The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu

Tags

english, europe, fairy tales, fiction, magical realism, romance, translated. french, whats in a name 2018

Title: The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

Writer: Mathias Malzieu

Translator: Sarah Ardizzone

Publisher: Vintage Books (First Vintage Contemporaries Edition, 2011)

Pages: 172p

Bought at: Big Bad Wolf Surabaya (IDR 65k)

Stepping into this story is like entering a magical world full of possibilities. It was 1874 in Edinburgh, the coldest day on Earth, and Jack almost didn’t make it when he was born on that day. Fortunately, Dr. Madeleine (who helped her mom gave birth to him), saved him by placing a cuckoo clock in his chest to strengthen his heart.

Jack was abandoned by his mom but Dr. Madeleine gladly took him. Getting older, Jack had been given some rules and advice by Dr. Madeleine if he wanted to live long with his cuckoo clock 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.

 

But when he was 10 years old, Jack met a girl who made him fall in love hard. He knew that the risk was high, but he decided to follow his heart anyway. The girl was missing, though, so Jack had to do unimaginable things from having the worst kind of enemy, to travel far across the continent to find the love of his life. Even though during his journey he faced danger and met with foes, he also found true friends and a key to unlock the girl’s heart. But is it worth the risk? Is love worth his life?

Mathias Malzieu wrote this story as the basis for an album of his band, Dionysos. No wonder, you can feel the magic, fairy tale-ish atmosphere throughout the book, as if you are listening to an incredible music.

You can’t help but rooting for Jack to find his true love, and even though some of the romance parts of this book were too sweet for my taste, somehow it fits nicely with the whole tone of the story. The journey itself became an important part of the book, not only the physical journey with all kinds of mesmerizing settings, but also the journey inside Jack’s heart and how he tried to accept the unthinkable about his life.

What I love the most is the way Malzieu chose the ending of this book. It’s bittersweet and unpredictable, made me amaze of his imagination and I immediately rereading some parts of the book after I finished it for the first time, just to make sure I didn’t miss any important details after knowing the ending.

Malzieu wrote this book in French, but the translations to English by Sarah Ardizzone is incredible too. A simple, magical book to start my year.

Submitted for:

Category: A Shape

 

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A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Tags

british, children, english, fantasy, fiction, illustration, magical realism, middle grade, sicklit

Title: A Monster Calls

Writer: Patrick Ness (original idea by Siobhan Dowd, Illustrations by Jim Kay)

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd (2011)

Pages: 115p

Bought at: Periplus Sale FX (IDR 39k, bargain!)

Lately, I was craving for a tearjerker, a book that can make me cry and bawl my eyes out. I think sometimes in life, you will need to release the emotions bottled up inside you. Otherwise, you’re getting hard inside.

So I tossed and turned, read some books that people said will bring my tears out, but I haven’t found one that could successfully satisfy my need.

Until I opened A Monster Calls.

The story revolved around a boy named Conor O’Malley, whose mother was very sick because of cancer. Since her mom was dying, Conor had repeatedly been having a nightmare, a nightmare so scary that he could barely sleep at night.

One night, another nightmare suddenly came -literally- into his life when a monster – an old tree monster- entered his house and haunted his life. The monster would tell three stories to Conor, but he asked Conor to tell him his own story, about his recurring nightmares that had made his life miserable.

Meanwhile Conor’s life kept on deteriorating. He lost his friends at school because he turned down everyone, there were some bullies who chased him everyday, he had to live with his grandma who was making him crazy, and his father chose to live in America with his new family, than to live with Conor.

Only the monster knew Conor’s feeling. But the lessons that he gave Conor required Conor’s bravery, faith and hope. Things that Conor has already forgotten about. And he’s not sure if he could bring those things back into his life.

A Monster Calls is a reminder for all of us on how to face our grieves. How to let go of things and people we love the most. How to lose someone and still face the world bravely.

It’s a beautiful, moving book with haunting illustrations, lyrical prose and dark atmosphere. It’s a book for children and adults, a book for people who just lost someone dear, a book for anyone who love a good story. A recommended book, period.

Lelaki Harimau by Eka Kurniawan

Tags

fiction, indonesia asli, literature, magical realism, man booker prize, suspense/thriller

Judul: Lelaki Harimau

Penulis: Eka Kurniawan

Penerbit: Gramedia Pustaka Utama (2016, cetakan keempat)

Halaman: 191p

Beli di: Gramedia Mal Taman Anggrek (IDR 50k)

Ini pertama kalinya saya membaca buku Eka Kurniawan, dan jujur saja, alasan saya membaca Lelaki Harimau adalah karena buku ini masuk ke Longlist Man Booker International Prize 2016, salah satu penghargaan paling bergengsi di dunia sastra.

Lelaki Harimau berkisah tentang peristiwa yang menggemparkan sebuah desa kecil tempat Margio tinggal. Margio adalah pemuda penangkap babi yang terkenal pendiam dan baik-baik saja. Karenanya, seisi desa terkejut saat Margio terperosok dalam suatu insiden pembunuhan berdarah- di mana ia menggigit korbannya sampai mati, seolah seekor harimau tengah merasukinya.

Dari peristiwa naas tersebut, Eka Kurniawan membawa kita kembali menelusuri kehidupan Margio, mulai dari pertemuan kedua orang tuanya, kakeknya yang misterius, kehidupan keluarganya yang penuh kekerasan, sampai kisah hubungan romantisnya dengan anak perempuan tetangganya. Sekilas, tak ada yang aneh dari kehidupan Margio, yang meski banyak diwarnai penderitaan, tapi sebenarnya jamak ditemui pada kehidupan masyarakat desa tersebut.

Namun, perlahan-lahan kita diajak mengetahui lebih dalam, apa yang memicu Margio hingga melakukan tindakan membunuh tersebut. Apakah benar ada harimau di dalam dirinya?

Buku ini mungkin tidak tepat bila disebut sebagai buku thriller atau misteri, karena toh memang sejak dari kalimat pembuka pun kita sudah tahu pelaku dan korban pembunuhannya. Tapi cara Eka Kurniawan membawa kita pelan-pelan menelusuri alasan di balik itulah yang membuat buku ini jadi begitu penuh suspense dan membuat penasaran.

Banyak juga pendapat yang mengatakan kalau Lelaki Harimau terlalu overrated, tapi kali ini saya tidak setuju dengan mereka. Saya begitu menikmati plot yang padat, karakter yang tidak tersia-sia, diksi yang dimainkan layaknya simfoni, dan tentu saja, kepiawaian Eka dalam meramu kronologis kisah sehingga pembaca merasa klimaksnya terbangun perlahan-lahan, sampai meledak singkat di halaman terakhir buku. A perfect bookgasm, if I may say 🙂

Saya juga suka dengan detail yang amat kaya, baik dari penokohan maupun setting tempat, sehingga meski Eka tidak menuturkan secara jelas tentang nama lokasi maupun setting waktu dalam cerita ini, saya tidak merasa kesulitan untuk membayangkannya dan ikut larut dalam kisah Margio.

Terima kasih Eka Kurniawan, yang sudah membuka kembali mata saya terhadap kekayaan literatur Indonesia 🙂

 

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

Tags

children, english, fantasy, fiction, lovely heroine, magical realism, middle grade

Title: A Snicker of Magic

Writer: Natalie Lloyd

Publisher: Scholastic Inc. (2014)

Pages: 311p

Bought at: Periplus.com (IDR 120k)

It’s been a while since I read a magical, delicious book full of incredible things, from the first page til the last. And A Snicker of Magic is in that category.

This book tells a story about a city called Midnight Gulch, where magic used to linger but a tragedy made the magic gone. One day, Felicity Juniper Pickle‎ moved to that city with her mom and little sister (and their faithful dog). Felicity’s mom has this certain urge to always wandering, never settled in one place, always keep moving.

Felicity has this unique ability to read words from things and people around her. She is very excited when she found the word “Home” among other magical words bubbling from Midnight Gulch. She wonders whether this cute (even though a bit sad) town could be their final home.

Things get more interesting because Felicity -helped by her new (and first) best friend, Jonah- tried to investigate the history of Midnight Gulch: the magical place it used to be, and the tragedy that struck there. She’s very surprised when learning that the history is actually related to her family long time ago, and probably becomes one of the reasons why her mother always wants to wander the world.

Can Felicity solve this problem, bring back the magic to Midnight Gulch, and do all of them before her Mom packs their bags again and take them somewhere new? And most of all, can Felicity finally find a true home for her family?

A Snicker of Magic does have lots of magic inside. This is a debut of Natalie Lloyd and I can tell that she will have many more to come! I love how Lloyd has woven the words to make beautiful sentences here. I also love how she used Felicity’s knack of words to create more wonderful new words, such as spindidly or splendiferous.

Another thing that I love is how Lloyd described the quirky characters of Midnight Gulch and how their stories relate to each other. ‎Even though I’m a bit torn about Felicity’s mom because she’s a bit selfish and self centered, later on I could forgive her after knowing her true story.

And the description of Midnight Gulch- with its delicious ice cream factory- is incredible. Cute, fun and -indeed- magical, Midnight Gulch is the kind of town that will definitely draw me in if it really exists. Another lovely thing is the friendship between Felicity and Jonah – the wunderkind boy in the wheelchair- that exactly what I always looked for in ‎a middle grade book.

All in all, a delightful read- no wonder this book has been bought by Obama when he celebrated the Small Business Saturday last year. Good choice, Mr. President!