Pan's Labyrinth

  Synopsis

Oscar winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro and New York Times bestselling author Cornelia Funke have come together to transform del Toro's hit movie Pan's Labyrinth into an epic and dark fantasy novel for readers of all ages, complete with haunting illustrations and enchanting short stories that flesh out the folklore of this fascinating world. This spellbinding tale takes readers to a sinister, magical, and war-torn world filled with richly drawn characters like trickster fauns, murderous soldiers, child-eating monsters, courageous rebels, and a long-lost princess hoping to be reunited with her family. A brilliant collaboration between masterful storytellers that's not to be missed.

Loved

• The historical fiction. I lived in Spain for a while, so I'm biased, but I just love this perspective we get on the Spanish Civil War. While this is also a fairytale, it is more a portrayal of the poverty, sexism, violence, and cruelty that was so prevalent during Franco's fascist Spain. This is a side of Spain that history doesn't reveal very often, and it's fascinating to see how regular Spanish villages were devastated by the Fascist rule, and how they tried to fight back via guerilla warfare.

• The dark fairytale. This isn't a feel-good, Disney type of fairytale, these stories are dark, foreboding, and sinister. Instead of meeting kind and helpful creatures, we meet the Pale Man who eats children, violent kings who kill ruthlessly, and fauns by moonlight who may or may not be trustworthy. These fairytales are especially interesting because we only get some of them in the movie, whereas the book gives us the fairytale backstory behind everything happening in real life- from the magic behind Captain Vidal's razor to the different lifetimes Ofelia has lived since she was taken from her kingdom. Getting these backstories made the fairytale and the real-time world much more robust and fascinating as we get so much more detail and history.

• The nod to Spanish culture. Again, I'm biased and I love Spanish culture, but I completely fell in love with this movie in my Spanish culture class because there are so many references to Spanish art and history in this story. For example, the Pale Man is inspired by Goya's painting of Saturn eating his children- which is horrific and meant to show the horror during that time period. What better portrayal of the terror and brutality of the Civil war than by portraying a child-eating monster? Inspired by a famous Spanish artist? The humanities nerd in my just thinks this is SO cool. :)

• The contrast of monsters. This story is so creative and alluring because it shows the devastation and atrocity of the Civil War and the Fascists by showing that the worst kind of monsters are not from fairytales- they are from real life. It's very clear throughout the story that the child-eating Pale Man and the unpredictable faun are not to be feared as much as Captain Vidal- the bloodthirsty and prideful man whose cruelty holds a whole village captive. Contrasting fairytale monsters with human monsters is a very poignant and thought-provoking way to show the devastation of this time period by the Fascist party.

Didn't Love

• This is such a fascinating story- I don't think any of it should be changed, although it is very sad!

Content

• Language: 
• Frequent uses of "bastard," "damn," "hell," "a**hole," and "sh**."

• Sexual content: 
• Captain Vidal thinks about desiring women and giving into this desire. It's clear that he tries to seduce Mercedes throughout the story.

• Violence
• Two innocent men are killed brutally- one through being stabbed in the eye many times, one shot in the chest.
• Lots of guerilla warfare- bombings and shoot-outs in the woods. Many soldiers and rebels killed through bombs and shots, some stabbed.
• Rebel is caught and tortured. Gory injuries are described, as well as the torture instruments used to inflict them.
• Two rebels are killed for betrayal.
• A child is shot in the chest and killed.
• A man is shot in the eye and killed.
• A monster eats children and eats fairies very brutally in one scene.
• Various fairytale people from the past are killed (a witch drowned, a joker burned, etc.)


• Other themes:
• A man's leg has to be amputated with a saw.
• A woman has complications with her pregnancy and blood and illness described related to this.
• Very suspenseful and disturbing scenes related to dark fairytales and violence surrounding war.

Overall Thoughts

I think this story is a masterpiece because of its creative and unique blend of dark fairytales complementing the even darker history of the Spanish Civil War. What better way to portray the devastation of war than to compare it with the brutality of fairytale monsters? I went into this story knowing the movie very well since I've seen it multiple times, and I think if you hadn't seen the movie, the book may not be quite as meaningful since this story did begin as a movie. This is not a feel-good story by any means, rather it is meant to be thought- provoking and informative as to the history of this time period and the devastation these people endured under the Fascists. This story is pitched to be for readers "of all ages," but I would personally not have my children read it because of its gory violence, themes of torture, and very dark fairytales. I feel this story is quite dark for children, but for more mature readers I think it's a masterpiece unlike any other of its kind, and any history buffs, lovers of dark and twisty fairytales and/or Spanish culture fanatics should not miss it!