La copertina può essere una attrattiva e in questo caso... È stato il fattore determinante nel farmi comprare questo libro. A me le storie surreali piacciono pure, quindi avevo un po' di aspettative. Sostanzialmente, è una favola e per tale deve esser presa. Un racconto che nasconde in fondo un altro significato, qui molto carina l'idea di sfruttare il cuore con un orologio che lo fa funzionare. Però... Un però c'è. Le descrizioni molto auliche, fantasiose, romantiche e surreali... Sono veramente troppe, anche per i miei gusti. L'ho letto volentieri, ma ogni volta che c'era una di queste frasi così, roteavo gli occhi come il meme di Robert Downey Jr.

Preciosa prosa para una historia triste y acelerada; no quedará entre mis mejores libros pero sin duda tiene un terrenito en mi corazón.

This was delightful. What a fun imaginary romp.

The movie was a lot better. I hardly recognised anything in this book, it was just so different. Different in a bad way too. Everything about this story made me sad.

Jack was born in Edinburgh, 1874, and with a frozen heart. His mother leaves him and the midwife, Madeleine gives him a cuckoo clock heart so that he can live. He remains there with the woman and she becomes his mother. Madeleine tells Jack three rules, so that he can continue to live with his odd little heart. "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." However, Jack soon breaks the third rule, and falls in love with a little singer girl. He's 10 at the time. In order to see her again, he goes to her school, only to find out that she's moved away. Instead, he meets a boy named Joe, who is also in love with the singer-Miss Acacia. Eventually, Jack sets out to find Miss Acacia, despite the warnings of danger.

My first main problem is that the love between Miss Acacia and Jack (later on in the book) was all lust. The love was completely physical and full of excitement and giddiness. It didn't feel real or like it was worth risking your life over for. My next big issue, is that I hated Miss Acacia. She was irrational and constantly making Jack feel insecure and jealous. Several of the conflicts in this book were caused by her running off and not fully listening. She was so rash and hysterical. Surely these problems aren't because the book was translated? I really hope not. This book was a disappointment for me and ended completely differently than what I was expecting. Left me feeling empty inside.

The audio book is read by the great Jim Dale so that made this book a must listen to. A quirky story of an orphan boy born in 1874 Edinburgh who has a cuckoo clock attached to his weak heart. He falls in love at 10 years old and his journey to find his great love, a blind, flamenco dancer is the focus of the story. Sweet, melancholy novel.

Some of my favorite things in this book: hurricane in a skirt (Miss Acacia), the pet hamster (whose name is Cunnilingus), bottled tears (yes, tears), and a delightful cameo by England’s very own serial killer Jack the Ripper. There is very little NOT to love of concerning this book by Mathias Malzieu. I read a translation of it, because my French is not the best any more.

In this book, Jack, the boy with the cuckoo-clock heart, is now dependent upon the clock installed in his chest, keeping him alive. His heart is fragile, and too many strong emotions will weaken and ultimately break his fragile heart. Love and anger are the chief of these that will destroy the fragile mechanical device that keeps him alive. Yet, despite the pleas of the woman who installed the mechanical heart, Jack travels from Edinburgh to Andalusia in search of Miss Acacia.

Gorgeous and grotesque, this book is filled with delightfully lush, fruity, and sugar-adorned images tend to leave one hungering for more of his pretty words. The adoration that Jack has for Miss Acacia is something right out of your favorite fairy-tale, it is so perfect, and almost in that regard uninteresting, however this fact is made up for by the motley crew of supporting characters make up for it.

The twinkling 19th century Andalusian circus, the laboratories filled with tiny bottles, the ghost train decorated with bones freshly pulled from the catacombs are all things that I adored experiencing with Jack on his journeys.

This book is definitely right up the alley of Tim Burton fans with its mixture of frightening and romantic imagery. Definitely a good read.

Every time I break my rule of no books by white dudes unless specifically recommended, I regret it. Lady as object, lady described through male gaze, lady given no agency-just fuck off with it. The only good part about this was the hamster named cunnilingous

L'un de mes livres préférés voir peut-être même le bon. Magnifique, poétique, mélancolique et déroutant. Parfait