Pleasant Valley Library Online Book Group discussion

Post your thoughts and comments about In the Lives of Puppets here -

"In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots—fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.

"The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans.

"When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

"Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

"Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door."

I read this a few months ago for my in person book club. There’s lots to discuss!

I just started reading, and am up to Chapter 7 - I really like it so far. Having also read The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door, I think TJ Klune is a great storyteller. He has an original voice and an amazing imagination.

I love the forest setting, with the solar-powered treehouse rooms connected by rope bridges - I want to live there! And I like the sci-fi/steampunk meets fairy-tale atmosphere, with vivid descriptions that I can envision as I read. I think this would make a great movie or TV series - I felt the same about TJ Klune's other two books that I read.

I also read some interviews and saw some Youtube clips, where TJ Klune said he was inspired by Pinocchio, among other works. So I re-watched the classic Disney movie (that I hadn't seen since I was a kid) and read the Carlo Collodi classic, and am definitely seeing many of the influences already.

Can't wait to keep reading this weekend!