Clockwork : Or All Wound Up

I have a semi-intense love-hate relationship with Philip Pullman (and perhaps also with hyphens, but that's another matter). I used to like Pullman unconditionally, reading anything he had written. Then I read "The Shadow in the North" (the second installment in the Sally Lockheart trilogy) and was burned by the ending. It literally hurt. Philip Pullman made me cry. But I was willing to let it slide because I was also in the midst of His Dark Materials and felt compelled to finish--my mistake. "The Amber Spyglass" also left me severely burned, and crying again.

Before all of that happened, Pullman wrote some shorter, happier works. I can't recapture my early excitement about Pullman, especially after reading about his "Frederick must die" rule, but I can almost appreciate his works without remembering the grief he caused me.

"Clockwork" is a novella length story Pullman published in 1996. At 107 pages, the narrative is too short to include any deaths of beloved characters or annoyingly impossible loves. Pettiness aside, I have to say that's a relief.

The story is set in a German town once upon a time when time still ran according to clockwork timepieces--none of that electronic nonsense. Karl, the clockmaker's apprentice, is sulking in the local pub while his friend Fritz prepares to tell the town his newest story.

Things begin to go wrong when a mysterious visitor arrives at the pub after Fritz has wound up his story but before he has a chance to wind it down again. That's well and good for readers but not so good for the characters, especially Karl and Gretl, the daughter of the pub's owner.

"Clockwork" is grim only in the way a children's book can be. There is death and gore and talk of devils taking souls, but none of that is conceptualized in a way that actually touches readers. It's sort of like they way I was able to watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as a girl without being creeped out even though I don't understand how that is possible when I watch it now.

The narrative reads very much like a story. Not like a book, but like an actual story told in the oral tradition. This technique is not often used outside of the realm of fairy tales, but Pullman works the style aptly. It works especially well with the edition I read which includes black and white illustrations by Leonid Gore. The illustrations kind of suggest what Edward Gorey would have drawn if he didn't work in such outline oriented ways for anyone who was wondering.

This novella (I can't bring myself to call it a novel) also received tons of accolades in the 1990s when it came out. It was winner of the 1997 Silver Medal Smarties Prize, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year for 1998, and a NYPL Best Book of the Year also for 1998. I mostly agree with this praise. The story is a little thin on character development, but given its length that's to be expected. Considering it in terms of being a tiny book, the story is really tight and well-put-together.

Wow, I picked this book up and did not put it down until it was finished. This story gets you going in one direction and then takes a very unexpected turn. It reminds me of old fairy tales, but with a modern twist. I loved this book.

This is my first Philip Pullman book. I went to the library looking for "the Gold Compass but it was checked out so I grabbed this little book by the same author and decided I'd give it a try. It is an admidtedly short, fairy tale revolving around a small group of people living in a German villiage a long time ago. The people's lives revolve around a monster grandfather clock that is filled with lifelike figures. Every time an apprentice is about to graduate to become a master he must carve a figure for this clock. Karl, the apprentice who is one of the main characters, has so failed to produce a figure and now has only a single night to come up with something or be disgraced. How far is this desperate willing to go to achieve his goals? An enigmatic old clockmaker comes to the inn and willing to help him but with magic help of this kind there is always a price.
There is also a writer whose short stories have a bad habbit of turning out to be nonfiction, a little prince who is not what he seems, and a plucky little inkeepers daughter who is the hero and moral center of this story.
Pullman packs a lot of emotion and suspense in this little book. A must read for anyone who enjoys suspense, fantasy, or just enjoys a good fairy tale with a twist. After this I cannot wait to read Pullman's other books.

I finished this book in an evening. For such a short story, it has many twists and turns. True to its name, the story is tightly wound up from the start, set in motion, and doesn't slow down until the end. Pullman deftly pulls the reader through fear and laughter without missing a beat. Superbly done.

The story seems so simple after the first read, but there's much more to it. It's like a Pinocchio-Faustian-Frankenstein fairy tale. A bizarre combination, yet it works so well. It'll be worth many re-reads, especially for kids as they grow older and can grasp Pullman's deeper meanings.

This book is very skillfuly writen by Philip Pullman, all the way up until the end. I am eleven and I have just finished reading this book. It is wonderful story but becomes very weak near the end, it gets very mushy and loses he dark theme Philip had built up throuout the story. Clockwork could easily be twice the length it is now. It is as if Philip ran up agianst at deadline near the end and just finished it. The ending exhibits none of the skill prevelent in the rest of the book.