WITH A TOUCH OF DICKENS

AN AUDIO BOOK REVIEW OF THE WORKS OF CORNELIA FUNKE

THE THIEF LORD
by Cornelia Funke
5 sound cassettes, 8 hrs. 30 min.
English translation by Oliver Latsch
Random House, Listening Library, c2000

INKHEART
by Cornelia Funke
10 sound cassettes, 13 hrs. 35 min.
Translated from German by Anthea Bell
Random House, Listening Library, c2003

Reviewed by John Clark

During my five-year tenure as head librarian at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, I was the steward of an incredibly rich collection of audio books. I must confess that I only listened to one of them; the unabridged rendition of The Lord of the Rings. I was too involved in plotting my fantasy novels as I wended my way from Chelsea to the coast and back.

I now travel a hundred miles each day; more if I am making a site visit to one of the libraries I support. My introduction to Tamora Pierce at Boscon pulled me into the realm of audio books, first with Trickster’s Choice, then with Sandry’s Book.

During my travels through the library world, the name Cornelia Funke surfaced on a regular basis. When I was faced with a trip to Hartford, Connecticut, and back in the same day, I decided it was time to explore her writing. I picked up Inkheart on unabridged cassettes.

Several days later, I sighed as the tenth and final tape ended. I felt sadness because an immersive story that had filled my imagination with a cast of fully-fleshed characters was over. At the same time, I had a sense of happiness because the author had created such an incredibly rich and captivating world. It was a world of stark beauty, and every character was three-dimensional.

Twelve-year-old Meggie lives with her father Mo, a bookbinder, in a remote farmhouse in modern day Italy. Their life has been characterized by episodic moves that Mo fails to adequately explain to his daughter. Mo’s explanation of what happened to Meggie’s mother, whom she only remembers as a faint loving image, leaves her with a sense that he is hiding something. When Meggie spots a mysterious figure lurking in the rainy darkness, it is her first inkling that all is not as Mo would have her believe and that their lives are about to be inalterably changed.
Dustfinger, the sopping mystery man, is greeted by Mo with false warmth. Meggie overhears enough of their conversation to further heighten her curiosity, but not enough to allow her any greater understanding of their relationship. One thing is clear, however, the two men are no strangers.

As soon as Dustfinger leaves the remote farmhouse, Mo orders Meggie to pack, using the flimsy excuse that they are overdue for a visit to Meggie’s maternal great aunt Elinor, a wealthy spinster whose sole passion in life is collecting rare books in copious quantities.

When father and daughter attempt a midnight getaway, they are confronted by Dustfinger, who shames Mo into taking him along. In the course of the trip to Aunt Elinor’s mansion, Meggie discovers that Dustfinger desperately wants her father to return him to where he once lived. She also learns that they are in danger from a shadowy figure named Capricorn and his gang of extremely ruthless thugs who also want Mo’s assistance but for far more nefarious purposes.

Upon reaching Elinor’s estate, Mo sets up his equipment and goes to work repairing some of her more fragile treasures. While he is thusly occupied, Meggie learns that Dustfinger is a juggler and fire magician. This is her first real inkling that what is transpiring is out of the ordinary. In short order, Mo is kidnapped by Capricorn’s gang, and Meggie learns where Dustfinger came from. Elinor, whom I was prepared to dislike, reveals a beautifully flawed streak of humanity and then charges off to rescue Mo, with the mournful juggler and her niece in tow.

As the story winds to conclusion, Meggie wrestles with her fears and a series of very bleak situations that compel her to become a quiet, even reluctant heroine. Capricorn and his gang become larger-than-life baddies, seeming to have the upper hand at every turn, while Dustfinger surprises the reader at numerous points, becoming one of the more sympathetic characters I have encountered in quite some time.

As the story progresses, you learn that Mo, who loved to read aloud, has never done so in his daughter’s presence. The reason is simple; when Meggie was very young, Mo was reading aloud from a book he loved greatly—Inkheart. As he was doing so, Dustfinger, Capricorn, and his henchmen were read out of the book into our world, and Meggie’s mother was read into the book. Ever since, Mo has been afraid to read aloud for fear something similar will happen again. Unfortunately, both Dustfinger and Capricorn have other ideas.

Before the story ends, an interesting number of plot twists take place, which includes involving the author of Inkheart in an attempt to rescue Mo from Capricorn’s clutches. While there are a number of moments where I wondered how things could possibly work out for the best, the story ends in a manner that left me with a sense of connection to even the worst of the characters and a satisfaction at how everything turned out.

There is a strong Dickenslike flavor to Cornelia Funke’s writing. In addition, she forces you to form strong opinions or feelings about each character. Her villains are very bad, but she avoids the trap of making them so over-the-top that they become caricatures of evil. Meggie is one of the most subdued heroines in contemporary literature, and Elinor, who seems to be an intolerant, old stuffy when she is introduced, becomes an extremely sympathetic person who can even poke fun at her own frailties.

The Thief Lord (published in 2000) is an easier read. However, like Inkheart, the characters are fully fleshed and engrossing, compelling the reader to have strong feelings and opinions of each.

Imagine you have no father and your mother, a loving but highly impractical woman, has just died. Your aunt, who has no parenting skills and doesn’t understand children, wants to adopt your five-year-old brother but cares not a whit about you. What do you do?

If you’re Prosper, you run away to Venice with your little brother Bo, because both of you remember the wondrous stories your late mother told about the city and its magic. Once there, however, you are faced with the harsh reality that living on the street when you are a child can be daunting and harsh. Daunting, that is, unless you are fortunate enough to be taken in by a gang of street urchins who, in turn, have found their own benefactor, Scipio the Thief Lord.

Scipio comes and goes at odd hours from the abandoned theater where Bo, Prosper, Hornet, Mosca and Riccio live. He steals valuables that the gang sells to a disgusting antique dealer named Barbarossa.

In the meantime, Bo’s and Prosper’s aunt, Esther Hartlieb, follows them to Venice and hires Victor Getz, a private detective, to track them down and return Bo. Victor’s first inkling into Esther’s lack of humanity is her dismissive attitude towards Prosper. She has no interest in his welfare; she simply wants Bo because she thinks he will make a cute addition to her lifestyle, like a fancy poodle.

As the story unfolds, Bo and Prosper try to stay one step ahead of Victor while Barbarossa, impressed with Scipio’s skills, offers to connect the Thief Lord with a wealthy man who wants him to steal something of great value.

Scipio’s secret begins to unravel at that point, and the attempted theft results in a surprise. The would-be victim, a woman photographer, who grew up in an orphanage herself, offers the gang an intriguing deal. To say more would spoil a significant part of the story.

In the meantime, Victor is captured by the gang and comes to the realization that returning Bo to his aunt would not be in anyone’s best interests. Unfortunately, he has already provided her with a photograph of the brothers he took while shadowing them. Esther has used it to create missing child posters and plaster them all over Venice, offering a substantial reward for Bo’s return.

When someone reports the gang’s hideout to Esther, she grabs Bo and whisks him off to the fancy hotel where she and her husband are staying. Victor gets blamed by the gang, resulting in lost time in finding out what really happened to Bo.

In the meantime, Prosper and Scipio have exchanged the stolen item with the mystery buyer, only to discover the half million lira they received is counterfeit.

When they go to the sinister isle where the mysterious bilker lives, they are captured and make an amazing discovery. The greedy Barbarossa follows them and gets more than he bargained for, destroying the mystery object in the process.

While Prosper and Scipio are on their mission, Bo succeeds in becoming such a horror that Esther wants nothing more to do with him. However, in an interesting plot twist, she finds a perfect substitute, or so she thinks.

Like Inkheart, The Thief Lord pulls you through an amazing sequence of plot twists. It’s a lighter story but presents another cast of characters who force you to form strong emotional responses to each. As I listened, I found myself wanting to shake Bo several times and had to remember that he was only five years old.

Barbarossa, Scipio’s father and Esther Hartlieb all left me with a sense of strong dislike, tempered by an understanding of exactly what made each of them the way they were.

These are complex, rich reads, aimed at young adults, but enjoyable by anyone who likes an engrossing story that keeps you guessing. 

 

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