The Movie Book : The Invention of Hugo Cabret

"If you lose your purpose...It's like you're broken."

Sometimes I am inspired to read a book because it is being turned into a film. I can't help it. Usually, it works out in my favor. I'm not picking up Nicholas Sparks novels or anything, so most of the time I like what I read. Often, I will end up feeling a closer connection to the adaptation than I would have otherwise. I'd never read Watchmen until I heard Zack Snyder was helming the big screen version. When I heard Moneyball was something of a passion project for Brad Pitt, I listened to the audiobook. The newest addition to this list is Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret. With Martin Scorsese's adaptation headed to the multiplex this month, I finally picked this one up.

For those who haven't read the book and/or want to see the film without much or any prior knowledge, I won't say much. A vague synopsis is available from the trailer(s): a little boy lives in a train station and has some adventures. For those who don't know about the book, I would like to let you know that the book interestingly intertwines narrative fiction with pencil illustrations as well as old photographs, so despite the book's size (it is thick), it is a really quick read. The approach to telling the story feels classic and new simultaneously, and Selznik's tale provides plenty of surface level message while providing enough meaning below the surface to give the story some literary weight.

I enjoyed the book for a number of reasons, and one of the biggest reasons was because I could not help but  imagine what Martin Scorsese might do with the material. After having watched the trailer (and the superior second trailer), I would catch myself visualizing how the page might look on the screen. By the time I reached a little over the half way point of the book,  I started to understand why he would really want to make this into a film, and that discovery got me even more excited for the movie (opening November 28th).