In the Lives of Puppets - T.J. Klune - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: T.J. Klune

NARRATOR: Daniel Henning

GENRE: Cosy Fantasy, Retelling.

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: I am on a book high!!! A lovely found-family fantasy based on ‘Pinocchio.’ This is in the classic storytelling style, so expect meanderings and adventures on the way to the destination.

Story Synopsis:

In an old forest is a strange little tree house, but even stranger are its denizens: an inventor – Giovanni Lawson, his twenty-one-year-old son Victor, and their two assistants Nurse Ratched and Rambo. What’s so strange about this, you ask? Well, except for Victor, the rest are all robots. But they are a family and they live happily.

Their lives change when Victor discovers a faulty android in a scrap yard and restores it. Labelled ‘HAP’ for being a ‘Hysterically Angry Puppet’, this new member of the unusual family opens up strange feelings in Victor. But when Hap inadvertently alerts robots about Gio’s past, Gio is captured and taken to the City of Electric Dreams. Now it is upto the remaining four to get their beloved father-figure back.

The story comes to us mostly in the limited third-person perspective of Victor.

Bookish Yays:

😍 Carlo Collodi's ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ serves as the foundation of this retelling, so if you know this classic children’s fairy tale, you will be able to understand just how faithful and innovative this retelling is. I love it when retellings retain the essence of the original without copying it entirely in format but giving it an innovative twist. As a retelling, this gets full marks.

😍 At the same time, the story shows influence from many other works. From classic tales such as ‘Swiss Family Robinson’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’ to even modern movies such as ‘Real Steel’ and ‘Wall-E’, the content is a treasure trove of Easter Eggs for fiction fans.

😍 A story is nothing without its characters, and in this story, the characters deserve most of the credit for the book’s impact. Giovanni and Vic have a loving parent-child bond. I quite enjoyed the role reversal from Pinocchio, in that a “puppet” (or a robot in this case) is the parent to a human. Vic’s conflict over his identity and his need for friends also comes out well. Hap and his internal conflict are powerfully depicted. But where the book truly shines is with Nurse Ratched and Rambo. Picture Nurse Ratched from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’, and you will understand how “she” is in this book. A sociopathic nursing robot who will win you over despite her sadistic tendencies. And then there’s Rambo. Sweet, adorable, hyperactive, silly Rambo who is way more than a roomba, though he does love cleaning with all his heart.

😍 Surprisingly for a book with just one human character, the primary theme is emotions. Be it love or envy or anxiety or hope or anger or empathy, every human emotion comes alive in the story. One of the oft-repeated ones is that of forgiveness – not just of others but also of oneself. Many characters struggle with their guilt, and the journey through the pages also becomes that of acceptance and absolution. It also highlights how easy it is to forgive the ones we love but we need to be open about our mistakes and forgive ourselves too.

😍 The imagery is amazing. The entire world and its residents are easy to picture because of the descriptive scene writing.

😍 Can’t expect an #OwnVoices work to go wrong with the rep! The Queer rep in this book is spot on, with one asexual character and one gay relationship.

😍 This could have been quite a dark fantasy being set in the apocalyptic world and dealing with tough topics. But the humour, the found-family theme, and the “raconteur-ial” storytelling style makes this quite a cosy fantasy. This might work negatively for a few, but I prefer light fantasy over dark ones.

😍 The ending. Not fully tied-up. Just hopeful. Not open. Just at the right point. Not incomplete. Just perfect! (I am quite biased towards books that leave me with a big teary grin at the end!)

Bookish Nays:

😔 A tad too many sexual jokes, maybe? The story’s main vibe was ‘cutesy’, so the corny references felt like too much, and even too juvenile at times. The humour in these felt forced.

😔 As this is a character-oriented work, I knew it would have a slower pacing. But the pacing is not consistent, though this didn’t bother me much in the audio version. The middle gets especially repetitive. The book could have easily lost at least a few pages without reducing its impact.

The audiobook experience:

Oh. My. God! If you are an audiobook lover, please read this on audio. I have a new favourite narrator, and his name is Daniel Henning. Referring to him as a mere narrator seems like an insult after the way he voiced every single character to perfection. What a performance! *Chef’s kiss!* Though quite a long audiobook clocking at 15 hrs 22 minutes, I never felt bored.

I must also mention the soulful music at the start and the end of the audiobook! It was perfect. A part of me wanted it to play throughout in the background of Henning’s performance – it was so stirring! 😍😍😍😍😍

To sum up, just like Rambo, I too was singing “I’m in heaven” as I completed this book. It was not perfect, but it was true to its purpose. As a story about kindness, family, love, loyalty, determination, hope and forgiveness, the novel will stir up all the right emotions if you pick it up with the right mind-set, prepared for the adventurous and roundabout way to the destination. Being human is so much more than being made of flesh and blood, and this story is a great way of knowing what humaneness is all about.

This is my first T.J. Klune work, and I assure you – it won’t be the last!

My thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “In the Lives of Puppets”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

EDITING TO ADD: If you enjoyed this book, don't miss the free precursor story available on the Reactor Mag site. Link to the free story in my review of 'Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!'