Clockwork, by Phillip Pullman

Annotation:

Stories tend to take on a life of their own. The local story teller soon finds out how true and fearsome this can be when characters from his story start appearing, and death comes with them.

Justification for Nomination:

On the verge of entering adulthood, and ending his apprenticeship with the local clock maker, Karl and his mentor go to the local tavern to celebrate. Karl though, is in poor spirits because he has not completed his final task to create a new figure for the local clock tower. By failing to do so, he has broken hundreds of years of tradition. The tavern crowd soon learns that the local story teller, Fritz, has completed his new story, and they goad him into telling it.

He does. He tells a grotesque tale, what would now be an urban legend, by asking if they all knew about the business at the palace not long ago. He then proceeds to regale them with the tale of how the king, drove his sleigh and his son home to the palace whipping his horses wildly. The only problem was that the king was stone dead. The Royal Physician finds out that the king’s arm is being driven by mechanical clockwork. The Physician then sought the help of clockwork genius Dr. Kalmenius. Fritz describes him in great detail, only to be dumbstruck when this same Doctor enters the bar.

The bar quickly vacates, except the miserable Karl who confides in Dr. Kalmenius that he has not completed his clockwork figure. Dr. Kalmenius, of course has an answer. That answer is the clockwork figure “Ironsoul.” Ironsoul, of course has a secret that sends him on a murderous rampage under the right conditions. Further characters from Fritz’s story keep popping up, notably a mechanical boy named Florian. The story ends with Karl dead, everyone else in the story is transformed. Florian becomes a real boy, and Fritz writes for politicians.

I support the nomination for this story. I would have to say this book is for the early end of YA; any younger, the reader may be terrified, any older the reader will probably be bored. That said, I think this is a pretty decent entry for YA. Although it doesn’t hit all of the developmental areas, nor is there really one central character, I think some good points are made.

The biggest thing going for it is that it is a developmental marker by itself. It’s a horror novel. Someone just entering into YA territory may feel more grown up just to be reading a taboo genre, such as horror. My wife doesn’t even like me reading horror, and I’m almost thirty. It also brings up an idea of adulthood, and responsibility for one’s actions, or lack of actions. Karl’s duty to achieve manhood was to finish a clockwork figure. He didn’t, and it not only cost him his career and future, but his life as well. Fritz also had a responsibility to finish his story, and he didn’t. His failure to act and finish his story cost someone’s life. In short it addresses who someone is in society, and shows that not performing you role can have tragic results.

This book also stands out because it shows young adults solving the problem of Dr. Kalmenius and Ironsoul after all of the adults have cowardly fled to safety. The landlord’s daughter, in her teens presumably, lets her quick thinking save the day by trying to get Fritz to end his story. He refuses out of fear. Left with no other choice, she does her best to risk her life getting Florian to safety once Ironsoul goes berserk. The book also captures uncertainty, even once she and Florian have fled, she may be in danger of falling from the clock tower. It’s not until the end that we realize she is safe. With a little bit of consideration, and after thought it becomes clear how this novel could have been nominated.

Suggestions for improvement: This book is really short, I also feel that the audience is very narrow. It is well written, and by use of symbolism, and implications I support a nomination. I think though this is tough to convince others of this because the book does not address developmental issues directly. Right now I support the nomination, and it has my vote, but if a better title comes up I could easily leave this one behind. Good book, but not really great.

Genre: Horror