Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed The 13 Clocks: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) on + 1223 more book reviews
I happened to find this little book in a Goodwill thrift store and recognized that it is one of Thurber's classic tales that is also on the 1001 Books You Must Read list. This really was a thrilling and fun fairy tale that I read in one sitting. A prince named Zorn is disguised as a minstrel named Xingu and seeks to free a princess from an evil duke who is cold and has slain time â all thirteen clocks in the duke's castle are frozen at ten minutes to five. The prince must find a treasure to free the princess and he is helped by the Golux, a tiny wizard with very strange logic. So will the prince succeed and will love prevail?
I enjoyed this tale that I think was written for adults as well as children. The language is very inventive and filled with rhymes and riddles. At the time this was written, Thurber was losing his eyesight which is reflected in the story by descriptions of dark rooms, figures moving in shadows, and nights brightened by lightning. I remember reading Thurber's Secret Life of Walter Mitty as part of a middle school English class but otherwise I really hadn't read anything else by him. But I would definitely recommend The 13 Clocks. One other coincidence: I recently read a story by Edith Wharton titled Xingu which is actually a river in Brazil. (See my review of Ethan Frome and Selected Stories). I thought it interesting that Thurber used this as the name of his minstrel in this story.
I enjoyed this tale that I think was written for adults as well as children. The language is very inventive and filled with rhymes and riddles. At the time this was written, Thurber was losing his eyesight which is reflected in the story by descriptions of dark rooms, figures moving in shadows, and nights brightened by lightning. I remember reading Thurber's Secret Life of Walter Mitty as part of a middle school English class but otherwise I really hadn't read anything else by him. But I would definitely recommend The 13 Clocks. One other coincidence: I recently read a story by Edith Wharton titled Xingu which is actually a river in Brazil. (See my review of Ethan Frome and Selected Stories). I thought it interesting that Thurber used this as the name of his minstrel in this story.
