Between The Lines: the 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear

"People usually start life by being born." With that line, the book begins; an odd line to begin on and a wonderful introduction to the pure, joyous absurdity that follows. Stylistically similar to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy the book, written by Walter Moers, follows the life (or rather the first 13 and a half lives) of Bluebear; from his discovery by the minipirates that found him floating in a walnut shell towards the edge of the greatest whirlpool to ever exist to his tenure as the greatest living congladiator and the magnificent lies that he told to claim this title. Told in the past tense, but with only the knowledge of the time, bar occasional dips into the encyclopedia in Bluebears head, the novel is written in first person and delights in the most elaborate and fantastical adventures one could ever imagine.

More than just a fantastical children's tale the book combines metaphors (grand and small), morality tales and adult ideas (although well hidden ones that likely no child under 12 would pick up on) with wonderful illustrations (also by Walter Moers) and a hefty size (just over 700 pages). Despite it's size its incredibly easy to read, with great use of different fonts, pictures, diagrams and visual emphasis of the likes of Onomatopoeia with various formatting choices, letter spacing and page by page build ups of size and font. Essentially the feeling created is that of a drawing, even when it's merely text, which makes sense as Moers is also a well reputed cartoonist.

The reason I really love this book though, although inclusive of all these details, are the clever metaphors for developmental milestones and real world feelings to bizarre happenings in a fictional world; be it the way friends drift in and out of your life, the way you only suddenly seem to notice your aging or ways in which certain relationships can be toxic and harmful while others are healthy and fulfilling, to name but a few of the more obvious ones, but both of the subsequent readings after the first revealed more parallels and moral messages that I hadn't noticed on first reading, a sign of a great book if ever I saw (read) one. There's not much more to say without heading into spoiler territory, so I urge you to pick this book up for yourself and give it a read if you haven't already, it's tremendously enjoyable (or at least I imagine it to be) for people of any age.