Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire

Title: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Author: Gregory Maguire

Published: 1999 Pages: 368

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 3.5/5

Last year I read and really enjoyed Wicked by Maguire, so I was excited when I found a used copy of Confessions for cheap. And of course then it sat on my shelf for about a year. Hate when that happens! Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge was the perfect chance for me to read this one. And I'm glad I did--but I didn't love it as much as Wicked.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a retelling of the Cinderella tale, but while many parts of the book were familiar, this definitely isn't the Disney version. Set in the seventeenth century, Margarethe flees England with her two small daughters, Ruth and Iris, to start a new life in Holland. Their circumstances are mysterious, but is evident that a tragedy involving Ruth and Iris's father has occurred--a tragedy that is quickly swept under the rug. Desperate to make sure her daughters are fed and sheltered, Margarethe does everything she can to claw her way into situations that will help them all rise above the dirt and squalor of reality. Along the way, they become involved in the Van der Meer household where they meet Clara--a small and curious child, a changeling of sorts.

Once Margarethe and her daughters intertwine themselves in the life of the Van der Meers, the story becomes more familiar--Margarethe eventually becomes the evil stepmother we all know and Ruth and Iris become the stepsisters. But they aren't evil like we have learned in the original fairytale. This story is twisted into a perspective that recreates the story of Cinderella.

"In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings. When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats" (x).

I enjoyed many elements of the story--of course seeing the wellknown fairytale in a different light. I've come to really enjoy different tellings and one of my favorite aspects of literature is perspective. There is always more than one side of the story, but we usually see the side of the successor. In this case the reader sees what might have really occured--what Clara or Cinderella was truly like, the interaction between the stepsisters and Clara, and of course the stepsisters' part in the tale.

I also really liked the characterization and side stories in this book. Iris seems to be the main character, and she is a strong and willful young woman. Her sister Ruth is mute and often plays second fiddle (or even third after Clara), but she is still an important member of the cast. Margarethe is wretched--everything you would expect an evil stepmother to be. Surrounding the story is the tulip craze and a painter, Luykas Schoonmaker, who tries to capture beauty but often paints the horrific truth instead. And then Caspar who in many respects is the fairy godmother of the story. True beauty is a major theme within the novel, and all of these characters in some way represent some type of beauty--whether pure beauty or tainted and false.

There is a richness to Maguire's storytelling that I really love, but the execution of the storytelling is sometimes jarring or disconnected. There were many storylines that were dragged on for too long in the book and some that I didn't think were fully satisfied, such as the story of what happened in England before they left for Holland. I suppose this is to be left a mystery, but it felt a little too unsettled to me.

This review is much longer than I intended--when beginning I half thought I didn't really have much to say about the book. It was an enjoyable read, but I didn't find it terribly memorable. If you're looking to read Maguire, certainly go with Wicked which seemed much more complex to me. I'm interested in reading more of his Oz series but don't know if I'll try any of his other retellings just yet. What is your favorite fairytale retelling? Have you read any Maguire?



Also reviewed by:
Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room
Jeane from Dog Ear Diary
Raych from books i done read
*let me know if I missed yours

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This concludes my reading for the Once Upon a Time Challenge III. I had hoped to read The Book of Lost Things and Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, but there just isn't enough time. What I did finish:

Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling
The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire

Date Finished: June 13, 2009 #29

The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett

Title: The Light Fantastic
Author: Terry Pratchett
Published: 1986 Pages: 241
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5

A year ago I discovered Discworld for the first time with The Color of Magic, and I can't believe it has been that long since poor Rincewind was left hanging over the side of the world! I have loved my Discworld journey thus far, but I have to say I preferred The Color of Magic just a tad. Perhaps timing? But now I'm really looking forward to traveling around at leisure (check out this Discworld reading guide the lovely Nymeth introduced me to). I'm thinking about pursuing the "Death" novels or "Witches" novels next.

What is Discworld? Well, I'm probably not the best to describe it to you, but it is a world (flat) that rests upon four giant elephants who stand upon an even more giant turtle, A'Tuin, who floats leisurely through space. The Discworld series contains over thirty novels, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic being the first two. These two are sequels, but as I understand the rest are pretty much stand alone novels with running themes.

The Light Fantastic is a continuation of Rincewind and Twoflower's journeys across Discworld. Rincewind is a fairly inept wizard who cannot perform magic because long ago a spell lodge itself in his mind. It happens that this spell is an incredibly important spell from a powerful collection of eight and the fate of Discworld rests in all eight of these spells being said at the same time. When a giant red star begins on a crash collision course towards Discworld, the importance of that spell grows exponentially, but can Rincewind stay out of enough trouble to keep himself alive and the spell safe?

Reading this book provided for constant amusement. I love the tongue-in-cheek humor of this novel and the cleverness. Pratchett doesn't always give away his humor easily, and I always felt satisfied when I got it. In one scene, Twoflower is playing a game of cards: "It's a special kind of playing...In your language, it's called a thing you put across a river, for example" he concluded, "I think." "Aqueduct?" hazarded Rincewind. "Fishing line? Weir? Dam?" "Yes, possibly." So, I'm thinking to myself--I know there's a joke here. Ooooh! Bridge! :) As with CoM I felt like I never quite got everything that should have been funny, perhaps because I'm not as familiar with the fantasy genre, but I definitely had a lot of giggle out loud moments.

And then there were the things that made me go "hmmm." Poor Death is so misunderstood, and even though he plays a small role in these two novels, he's one of my favorite characters. "The Death of the Disc was a traditionalist who prided himself on his personal service and spent most of the time being depressed because this was not appreciated. He would point out that no one feared death itself, just pain and separation and oblivion, and that it was quite unreasonable to take against someone just because he had empty eye sockets and a quiet pride in his work" (104). Although the subject matter and humor make these books feel light, Pratchett is always seeming to sneak in more serious food for thought.

One of the qualms that I have with this book, and I fear the rest of the series, is that there are no chapter breaks. Looking back at my review for CoM, it seems that I had a difficult time following that book as well. The focus of the novel shifts frequently and I often had a tough time figuring out what was going on. I've tried to put my finger on what it is that I'm having a tough time with, and I think that Pratchett transitions so quickly that my brain doesn't always have time to process. This works well for me visually (like a movie), but in a book I felt like I always need to backtrack a bit to remember what was going on. Because I was reading this book in short amounts, it was a big pitfall. Other than that I really enjoyed the book. It seemed like this novel was more plot driven than the first, and that helped me focus more on the story. I would recommend this book, but read Color of Magic first.

Have you made the journey into Discworld yet? What are your favorite Discworld novels?

Date Finished: May 27, 2009 #27

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling

Title: The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Author: J.K. Rowling
Published: 2008 Pages: 107
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale
Rating: 3/5

Has it really been two weeks since I posted about an actual book? Time has gotten away from me, as I suspected it would, ever since the read-a-thon. Or maybe it's just because I'm not keeping with my book a week average since I'm still slogging through Middlemarch and will be for another week or so. Without the pressure of having reviews piling up, I've been taking my time--even though the reviews are piling up anyway. Ah well.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of [five] stories written for younger wizards and witches" (vii). After each story is Dumbledore's commentary on the reception of the tales for the wizarding community or insights into what the tales mean. One of my favorite stories is "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" about a group of ailing witches who make their way to a healing fountain in order to be cured of their pains or losses. Along the way they meet a luckless knight and together they try to decide who is worthy of being healed by the fountain. In the end, they overcome their problems without the aid of magic and lead happy lives. Some of the other stories, such as "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" do not end so happily, but in a way it was refreshing to haves tales that don't always wrap up neatly.

I picked this little book up because I loved the Harry Potter series and I was excited to dive into more magical stories. I have to be honest that I was a little disappointed in this book, mostly because of its length. It is a quick read--will only take an hour or so--and in the end I wanted more. I would have been thrilled if the book contained a few more stories, but maybe/hopefully there will be more in the future. I enjoyed the stories, but everything people have said about Dumbledore's commentary is true--it really does add a lot of depth to the stories and really made this collection fun. Dumbledore's commentary is also humorous and I found myself chuckling aloud at statements such as, "A simple and heartwarming fable, one might think - in which case, one would reveal oneself to be an innocent nincompoop" (11).

I think this book would be great to read to younger audiences and I will hold on to it for when I have kiddos of my own. The stories, while not always ending in "happily ever after," do have a magical and fairy tale feel to them but they stay true to the feel of the Harry Potter books in keeping with the wizarding themes. The tales teach us lessons about being kind to others, lessons about not succumbing to foolishness, and lessons of finding happiness from within. In the end, though, I felt like Rowling teased her readers with hopes of more Harry Potter. I'd recommend this book with a little bit of reservation. Probably not for those who haven't fallen in love with the Harry Potter series, and for those who have,just keep in mind that this is a short little book that will probably leave you wanting more.

On personal note, my grandfather passed away on Sunday night. I went to Salt Lake two weekends ago to visit my grandparents and I feel lucky and blessed to have had that time with them, especially my grandpa, before he passed away. My grandpa was an amazing man and a true fighter. He had a stroke 12 years ago that left him greatly weakened and partially paralyzed. As heartbroken as I am, especially for my mom and grandma, I know that he'll finally find peace. I'll be flying back to Salt Lake at the end of the week for the funeral, so I'll be a little absent from the blogging world yet again this week.

OUT3 and Classics Challenges plus some Awards

I know I've been posting a lot lately and part of me feels bad about that. But then I think to myself--wait, most of you post every day--sometimes twice a day! I'm not sure why I like to spread out my posts, but I admit that I do. If I read a short book quickly and know I won't finish my next book for at least a week, I'll hold off on my review for a few days so that there isn't a big gap in posts or I don't post too close together. Isn't that the silliest thing you've ever heard?

Anyway, you've got at least one more post from me before the end of the month, AND I'm thinking I might make this Sunday my first Sunday Salon experience! I've always wanted to participate in Sunday Salon and I'm going to try and make it a priority this weekend. Trish has a lot to say!!

On to the purpose of this post--challenges!

CLASSICS CHALLENGE (hosted by me! HERE)

I'm going for the feast, but we'll see how it goes. ;)

Middlemarch - George Eliot

The Time Machine - HG Wells

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton

The Romance of the Forest - Ann Radcliffe

Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Bonus: Possession - AS Byatt

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ONCE UPON A TIME 3 CHALLENGE (Hosted by Carl V. HERE)

I have to admit that I'm incredibly jealous that 5 seconds after Carl had up his challenge post a million people joined. I guess fantasy/folklore/fairytales/mythology is much more fun than classics and non-fiction. *Sigh* If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Just kidding--I would have joined anyway as I LOVED this challenge last year! This year I'm taking The Journey (just in case I don't finish Jonathon Strange and end up with only 4 books instead of 5).

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Maguire

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling

The Book of Lost Things - Connolly

The Light Fantastic - Pratchett

Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell - Clarke (although I might save this for RIP IV)

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I also wanted to note that Jess and CJ passed on the Sisterhood Award to me. I am incredibly touched by the recognition, especially for such a sweet award. Jess is a new to me blogger, but I look forward to getting to know her more. I've known CJ almost as long as I've been book blogging. She's been an inspiration to me on countless occasions and I really look up to her.

Please go visit these lovely ladies and tell them hello.

I also wanted to pass this award on to a few people. It seems like I've known these ladies for ages and I look forward to their posts on their own blogs as well as their encouraging and loving comments on my blog. You guys are what make blogging so special to me.

Joy ~ Kim L. ~ Bethany ~ Bookfool ~ Literary Feline ~ Lisa ~ Bellezza ~ Melody ~ CJ ~ Debi ~ Dar ~ Stephanie ~ Ramya ~ Laura ~ Michelle ~ Nymeth ~ Amanda

I look forward to meeting more fabulous bloggers as the journey continues.

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One more thing (I told you I was chatty lately!):

READ-A-THON!!!!! Who's excited? I AM!!

April 18-19

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! :D

A Midsummer Night's Dream; Once Upon a Time II Complete!

Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Finished: June 19, 2008 #33

A Midsummer Night's Dream begins with a father's command that his daughter, Hermia, marry Demetrius. Hermia doesn't love Demetrius, though; she and Lysander are very much in love. However, her father tells her she must marry Demetrius or face death or a life of celibacy.

Hermia and Lysander run off into the woods together where scheming fairies reside. The king of fairies, Oberon, is upset with the queen of fairies, Titania, and decides to play a trick on her. When she falls asleep, his servant, Robin Goodfellow (or Puck) will rub a flower on her eyes so that when she awakes she will fall desperately in love with the first thing that she sees. After Oberon overhears a conversation between Helena and Demetrius, who have gone in search of their friends Hermia and Lysander, Oberon tells Robin to use the flower on Demetrius so that he will fall in love with Helena--thus solving everyone's problems.


In classic comedic error, Robin rubs the flower on the wrong man's eyes and Lysander awakes to find himself in love with Helena. In an effort to correct his mix up, he also rubs the flower on Demetrius's eyes so that both men are in love with Helena. Meanwhile, Titania awakes and falls in love with an ass (see the pictures)--much to Oberon's amusement. The rest of the play is the undoing of Robin's actions so that the right people end up in love with the right people.

The tale is a fun and magical one, but my favorite part was the last act when handy-men (i.e. a weaver, carpenter, tailor, tinker, etc) get together to put on a play for the wedding party. The play is not very good and the audience makes it clear to the actors how the play should go--while the play is in action. The other parts of the play with the mixed lovers was humorous, but the play within the play was the true treat. This isn't my favorite Shakespeare comedy (I really loved Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night), but I'm glad to have read it and can't wait to revisit the movie with Michelle Pheiffer and Kevin Kline.

I was surprised I didn't see more posts on this play, but here's what I found--let me know if I've missed your review:

Petunia from Educating Petunia
Nymeth from Things Mean A Lot
Stephanie from Confessions of a Bookaholic

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ONCE UPON A TIME II CHALLENGE COMPLETED!!

With finishing this little play, I've also completed Carl's Once Upon a Time II Challenge. I started blogging right before the challenge ended last year, so I was thrilled to be able to participate this year. I chose to read a book from the four genres--folklore, myth, fantasy, and fairy tale and as a bonus A Midsummer Night's Dream. I discovered Terry Pratchett and his Discworld as well as Gregory Maguire--both of whom I will be reading more of! My list is as follows:

Indian Tales from Picuris Pueblo
Retold Classic Myths
The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett
Wicked - Gregory Maquire
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare

Wicked - Gregory Maguire

Title: Wicked
Author: Gregory Maguire
Date Finished: May 12, 2008
Yearly Count: 25
Pages: 406
Rating: 4/5

"One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her--is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? Is it at the very least a question about definitions" (231).

I must have seen the movie The Wizard of Oz a million times when I was little and I've read the book once or twice, but how do you ever really know a story unless you hear both sides? This story tells the tale of the Wicked Witch of the West, most commonly known in the book as Elphaba, and how she began the legend that she is.

Born a bright green girl she led a curious childhood and even more curious adolescence as a smart, witty, and deeply understood girl. Elphaba is passionate about Animals and determining what makes someone human, but more important to this story, what makes someone evil or good. Is evilness inherent or is it something that develops? Can someone who is evil become good, or visa versa? These things she seeks to learn as she grows up in the Land of Oz where the country is ruled by a tyrant Wizard.

Wicked is a type of bildungsroman, following Elphaba through her school years at Shiz, her time as a covert spy in Emerald City, and her years in recluse at the castle in Kiamo Ko. The story is very different from what I expected--I think I expected this to be a type of children's book, but it isn't. There is a little bit of language and sexual content, but mostly it contains deep adult themes such as politics, ethics, love, forgiveness, and what it means to have a soul.

Maguire weaves a beautiful story, and I grew to love Elphaba even as she matured into a tortured woman. He does a great job of developing her character, but the final encounter with Dorothy was still a little awkward for me--most of the story was believable, but somehow the ending seemed forced. My only other qualm with the book is there is so much left out and left up for the reader to interpret--such as Elphaba's mysterious childhood in Quadling before going to school in Shiz, her time in Emerald City when she is on a secret mission, and of course I wanted more of the love affair between her and Fiyero. I guess if all of that was included the story could be a thousand pages long. But overall, I heartily enjoyed this story and my next step is to purchase the Wicked soundtrack since the play won't be coming back to Texas until next year (and even then it will be a five hour drive to see it in San Antonio).

*I was hoping to use my Google Reader to find other's reviews, but it didn't work as nicely as it did for The Innocent Man. If you've reviewed it, leave me a little note with your link and I'll include it. I did, however, manage to find Nymeth's review.

Jeane also reviewed this book here.

Happy reading!

The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett

Title: The Color of Magic
Author: Terry Pratchett
Date Finished: April 29, 2008
Yearly Count: 23
Pages: 210
Rating: 4.5/5

WHAT????? I am so glad that Nymeth warmed me about the cliffhanger ending, otherwise I think I would be in a state of shock right now. I picked up this book for the Once Upon a Time Challenge without knowing very much about the author or the Discworld series other than what I've heard from Nymeth, but I'm certainly glad I did. I loved the wild ride this book took me on and will have to rush out to the bookstore to get the sequel, The Light Fantastic (plus any other Discworld books I can find!).

This short novel follows the travels of Rincewind, a failed wizard, and Twoflower, a foreign tourist--two unlikely companions--after they are forced to leave the burning city of Ankh-Morpork. I wish I could explain the plot, but I'm at a loss for words. They encounter dragons that only kinda exist; a woman who is trying to kill her brothers so that she can rule Wyrmberg, an upside-down mountain; the edge of Discworld where a troll made mostly of water captures them; they are continually cheating Death who by the way has a great sense of humor. This is only a place that could exist if gods are playing the characters as pawns on a giant gameboard--wait! that does happen.

Sounds very strange--and not very much up my alley, but I really enjoyed this book. I laughed out loud--a lot, but I also did a lot of thinking. I'm certain that if I read this one again I would pick up on so much more. I have always really enjoyed satirical works--Gulliver's Travels being one of my favorites--so I felt right at home with Pratchett's sense of humor and social commentary. I realize that I'm doing a poor job of explaining this book, but how does one adequately describe a world that is shaped like a disc which sits on top of four giant elephants who rotate in a circle around the shell of a giant turtle floating through space. :)

Did I love every part of the book? The chapters were long. Groan. In seriousness, at times I found it difficult to follow the plot. The scenes rapidly change and I had to retrace bits to find what I missed. There were several parts that flew right over my head, such as a strange otherworldly experience when Rincewind and Twoflower find themselves momentarily in an airplane? It took some time to get used to the occassional disjointedness, but it did require a little rereading and close reading on my part.

Would I recommend it? Let's put it this way--hubby saw me laughing out loud; I read him some of the bits and pieces I thought were too funny to be left alone (namely the bit about "inn-sewer-ants"--my profession and hubby's family's profession). When I finished the book with a giant smirk on my face, he proclaimed that we should pick up the follow-up book so that he can read both. And hubby doesn't read [and generally does not encourage my book-buying habit]. Bottom Line: It's a fun book, but it certainly isn't as light as it seems.

Indian Tales from Picuris Pueblo

Title: Indian Tales from Picuris Pueblo
Collected by John P. Harrington
Date Finished: April 13, 2008
Yearly Count: 20
Pages: 102

This volume, collected by John P. Harrington in the early 1900s, contains 21 folktales, 7 folkways, and several folksongs of the Picuris Pueblo Indians who live just outside of Taos, New Mexico. I didn't realize the location of the tribe when I picked up this book, but because my in-laws have a cabin in between Taos and Angel Fire, I was glad I picked this copy up to become more familiar with the native customs from the area.

The stories are all short and according to the text the audience is usually children, although the audience is not limited to children. The stories mostly all contain an example of why things are the way they are--why the people farm the land, why coyotes are so smart, how eagles got their colors, why there are no giants, how the people have the plants that they do. The stories themselves usually are focused on animals rather than humans and contain a lot of repitition. I enjoyed reading them as a whole, but if I could dig out my notes from my Folklore course my first year of grad school I could find more entertaining examples of American Indian folktales.

The folkways section is only about a quarter of the book (or less--about 10 pages!) and gives some of the birth, death, education, and hunting customs. I would have liked for this section to be larger and in more detail. All in all, I don't think that this book gave me any further insight into the customs of these people--but perhaps some of this could be because Harrington, from what I got from the book, was more interested in recording the language rather than the actual stories.

What folktale/folklore books or collections do you like?

Retold Classic Myths

Title: Retold Classic Myths - Volume 1
Author: William S.E. Colman Jr
Date Finished: March 31, 2008
Yearly Count: 17
Pages: 155

I picked up this little gem at the used bookstore and I’m having troubles finding the other two volumes to purchase for a decent price. I don’t think they are in print anymore, and I certainly can’t find a picture of my cover (this cover is vol 2--mine has Medea with flying dragons).

The book contains eight short stories and is targeted to the younger reader-- probably geared towards 5th or 6th graders.. Each section begins with a vocabulary overview and ends with “insights.” I read the first couple of stories aloud to Hubby during a recent road trip (short one) and had a lot of fun with them, although some of the stories are better than others.

Creation of Titans and Gods – The struggle of silly men for power. Ha ha!

Prometheus – Prometheus stole fire from Zeus to give to the young human race, but Zeus punished him for disobeying him.

Labors of Heracles – Heracles must perform 12 impossible tasks in order to gain forgiveness for his sins. While most of the labors are quickly brushed upon without really explaining why the tasks were supposed to be impossible or how Heracles went about completing them, some were a detailed a little more. One of these was the story of how Heracles persuaded Atlas to search for the Golden Apples. In return Heracles agreed to hold the heavens for Atlas. Atlas thought he could trick Heracles into holding the heavens forever, but Heracles asked Atlas to hold up the sky for a minute while he stretched his back. Atlas obliged and as soon as they made their trade, Heracles made a run for it.

Circe and Odysseus – a snippet from The Odyssey; the witch/goddess Circe turns Odysseus’s men into pigs

Aeneas' Trip to Underworld – a snippet from Aeneid; Aeneas makes his famous journey to the Underworld where he encounters his family and the fallen soldiers from the Trojan war before making his way to Italy.

Follies of Midas – the greedy king who wishes for everything he touches to turn to gold.

Cupid and Psyche – the classic love story of true love and faith over beauty.

Jason and Golden Fleece – this, unfortunately, is the worst story of the bunch. I’m not sure if it was written by a different person (or really who wrote any of these adaptations), but it seemed as if this story was all over the place. There was a lot of focus on Medea, but perhaps there was simply too much information being crammed in 20 pages.

This was a great collection for intro to mythology. Hubby and I loved the Insights sections where we learned things like why Atlas is pictured as holding the earth, not the sky (because Greeks finally decided the sky was not going to fall afterall and didn’t need holding up). If anyone has another good mythology collection they’d like to recommend, I’m all ears!

Once Upon a Time II Challenge

I'm late, as usual, but I haven't felt much like blogging recently (I still need to post my thoughts on The Other Boleyn Girl). Plus, I wanted to participate in this challenge and it was giving me a headache trying to figure out the difference between myth and folklore and folklore and fairy tales as the lines all blur a little bit. But without further ado:

Retold Classic Myths - (Mythology)

Indian Tales from Picuris Pueblo (Folktales)

The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett (Fantasy)

Wicked - Gregory MaGuire (Fairy Tale)

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare

Join the fun at Carl's site (Stainless Steel Droppings)!