Philip Pullman - Clockwork

Approximate Read Time: Less than an hour

Series: No

Illustrations: Yes! Beautiful, cloudy, misty illustrations by Leonid Gore that have poignant moments of clarity.

Point of View: Third person narrator who seems to be directly telling the story to the reader based on the forward note, and several sentences scattered throughout the story.

Summary: The note before the story sets the mood and directives for the rest of the story. It basically describes clockwork with all of its gears and cogs and differentiates it from modern clockwork which seems more mysterious and less understandable. It also describes how even though gears and cogs are solid understandable pieces they are still enigmatic, especially when they are put together and the pieces make the clock work until the time is all wound down.

We are introduced to Karl, the apprentice clockmaker; his master; Fritz, the writer; and Gretl, the daughter of the innkeeper. Karl is in a dark mood because it is the night before he is expected to reveal his grand project, his addition to the great clock. Fritz begins to tell a story called 'Clockwork' (The title of the book!), but he is also nervous because he hasn't actually finished the ending of the story.

Fritz's story is about an incident at a palace that was hushed up. A sledge of horses races into the palace courtyard driven by Prince Otto whose arm keeps whipping them forward even though Prince Otto is discernibly dead. His son, Prince Florian is found in the back of the sledge unharmed. The palace physician who goes to inspect the elder prince discovers that his heart has been taken out and replaced with clockwork, which kept the prince's arm moving even though he was dead. There are many unknown secrets - what happened to the companion Baron Stelgratz who had accompanied the two princes, and what happened exactly to Prince Otto. The physician thinks that Dr. Kalmenius a famous clockmaker can explain what has happened to the prince. The description of Dr. Kalmenius is dark and ominous and in the middle of Fritz's description, a man interrupts the story by opening the inn door.

The man matches Fritz's description of Dr. Kalmenius exactly. The townspeople leave the inn in fear and the only one left is Karl. Karl and Dr. Kalmenius talk and Karl reveals that he has made nothing for the big celebration the next day. Dr. Kalmenius offers to help and gives him a metal clock figure, Sir Ironsoul, an armored knight holding a sword. Karl speaks a certain word, 'devil' and the knight begins to try to kill him. The only thing that stops him is when Dr. Kalmenius whistles the tune 'The Flowers of Lapland'. Dr. Kalmenius leaves, and Karl goes to prepare the clocktower.

Gretl comes into the main room of the inn cold, and sleepless because of Fritz's unfinished story. She unknowingly says the word 'devil' and Sir Ironsoul moves in for the kill.

Part two tells what really happened to Prince Otto. When he married, an heir was expected, but for a long time, no child was conceived. When the Princess finally gave birth, the baby died immediately. Prince Otto takes the child with him to Dr. Kalmenius and the Dr. creates a masterpiece of clockwork that looks just like the dead baby. The baby is named Prince Florian and all goes well until the clockwork boy is five years old and starts to run down. Prince Otto takes the young prince to Dr. Kalmenius and Dr. Kalmenius tells Prince Otto that Prince Florian needs a heart and Prince Otto immediately runs out before the Dr. can tell him the most important part "the heart that is given must also be kept". Prince Otto thinks that he has found the solution, Baron Stelgratz is loyal to the royal family, so without telling the Baron the reason why, he takes him and Prince Florian to Dr. Kalmenius. On the way, ravening wolves threaten to overtake the sleigh and Baron Stelgratz sacrifices himself to save the two princes. Prince Otto realizes that there is nothing to do but continue and ends up convincing the Dr. to transfer Otto's heart to Florian and putting a small mechanical device into Otto's heart to drive Florian back home. Prince Florian is well again, but within five years, he starts to run down again. Everyone remembers that going into the woods made him well again the last time it happened, but they also remember that neither of his companions made it back, so nobody wants to bring him. A groom is paid to drive the prince to a hunting lodge, but puts Prince Florian out before reaching the lodge and tells the prince to walk. Prince Florian walks and makes his way to an inn, his clockwork running down. When he opens the door, he sings his last song....

Which is of course, 'The Flowers of Lapland'. Sir Ironsoul is stopped and Gretl is saved. Gretl realizes that the clockwork boy is Prince Florian and that Fritz needs to finish the story and sort things out, so she goes to find him. Karl comes back and sees not only Sir Ironsoul, but also the prince and realizing that the Prince is of much better quality than Sir Ironsoul decides to put the prince in the clocktower and keep Sir Ironsoul for himself. In the meantime, Gretl speaks to Fritz and Fritz avows that he 'wound the story up' but it would need to finish itself out. Back at the inn, Karl accidentally says the trigger word and is killed by Sir Ironsoul. Gretl comes back to discover Karl dead, Sir Ironsoul unmoving, and Prince Florian missing. She goes to find him in the clocktower and stays with him. The next day the townspeople discover Karl dead and go to wait with morbid curiosity at the clocktower to see Karl's addition. Two children are seen but it is soon discovered that neither of them is clockwork. The story is 'wound up' nicely by explaining some of the finer wording and what happens to various other characters.

Favorite Characters: Gretl and Prince Florian, together.
Stuff I wanted to know more about: What happens to Gretl, Florian, and the Dr.? A sequel would not be amiss.
Other Notes: The story is short, nicely illustrated and stands well at it's length and amount of detail, although more details could have been added to enrich the story without doing any harm.
5/5

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