Review - Inkheart

[wilderthan]

I saw the movie, and so decided to read the book. I got the same feeling from both: "it was good, but..." It felt like there was something missing, or it needed a little more something, or maybe a little less of something.

The premise of the book is, I think, lovely. I like the idea of being able to read characters into our world by reading aloud. There is a kind of magic in the written word, after all, and there are some characters that are written so vividly that they leap off the page and live in your head. I'd love to be a Silvertongue. I also liked the reverence books were treated with by the characters.

On the other hand, I thought the story could have done with some editing, to make it run a little more smoothly and quickly. Sometimes some of the plot twists -- go to the village, run away, go back, run away -- started to get a little tedious and repetitive, and a lot of it could've been cut short. I also thought the characters were a little flat given how much wordage there was! It could have been much slicker and tighter and thus hit harder.

The translation was okay, but I wonder how it compared to the original.

All in all, I plan on reading the other books.

Comments

[misura.livejournal.com]

Unlike you, I haven't (yet) seen the movie, but like you, after reading the book, I was left with the feeling that there could or should have been something more, or less, or extra. As The Thief Lord left me with somewhat the same feeling (a little less so, perhaps, since the overall plot appealed to me less and thus my whole impression of the book was much more bland), I was inclined to blame it on either the author or the fact that it was translated - and I'm one of those people who believe things always get lost in translations.

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

I think some of it probably does come from the translation. You only have to try to translate a joke between languages and you see how awkward translation can be.