My family watches a lot of movies, and that’s usually when I learn a book came first. Deep breath, book enthusiasts; there’s nothing wrong seeing the movie first. Especially when it encourages you to hunt the depths of sale bins and thrift sites to find a copy of the original novel. So was the case with Inkheart, a fantasy adventure about people who read books into reality. Every time I watched the 2007 film with Brendan Fraser, I wondered what lay in the pages of the novel. Then I got the book.
The Inkheart Paradox
I’ll admit, I went looking for Inkheart to find the adventures of Dustfinger and Capricorn, not Mortimer and Meggie. I’d seen the movie a hundred times and always wondered what the initial book, the “mcguffin” of the movie, was like. I instead found a paradox that disappointed and surprised me.
If you’re not familiar with either work, here’s the gist: Inkheart is the first book read and brought to life in Inkheart. The mysterious story that drops characters into our world only exists within itself. It’s actually kind of genius, at least in my mind. The constant mystery of what lays within, seeing what comes out of the story we’re supposedly reading. It’s well done from the aspect of learning these characters as we go so we don’t feel like we’re missing the whole story.
Regardless, we do gain more insight about “Inkheart” within the book.
The Story We Don’t Know
I think the novel described it best: a dark fantasy. The world read out of Inkheart is filled with danger and strife thanks to Capricorn, Basta, and other terrors. Fairies and goblins populate the world, along with humans just living their lives. Dustfinger was one of these, a street performer living his life amongst the crowd.
Nothing is really said about the plot of the novel or who the main character is. I personally thought the book would be a relaxed journey through the world, perhaps through the eyes of Dustfinger. The anatagonists would be the superstitious Basta and his boss Capricorn, along with the ashen terror The Shadow. An adventure through foreign lands trying to survive life.
The hidden story never scared me until I read the book. Absorbed in the pages of Mortimer and Meggie’s adventure, I gained more knowledge of this other world. Primarily the evil. Happy endings don’t favor the inhabitants.
The History We Learn
Meggie grew up believing her mother left them when she was little. It’s not until Mortimer is kidnapped and she goes to rescue him that she learns the truth.
Years before, he read a book aloud to his wife while Meggie played on the rug. This book was Inkheart. They enjoyed the peril and mystical creatures, but descended to whispers when the story got too gruesome for children’s ears. All seemed fine until the characters became real. Basta gripping Dustfinger’s shirt collar, Capricorn watching with glee. Removed from their forest, they stood baffled in Mortimer’s living room.
Chaos ensued, Capricorn demanding to be returned to the book and Mortimer protecting his only child. The reader inevitably grabbed one of their swords, sending the disoriented characters out the door and into the real world. Dustfinger begged to be returned to the novel, but again, Mortimer didn’t know how, so Dustfinger left. It was then that Mortimer realized what was missing. His wife and their two cats.
For whenever something comes out, something must go in. Mortimer learned this the hard way when their mailman got swapped for a glass creature. He stopped trying to read his beloved wife out of the book for fear his daughter would be sucked in. And since that time, he’s never read a book aloud.
The Part History Plays
I’m actually writing this section a day after finishing the post because I realized the purpose behind the history. See, books that stand the test of time are written by intentional authors. Every word, every setting, and every death has a purpose that builds the world and the tension. It’s hard to spot if you’re not looking.
In the case of Inkheart, the history of the make believe and actual is shrouded in unknowns. What was life like for Meggie’s mother while trapped in the book? How did the book characters make their way in the world? As the story unfolds, some questions are answered, like why Mortimer never talked badly about his wife even though “she left.” The decisions Meggie thought were nonsensical turned out to be influenced by the history she didn’t know about.
Goes to show there’s always more to the story.