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Tintenherz
Aug. 29th, 2005 04:17 pmInkheart by Cornelia Funke Yay, children’s fantasy! I think this is the third book by Funke that I’ve read, and so far it’s my favorite. It has lots of nice thinky ideas in addition to a compelling plot and characters. But let’s start with the plot. Twelve-year-old Meggie lives with her father Mo, a bookbinder. One dark, rainy night a man calling her father Silvertongue turns up at the door, saying that they – and a book Meggie had never seen before - are in danger. As they flee, Meggie learns that her father has the power to read things out of books – and that the villainous Capricorn will do anything to keep from being sent back into the book that Mo read him out of. Meanwhile, in the same unfortunate incident, Meggie’s mother was read into the book, and hasn’t been seen since. Can Meggie and Mo rewrite the story and rescue Meggie’s mother before Capricorn burns all his books – and takes them prisoner himself? I had great difficulty turning off the car on this one, because I was always stuck at a particularly exciting point.
As for thinky thoughts (to borrow![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
garrity’s phrase): what if you could bring characters out of a book? How would they adapt to our world? Would they still exist in the book? And would you change a book if you suddenly actually got into it? I also found Meggie and her relationship with her father interesting. At 12 she is still clearly a child who wants to be with her father and expects him to be able to fix things for her. He, in turn, does try to take care of her and rescue her. In most adventure books for children, the children act independently of adults, who play a peripheral role at best. And in books for adults, children tend to be more props than characters (watch fierce father rescue his child!). I am still unable to think of another book where both parent and child are full and active characters as they are here.
Finally, this book was originally written in German. And as a German major, listening to this book made me lust to hear it in the original. Sadly, it's not available for download, and importing books from Germany is a little pricey. Sigh.
As for thinky thoughts (to borrow
garrity’s phrase): what if you could bring characters out of a book? How would they adapt to our world? Would they still exist in the book? And would you change a book if you suddenly actually got into it? I also found Meggie and her relationship with her father interesting. At 12 she is still clearly a child who wants to be with her father and expects him to be able to fix things for her. He, in turn, does try to take care of her and rescue her. In most adventure books for children, the children act independently of adults, who play a peripheral role at best. And in books for adults, children tend to be more props than characters (watch fierce father rescue his child!). I am still unable to think of another book where both parent and child are full and active characters as they are here. Finally, this book was originally written in German. And as a German major, listening to this book made me lust to hear it in the original. Sadly, it's not available for download, and importing books from Germany is a little pricey. Sigh.
