but the erotic dreams the boy has as a pre-teen and the relationship he has as a teen were just disturbing. Is this a European convention? If the characters were older, the tone and story would still be mind-bending. Why insist on dealing with youths? The last chapters seem like something out of a Twilight Zone episode, and in this context that's not a compliment.

audiobook note: Jim Dale is amazingly talented, and I can't help but jump in line for anything he records. However, the Scottish brogue given to the title character (and therefore used prodigiously throughout the book) was not wholly effective.

This may be getting an extra star because I love Jim Dale (the audiobook voice). And Scotland. There are some odd anachronisms that are probably even more jarring or confusing if you are reading it and paying attention to the text instead of being swept along by the narrator (of "Pushing Daisies")—I don't know if that's owing to bad editing or an irresponsible translation

Spoiler

—and it does resolve more abruptly and with a stronger note of realism than I might prefer (though I certainly don't expect or demand an HEA)

. Overall, though, I found it a quirky fairy tale in both tone and content, and I love modern fairy tales (as opposed to modernized fairy tales (and I realize that the story takes place in the 19th century, but it was written in modern times)).

Es uno de mis libros favoritos. Te hace sentir muchas cosas en tan pocas páginas que aterra. Mathias posee ese Don que pocos autores tienen de plantearte un mundo entre la ficción y la realidad sin limitarlo con una franja.

1/10

Realmente el libro me lo leí por primera vez hace aproximadamente cuatro años y me lo he leido porque tras haber estudiado me apetecía estar en el sol.
Creo que es un libro que se disfrutaría mucho más en una época fría, con un café y una mantita mientras empiezas a leer y recordar con nostalgia sentimientos que se ven reflejados de manera muy bonito en este libro :)