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The 13 Clocks
The 13 Clocks
James Thurber
+2 more
5.0 (1)
Pages
120
Published
1950
Language
English
1 review
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Authors
James Thurber, Marc Simont +1
James Thurber
Classics · Essays
·
1894–1961
Marc Simont
Children's Books · Mystery
·
1915–2013
Neil Gaiman
Fantasy · Graphic Novels
·
b. 1960
Wistful Bibliophile
I was looking for a fun, short read, and while scrolling through my digital library catalog, The 13 Clocks caught my eye. It's in the '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die' list, and my edition has a beautiful introduction by Neil Gaiman, who calls it one of the best books if not the best. I thought he must definitely be exaggerating as it's common to do in books' introductions, but I was sufficiently intrigued to give it a go. And damn, was Gaiman right! It's such a unique, 'fairy-tale' style book. And it probably has some of the best and funniest examples of breaking the fourth wall I've ever seen. It reminded me a lot of Terry Pratchett's style. I had never heard of nor read anything by the author, James Thurber, who apparently was losing his sight when he wrote this short book, so he couldn't illustrate it himself and had to rely on a friend. Nevertheless, the illustrations are beautiful and go very well with the story. The book has a very inventive cadence, so for maximum enjoyment, I recommend reading it aloud.
