Arbieroo reviewed Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (inkworld, #1)
Review of 'Inkheart' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
I gave up, which is an unusual thing for me to do and recently has occurred only when ill...having now largely recovered I'm not re-starting, though. Here's why:
It's poorly written from a stylistic perspective. The book is a story about book lovers and magic associated with books. Funke thinks this means book that books should be mentioned every sentence, book, multiple times if book. This is irritating. It also means she deliberately uses imagery associated with books; metaphors involving book-worms abound. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses numerous images about clothing; this is very clever and versatile because clothing itself is varied and can tell much about the character and station in life of the wearer. Book-worms, however, eat books - every time. Piling up exactly the same metaphor until it reaches the ceiling is not clever, it's boring. Repetitiveness abounds; these are just two notable examples.
It is slow: The …
I gave up, which is an unusual thing for me to do and recently has occurred only when ill...having now largely recovered I'm not re-starting, though. Here's why:
It's poorly written from a stylistic perspective. The book is a story about book lovers and magic associated with books. Funke thinks this means book that books should be mentioned every sentence, book, multiple times if book. This is irritating. It also means she deliberately uses imagery associated with books; metaphors involving book-worms abound. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses numerous images about clothing; this is very clever and versatile because clothing itself is varied and can tell much about the character and station in life of the wearer. Book-worms, however, eat books - every time. Piling up exactly the same metaphor until it reaches the ceiling is not clever, it's boring. Repetitiveness abounds; these are just two notable examples.
It is slow: The hundred or so pages I read could have been acheived in 20-30p by other writers, without loss of character development or atmosphere and obviously with a great gain in pace.
It is patronising: I find it hard to pin down why I feel this way, but still, I find Funke to be patronising of her protagonist and by extension her readers.
The premise, which has potential, is wasted on me because Funke just couldn't keep me reading.
