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HELP Name this Book!
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HELP Name this Book!

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Original Post
19561945 (265 ) View Listings
19561945
(1 of 4)
HELP Name this Book!
Jun 6, 2012 08:29 PM

For years I have been trying to remember the title of a book I read way back in about 1962 ish.. I was just a kid then.. the book was about a young child that had been adopted by abusive parents, but the child had a Punch and Judy or a Jack in the Box that had some kind of weird gems for eyes, the child a boy, ended up in a circus and got his hand smashed, it grew back because the "gems" protected him, later he was able to change his physical form with the help of the gems, also he ate ants. OK pretty weird huh? But it has bugged me for years! I can't remember the title! Please help me out here! THANKS!
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HELP Name this Book!

(3 Replies / 444 Views)
19561945 (265 ) View Listings
19561945
HELP Name this Book!
Jun 6, 2012 08:29 PM

For years I have been trying to remember the title of a book I read way back in about 1962 ish.. I was just a kid then.. the book was about a young child that had been adopted by abusive parents, but the child had a Punch and Judy or a Jack in the Box that had some kind of weird gems for eyes, the child a boy, ended up in a circus and got his hand smashed, it grew back because the "gems" protected him, later he was able to change his physical form with the help of the gems, also he ate ants. OK pretty weird huh? But it has bugged me for years! I can't remember the title! Please help me out here! THANKS!
Last Post
Jun 19, 2012 07:59 PM
by 19561945 (265 ) View Listings
19561945 (265 ) View Listings
19561945
(1 of 3)
Re: HELP Name this Book!
Jun 9, 2012 08:59 PM

HA, I found it!  The Dreaming Jewels byTheodore Sturgeon, 1950
gillchubb (7311 ) View Listings
gillchubb
(2 of 3)
Re: HELP Name this Book!
Jun 18, 2012 09:17 AM

Glad you did!

Sometimes asking the question out aloud helps you remember things better. Happens all the time when I speak to my boss - I keep answering most of my own questions. :)
19561945 (265 ) View Listings
19561945
(3 of 3)
Re: HELP Name this Book!
Jun 19, 2012 07:59 PM

Thanks, I ordered it and am reading it again and it is still a really cool book! I just can't believe I read this when I was 6 years old.  The title was changed on the first reprint to " The Synthetic Man" Funny how when I read the first line of that book  I was instantly transported back in time to my childhood room and the little table I would read at.. haven't thought about that room for a looooong loooong time.  And I distinctly remember asking my dad what "transmutation" meant, lol lol .

It was like a scent memory or taste memory, it  was a very powerful. It reminded me of the scene in Ratatouille when the food critic takes a bite of the Ratatouille and is instantly  transported back to his childhood.
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