Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Jun
'08
This is one of those books that I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time and now having read it I can’t figure out why I put it off for so long. (This, I suppose, is something you could say about all the books I read, because I have quite a large TBR pile and I rarely ever pick up books as soon as I buy them.) However, this book is all about escaping into the story, or rather, accidentally letting the story escape into your life, and I’ve lately needed a distraction. I’ve been trying to read two other books but they didn’t draw me in the way this one did; this one I couldn’t put down until I was done, and now I can only think of all the things I shouldn’t have recently purchased so I’d have enough money to buy the sequel! Anyway, suffice to say that this one was very well written.
There were only slight few things I didn’t like about this book. One, the quotes from other books at each chapter head. I’m not a big fan of this thing that authors like to do, whether it’s because they feel the quote explains a bit more about a theme in the chapter or because they derived some inspiration from that particular quote for a scene that would follow. I don’t mind if there are a few quotes starting or summing up a book, but to have them at every turn started to get rather annoying. Some of them didn’t even seem to tie into the following words, and I started to feel like they were only there to encourage younger readers to pursue the books being quoted. Of course, I am all for spreading the literary love, but it was distracting and, in my opinion, unnecessary.
Continuity errors abounds in this book! Most of them were towards the end, though, so I can’t explain them without giving anything away, but I did have to go back and read a few things and still didn’t find why that backpack was still there or where that character suddenly disappeared to (and it wasn’t one of the ones that fell into a book, else I’m sure the characters would have mentioned it as they did every other time). It’s frustrating to have to go back two steps and read something I’ve already read, especially in such an engrossing book. I felt I was inside this one, right there on the sidelines watching as Dustfinger did, but that every so often time had to reverse so that events could be played out again for more clarity. It definitely took away from the experience.
All that said, however, Inkheart is full of loveable (and hateable) characters, each of whom touches the reader in some way. Meggie, the daughter of Mo/Silvertongue, who loves her father so dearly that she would do anything to be close to him. Mo, the bookbinder who possesses a special gift - when he reads aloud, characters and objects jump out of the pages. Even Dustfinger, who I understood much better at the end but was completely unsure about throughout the book, was a man who loved his pet marten with the horns Gwin even if the little rascal bit him one too many times. He was slippery and silvery in this book, sometimes hated, pitied, and loved, but in the end found himself a special place. Others included Farid, a boy sprung from One Thousand and One Nights, Elinor, a strong-willed and equally bold-hearted woman who finds value in more than just her old books, and the mysterious Teresa, Meggie’s mother who disappeared into Inkheart the day that the villains came out of it.
The villains, of course, were as strongly developed characters as the heroes. Another thing to be admired about this book is how strongly woven the characters were. Some extras were included who didn’t have quite interesting backstories, but those who mattered were clearly thought out and brought into the world as kicking, screaming, perfectly functional characters. Capricorn was the main villain, a man so full of evil that he cared for nothing and no one but his own rise to power - not even his mother mattered to him, though he mattered very much to her. Basta, the oddest character in my opinion, was a heartless killer who was also very superstitious. I say he was ‘odd’ because I inevitably found him to be one of my favorite characters, even though I generally agree with the masses and like the “good” characters more than the “bad” ones. There was something spectacular about him that I can’t quite put my fingers on, though I suppose I have all of the next book to explore that.
The most intriguing part of this book was the inclusion of the author of Inkheart. No, I don’t mean Cornelia Funke; there is a book within a book here - the book Mo reads from called Inkheart from which springs Capricorn, Basta, and later more henchmen, and thus there is an author within the book as well. Fenoglio is a funny sort of old man, “turtle-faced” as the book describes him many times. He initially doesn’t think any of his characters can harm him, but quickly changes his mind once he is face to face with his most dreaded characters. What a strange twist to bring the author into all of this - there are plenty of books about books, books about the characters within the books, but when does the author ever appear? Do you meet the author in The Neverending Story? It does make one wonder about the authors of such books. I hope they’re all quirky old men.
Inkheart was overall extremely satisfying and I realize that’s not very descriptive. At the moment, it’s hard for me to put into words everything I liked about it without having to quote passages from it. One moment I felt my heart constrict, the next my mouth was watering for some apricots, then I found myself feeling extremely triumphant as one of the characters defeated her demons and shone brightly. It was engaging, thoughtful, and very significantly full of books. I love books about books, and so far this one takes the cake. Books are everywhere you turn in Inkheart and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one.
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Wonder if you’ve ever read Shadow of the Wind? It’s kind of a grownup version of this book. Another similar one is Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll.
Jun
'08
I haven’t read Shadow of the Wind but it’s yet another that is on my pile to be read sometime within this lifetime.
I haven’t heard of the other one though, I’ll have to check that out. Thanks!
Jun
'08
I listened to Inkheart on CD and really loved it as well. I promptly ordered it used on Amazon and got Inkspell as well. I think it gets better. Ink Death is coming out I think in Oct. Such a fun book for book lovers to read.
Jun
'08
I’ve only seen positive reviews for this book, I guess I’ll have to pick it up. Great review, thanks
Jul
'08