Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Clockwork Man


TITLE: The Clockwork Man
AUTHOR: William Jablonsky
PUBLISHER: Grey Oak Publishers in association with westland ltd.
ISBN: 978-93-81626-53-5
GENRE: Fiction
PAGES: 231        
SOURCE: Blogadda
RATING: 3.5/5

BACK COVER SAYS:

Karl Gruber, a world-famous builder of automated clocks, has reached the pinnacle of his art in Ernst-a man constructed entirely of clockwork. 

Educated and raised in the Gruber household to be a gentle caring soul, Ernst begins to discover a profound love for his master’s daughter, Giselle. Just as their relationship becomes intimate, however, tragedy strikes and the family falls apart. Abandoned, knowing no other life but the one he has led, Ernst allows himself to wind down in a kind of suicide. 

Over a hundred years later, he awakens in a strange new land, the world he’s known now long gone. Along with his mentor and guide, a well-meaning if slightly unstable homeless man, Ernst attempts to piece together the events that brought him to his new home- and to let go of the century old tragedy that still haunts him.


RAUMALI’S VIEWS:

I have never read a Science fiction before. As I started reading this book, I thought it was some kind of Sci-fi. After going through a few pages, I realised I was wrong. The book is much more than that.

As I started reading the book, I thought it would be boring. But as I traversed through the pages, it grew more and more interesting and a time came when I just couldn’t put the book down without completing it.

The book is basically the diary of Ernst, the main protagonist of the tale, a clockwork man built by the world famous clockmaker Karl Gruber. Gruber educated Ernst in theoretical subjects, language, history and geography as well as raised him to be gentle and caring. Ernst helps Gruber with his projects and also takes care of his family. He cannot stop himself from falling in love with his master’s daughter. Soon tragedy strikes the family and the course of events lead to the family falling apart. Unable to cope with the pain and loss, Ernst winds himself down to some kind of suicide.

He wakes up a hundred years later in a strange unknown land and his wish to know about the trail of events that led him there triggers his instincts for survival. But he is not really able to forget the century old tragedy that still haunts him.

The main attraction of the story is the character of Ernst. He is humble, gentle, caring, patient and with a conscience. Jablonsky very deftly portrayed Ernst’s character which makes the book all the more interesting.

The best part about the book I liked is that the author makes the readers think. Sometimes it seems as all of it is real and I really had to turn back to check whether it was a work of fiction. The narration seems real and the events flash before our eyes. At some parts, it even made me cry. The sentiments, the feelings said by the mechanical man all seemed real.

The only disappointment I faced was that even though the book was interesting, some parts were so boring that I didn’t feel like continuing to read. But then again it regained it’s former glory. Also few incidents are too real to be true for a mechanical man.

Nonetheless it’s a great read for sure. 

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

New Beginnings

I know I have been bad, a very bad blogger, staying away from you so long. But now I am back, and I promise to be less lazy and spend a little more time with you.

The past one year have been really a eventful year. No I don't blame anyone for that, that was exactly what I always wanted. I wanted life to surprise me by the time I turned twenty, give me loads of memories. It did too. My great adventure which landed me in the hospital for three months, depriving me of two of my college fests.... Meeting new people... Friendship, trust, love, betrayal.... and finally growing up. 



Learnt somethings are totally not meant to be, no matter how much you want or how hard you try, and the only thing you have to do in the end is to loosen the strings and let it go. Time heals everything, we just need to give it some time and keep patience. We don't need to change our self for someone, we are all unique in our own way. The only people who will go with us till the end are the ones who can be with us for the way we are. The rest will leave eventually, as they don't belong to our tribe. So it's no use brooding over them.

Finally I am having some good days. The summer vacation kept me a lot busy, and finally after a lot of hard work, today I found the little sapling growing from the seed of my tree I decided to plant 3 months ago. I have cleared ACET and now I am really proud to be a student of INSTITUTE OF ACTUARIES OF INDIA.  Need to work really hard for another 4-5 years to taste the sweet fruit of this tree.

I am leaving for Durgapur tomorrow after which I will concentrate on my internships, the actuarial studies and have also planned to start working on my first novel.

Finally it's time to move on and give my dreams the shape of reality....

P.S.- For those who are wondering what happened to my blog challenge, I am keeping that on hold for sometime, will be completing it when I again feel like it :)