Inkheart by Cornelia Funke; Scholastic; Price: Rs.356; 560 pp
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When one reads of interesting characters in a well-written book, there is a natural tendency to get drawn into their world. However, what if instead of being drawn into the world depicted in a novel, you find the characters of the narrative popping out and landing in your living room? And what if these characters turn out to be wicked and up to no good?
That’s what happens in Inkheart, an intriguing tale authored by German novelist Cornelia Funke, writer of many bestselling children’s books including Inkspell (2005), The Thief Lord (2002) and Dragonrider (1997). In Inkheart, the main character Mo has the uncanny ability of summoning characters and objects out of books when he reads them aloud. The author narrates how Mo’s extraordinary talent which sounds thrilling, can turn out to be an absolute nightmare. A fantasy thriller, the moral of this story is that power should be used with caution even as good triumphs over evil.
The two engaging protagonists of Inkheart are Mo and his 12-year-old daughter Meggie, both incurable book addicts. Meggie’s love for books is inherited from Mo whom she fondly refers to as “book doctor”. Mo earns a living mending old and tattered books — dusting them, sticking back torn sheets, choosing end papers and finally binding them with fresh new covers.
One stormy night Meggie espies a stranger waiting by their gate in pouring rain. She rushes to inform her father who lets the stranger, Dustfinger, in and talks to him behind closed doors. Meggie hears Dustfinger referring to her father as Silvertongue and subsequently notices that her father is worried and has suddenly turned secretive. However, Mo does not satisfy Meggie’s curiosity, instead waking her up early the next morning to go south to her aunt Elinor’s house. Meggie is not very happy about this sudden proposition, but she doesn’t argue and they set off in a van together with Dustfinger who insists on accompanying them.
Aunt Elinor’s house is huge, stacked with books from floor to ceiling and jealously guarded by her. She is brusque and rude and doesn’t trust little Meggie anywhere near her precious books even though Mo repeatedly assures her that Meggie too loves books and wouldn’t dream of spoiling them. Though Meggie is left out of whispered conversations in the library, she notices Mo handing Aunt Elinor a book wrapped in brown paper for safekeeping, and witnesses the latter conceal it among a pile of books in her library.
That night, four men break into the house and kidnap Mo and take him to Capricorn, the villain of this story. Capricorn wants the book (Inkheart) in the brown paper parcel because he’s a character in it. He’s been called out of it by Mo and his fear is that unless the last surviving copy of Inkheart (in the brown paper packet) is destroyed, he may be ‘sentenced’ back into the book. Instead he wants Mo to put his powers to work for him.
The rest of the narrative is about how Meggie, Elinor and Dustfinger try to rescue Mo by creeping into Capricorn’s village. This leads to a series of escapades, most of which end in recapture before they finally triumph over the villainous Capricorn. The repeated sequence of captures and escape become somewhat tiresome midway, since even a novice can think up better escape plans than Mo & Co. However, if you are patient and persist, you’re in for plenty of cliff-hangers as the book takes several unexpected twists and turns.
In sum, if you’re a determined reader and don’t mind wading through the book to reach the climax, then Inkheart is for you. But if you want a fast-paced, action packed thriller or a rousing adventure, you’ll probably stop reading after the first few chapters.
Shankar Raghupathi