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A review by rainilla
The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu
1.0
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.
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.