Thoughts: In The Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

Source: Netgalley – Many thanks to the publisher!
TL;DR: Though whimsical and fun at times, this lacked some sort of ‘umph’ for me. Not my favorite by Klune

Plot: This is a twist on the idea of a Pinocchio tale, with touches on far too many themes to count
Characters: I loved the characters, I always do. I will forever swear by Rambo, precious sweet little guy
Setting: The setting needed more for me. I understood the basics but it felt like a set, and not a real world and part of the story
Magic/Romance/SciFi: There was hints of magic here, hints of romance (that didn’t click), and hints of sci-fi but nothing super tangible

Thoughts:

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune is the strangest reimagining of a fairy tale I think I’ve ever read, and honestly? I’m not sure if it completely works, which makes me a bit sad. The story sets up Victor who is the son of a robot named Gio. They live in a forest with Rambo, a little vacuum unit who is the fluffiest of cinnamon rolls, and Nurse Ratched who is off her treads. The family finds another robot in the Scrap Yards and put in back together only to have things go badly from there.

The characters in this, for the most part, are fantastic. TJ Klune’s strongest skill is characters and their dialogue. I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of lines, and I still swear Rambo must be protected at all costs. That was the strongest part for me, the other parts falling apart.

The setting felt barely sketched in. We know they live in the forest and we see a few other settings, but none of them felt very clear. The characters and dialogue seemed to be the only thing carrying this forward as he attempted to grasp at his themes. Forgiveness, humanity, worth, personhood, etc were all things the story hinted at. Sadly it didn’t feel like anything clear was stated, and if we followed some of the ideas he set before us to their ultimate conclusion… it got a little uncomfortable.

I think the breaking point for me was the point at which we’re expected to believe the romance between Victor and one of his robot companions, who we see in a flashback murder an untold amount of people, followed by a scene of him descending on a mother and her child. Victor wrestles with the idea of forgiving HAP (he has after all broken his programing in a way and no longer does these things) and ultimately still chooses him. This could entirely be me – I’ve lost children, I grapple with grief on a daily basis. I’m not sure if the imagery chosen could have been different and the idea conveyed better or if it this was just poorly constructed overall, but it fell apart. I also wonder at this idea of blanket forgiveness and how Klune has come under some fire in the recent past for his use of historical events for fictional story inspiration.

Not a winner for me, clearly. I did enjoy parts of this, and if you want to read it for the characters and dialogue I would 100% recommend it. Perhaps however don’t read too deeply in or it will fall apart.