Inkheart: Chapters 16-25

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

We will be discussing chapters 16-25 of Inkheart in here. If you haven’t read this far yet, worry not, as this thread will still be waiting for you.

Was there a particular detail or description that stuck with you? Let us know!

Remember to include spoiler tags though as not everyone would have read as far as you have.


Cornelia Funke Author/Illustrator

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

So yes, the book continues on in a way unlike the movie ... and I love it! The characters seem much more developed in the book -- the ability to read people and 'things' out of books is there, yes, but it's not the main thing, the focal point, as it seems to be in the movie. And the rest of this is spoilers.

Basically, Capricorn is a lot more scary in this book than he is in the movie. Also Basta is more developed as a character and he's definitely someone else I wouldn't want to meet. Meggie deliberately starts trying to read things like Mo does. Elinor, still the same book-loving person in the movie, too, is developed in many ways. Everyone in the book seems developed with more depth. The story and plot and action is more involved, with more stuff going on. The escape by car and them having to be on the run, literally -- it's rich with action and lovely.

[Sky Alton]

This is so much darker than I was expecting. Spoilers ahead.

I haven't felt that sense of real jeopardy for a while but that horrible trip up and down the mountain with the snakes and men behind them really did it for me.

I'm also curious, do we think the point about most people thinking of authors as dead or ancient is as true now? I don't know, for me, there's far more curiosity about writers these days and with social media and book festivals, it's far harder to forget that someone wrote the book you're enjoying. Of course, I'm bias as someone who hopes to be published one day. I'd rather I wasn't effaced entirely, though I'd like my books to have lives of their own (perhaps not in the Inkheart sense...).

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

I'm also curious, do we think the point about most people thinking of authors as dead or ancient is as true now? I don't know, for me, there's far more curiosity about writers these days and with social media and book festivals, it's far harder to forget that someone wrote the book you're enjoying. Of course, I'm bias as someone who hopes to be published one day. I'd rather I wasn't effaced entirely, though I'd like my books to have lives of their own (perhaps not in the Inkheart sense...).

I have a tendency to think of the author as being alive. Their words are there, after all. I read that part in the story as 'well, that's their opinion'.

[Arianna Stonewater]

I'm also curious, do we think the point about most people thinking of authors as dead or ancient is as true now? I don't know, for me, there's far more curiosity about writers these days and with social media and book festivals, it's far harder to forget that someone wrote the book you're enjoying. Of course, I'm bias as someone who hopes to be published one day. I'd rather I wasn't effaced entirely, though I'd like my books to have lives of their own (perhaps not in the Inkheart sense...).

I have a tendency to think of the author as being alive. Their words are there, after all. I read that part in the story as 'well, that's their opinion'.

I agree with Tarma, I tend to think of them as alive and am often surprised when i find a book was written 30+ years ago and the author has passed.

It was nice to find out what happened to Meggie's mother. I was saddened to hear about the man with glass though. I wonder when Mo mentioned about reading things out of the story, why he didn't read more money or something out for his family, but i suppose worry over loosing something else is a good reason. If he was completely alone while reading, do things still disappear? or does the skill not work because no one can hear him reading?

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

I agree with Tarma, I tend to think of them as alive and am often surprised when i find a book was written 30+ years ago and the author has passed.

It was nice to find out what happened to Meggie's mother. I was saddened to hear about the man with glass though. I wonder when Mo mentioned about reading things out of the story, why he didn't read more money or something out for his family, but i suppose worry over loosing something else is a good reason. If he was completely alone while reading, do things still disappear? or does the skill not work because no one can hear him reading?

From what I gathered, all kinds of things may be interchanged. Flowers, birds, animals, whatever. So he's never really completely alone. Always something of life is with him, and might be exchanged -- appear and disappear.