tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67340051659447681882024-02-07T01:10:25.897-08:00Tales Old as TimeHome of the Great Bookshelf Caper and Year of Fairy Tale Adaptation ProjectsCassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-18130461604384469192013-06-01T08:45:00.005-07:002013-06-01T08:45:50.935-07:00Sleeping Wrap UpSleeping Beauty Wrap Up<br /><br />Well, our twelfth month of fairy tales has come to a close, and we’ll address the future of this project in a bit, but for now, let’s talk about Sleeping Beauty.<br /><br />I think I mentioned that I took a class on this fairy tale in college? Yeah, the predominant conclusion from that class was that this was a supremely boring fairy tale, and we weren’t wrong. And I think that’s why this month, like Beauty and the Beast’s month, every novelization was an improvement on the original.<br /><br />We talked at the beginning of the month about how this is a story defined by passivity. And so, the number one thing I was looking for was stories that made the characters more active, turning the story into one where characters make things happen instead of just having things happen to them. <br /><br />Let’s look at our Sleeping Beauties – <br /><i><br />Beauty Sleep</i>’s Aurore, who expresses to her father how she is defined by her need to go beyond the palace walls and live at least in part the kind of life that her subjects lead. Who leaves home in the middle of the night to get the curses plaguing her kingdom to follow her and allow peace to descend once more over her home. Who sacrifices seeing her parents again to do what is best for her kingdom.<br /><i><br />The One Who Took the Really Long Nap</i>’s Rose, who was driven by her desire to find where her talents lay, outside of what was fairy-given. Who wasn’t afraid to try and fail, who even took pleasure in her failure. Whose curse at the end of the spindle came about out of this desire to find what she did well. Who had a secret part of the spell to work out before she could be free.<br /><br /><i>A Kiss in Time</i>’s Talia, who was a spoiled brat in the beginning of her tale, whose growth and story arc became entirely about growing into a decent person and learning how to look at the world beyond herself. Who came to be the kind of person who wanted to help others succeed. Who had to relive her curse a second time and find a way to help her prince find her and fight his demons to free her.<br /><br /><i>Thornspell</i>’s Rue, who was asleep for almost the entirely of the novel and still managed to keep her prince out of danger, guiding him through the spirit world and always being present at the right moment to ensure that he saw what needed to be done. While asleep, guys.<br /><br /><i>Spindle’s End</i>’s Rosie, who spent the whole of her story fighting against the image of the princess she was supposed to fulfill, albeit unknowingly. Who was awoken and went out and sought out and faced down her evil fairy three times, almost died, and still found the energy to save her best friend’s life. <br /><br />Those are five pretty active and kick-ass Sleeping Beauty’s. And their princes are just as active. Ironheart, the unnamed Prince, Jack, Sig, Narl/Rowland, they all were invested in the finding out and helping and breaking of the various curses. Each novel this month built SB and her prince into a unit, working with each other, helping each other, working in tandem to break curses and wake princesses, and I just love it so much. <br /><br />And also across the board, we’ve got better explained motivations for the parents, more defined conflict, more clearly drawn worlds. Each novel this month got full points across the board.<br /><br />And as I said, we barely scratched the surface in terms of the Sleeping Beauty novels out there. We’ve also got:<br /><br /><i>The Gates of Sleep</i> by Mercedes Lackey, which places the story in Victorian England and is one of Lackey’s Elemental Masters series, which you all know I adore.<br /><br /><i>Briar Rose</i> by Jane Yolen, which sets Sleeping Beauty during the Holocaust and is half-brilliant (the actual Sleeping Beauty narrative is wonderfully drawn; the modern-day framing story leaves a lot to be desired).<br /><br /><i>Briar Rose</i> by Robert Coover, which is very post-modern and very meta and very not for everyone, but which is absolutely fascinating if you can get past all that.<br /><br /><i>Enchantment</i> by Orson Scott Card, <i>The Wide-Awake Princess </i>by ED Baker, and gosh, guys, so many others that I haven’t read. (And hopefully, one day, in publication for you all to read, a novel called Spinning Tales, Spinning Truth by yours truly. But that’s currently just a pipe dream).<br /><br />Rankings are super hard this month, and don’t ask me to choose favorites; my answers will be super biased towards the novel that defined my adolescence. <br /><br />But <i>Spindle’s End</i> by Robin McKinley,<i> Beauty Sleep</i> by Cameron Dokey, and <i>A Kiss in Time</i> by Alex Flinn all come Highly Recommended, and <i>Sleeping Beauty: the One Who Took the Really Long Nap</i> by Wendy Mass and <i>Thornspell </i>by Helen Lowe are both Recommended. <br /><br />And as for the future of Fairy Tale Reviews, well, don’t worry. I imagine I’ll continue to post reviews here, as there are tons of fairy tale novelizations out there and I’m sure gonna keep reading them. I won’t commit to any sort of schedule from here on out, but when I read one, I’ll review it. I’ll follow my checklists if applicable, and I’ll summarize the new fairy tale and throw a quick checklist together if not.<br /><br />Until then, y’all, this is Cassie, signing off. :)CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-84172931727996961172013-05-31T18:42:00.000-07:002013-05-31T18:42:28.187-07:00Spindle's End by Robin McKinley<i>Spindle’s End</i> by Robin McKinley<br /><br />Target Audience: Adult/YA<br /><br />Summary: When the evil fairy Pernicia lays her seemingly fatal curse upon the infant princess, the royal child's nanny entrusts the baby to Katriona--an orphan brought up by her powerful fairy aunt--to rear in the safety of her distant, cloistered village. In one of the many sequences that endow this novel with mythic grandeur, Katriona and her charge travel surreptitiously through the fields and woods, while the female animals of the countryside (vixens, a she-bear and countless others) suckle the royal baby to keep her alive. This unorthodox diet may be the reason the princess--whom Katriona and her aunt call Rosie--can communicate with all creatures. Unaware of her royal heritage (and bored by fairy-tale fripperies), Rosie makes a best friend of Peony, the wainwright's niece, and becomes an apprentice to Narl, the kind but uncommunicative village blacksmith. When the princess's true identity is finally revealed, and the fate of the realm hangs in the balance, Rosie, Narl and Peony fight a true battle royal to defeat Pernicia's schemes.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling<br /><br />So, I’m not sure I can adequately describe to you what my copy of this book looks like. Here's a picture:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXXJNFS5C4lZZzS-ZjGd9LyfO-m9MSzWukBfGoV8wpn-0MKHdivVqEUFnVCnLYeDjo23Ksv1AKmyEg0S05mmWundu6JsM7JKvTjiteSAZnNZiyv8Lz2-VQO6E21JMx-NATKlVjqkjAAx7Z/s1600/Snapshot_20130531_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXXJNFS5C4lZZzS-ZjGd9LyfO-m9MSzWukBfGoV8wpn-0MKHdivVqEUFnVCnLYeDjo23Ksv1AKmyEg0S05mmWundu6JsM7JKvTjiteSAZnNZiyv8Lz2-VQO6E21JMx-NATKlVjqkjAAx7Z/s320/Snapshot_20130531_2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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That picture doesn't do it justice. Let me describe to you.<br />
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I’ve had my copy of this book since I was a sophomore in high school (which is, geez, almost 10 years, for those of you keeping count (please don’t)), and I’ve read it at least once just about every year I’ve owned it. This book has been loaned out countless times to people who <i>have</i> to read it, been shoved and carried around in backpacks with all a high schooler’s junk, survived several moves from home to dorm room to apartment and back again. <br /><br />So, yeah, my copy of this book is pretty dog-eared. My copy of this book makes my friend Heidi cringe. It still has both its covers – mostly. The edges both front and back have started to fray and fold away, though. The upper layers on the places where the covers meet the spine have separated and started to curl in. The corners of the pages haven’t seen 90 degree angles for a long time, and the first few pages are almost as tattered around the edges as the covers. My mother keeps threatening to replace my copy of this book, and my response is always the same — over my dead body. <br /><br />I love my copy of this book. I love the feeling of the pages softened by countless readings. I love the way there is no resistance from the cover when I open to the first page and roll it gently around the spine. I love what it smells like, and the way it feels in my hands. I have more of a sentimental attachment to this book (both this written story and this particular copy of this book) than just about any other book I own. And when I open it and read the first page that I know by heart, it’s like sinking into a warm bath. Settling into a soft bed on a chilly night. It’s like coming home.<br /><br />Yes, I just rhapsodized for three paragraphs about a paperback. Deal.<br /><br />We started this project with one of my favorite fairy tale novelizations. I hope it goes without saying that we’re ending the project with the novel that sits at the very top of that list. And like last week, it is incredibly complex (but this time around I wouldn’t change a single word), so I’m going to keep this as simple as I can.<br /><br />Which means circumventing, slightly, McKinley’s fantastic narrative structure. She writes in a style that jumps ahead and projects occasionally, beyond what’s happening, just for a few pages, a glimpse that the world survives and extends beyond the story’s end. And sometimes, she jumps forward with the narrative, then doubles back to catch you up on a scene that happened in the interim, and that is risky storytelling, ladies and gents, because if you do it poorly, your novel is a burden to read, and it is very easy to do poorly. But McKinley happens to be a master storyteller, so it is not once an issue. <br /><br />But for purposes of this summary, I’m gonna work linearly, by starting off telling you that the evil fairy of this story is a woman named Pernicia. Many generations before, the last time that an heir of this kingdom was a girl, Pernicia and the Queen in question faced off, and Pernicia was bested. But she swore that she would work her revenge on this family, and that when a Queen next inherited the throne, she would be back to take what was hers.<br /><br />But enough time passes that everyone forgets this, mostly, and believes that Pernicia has died. And so when the current king and queen give birth to a princess, Pernicia isn’t invited. Just about everyone else is, though. <br /><br />The Queen is from a small kingdom where everyone could be invited to every event. The kingdom of the story, though is much larger, so the king and queen send heralds to every town with lots to be drawn. One person per town will be invited to the princess’s name day. The person selected from a town called Foggy Bottom in the northernmost bump of this country, known as the Gig, is a young girl, maybe 15 years old, named Katriona. <br /><br />It’s a long journey to the capital, nearly two months, but Kat gets there just in time for the ceremony. Something strange happens as she is sitting and waiting for things to begin, though. A guard comes over to her and gives her a very powerful amulet. He won’t explain why, but he tells her it’s important, and that he’ll come collect it again eventually. <br /><br />And then the name day begins. Fairies, in this land, are pretty commonplace. Magic is everywhere, and it either leaves you alone or it doesn’t, and if it doesn’t, you become a fairy. There are far too many fairies to keep track of, so to navigate the difficult politics of inviting them to the name day, the king and queen chose 21 fairies to serve as the princesses godparents. They were supposed to give unobtrusive gifts. They don’t.<br /><br />Kat is utterly aghast and dismayed when the fairies start giving the princess things like golden hair and ringlets and flawless skin and a laugh like a silver bell and the ability to dance and embroider and sing like a bird. She can’t believe that professional fairies are treating magic in this way. But as she sits, thinking of all the useful things the fairies could have offered the princess, suddenly the air goes cold and the people in the arena freeze.<br /><br />And Pernicia appears. She has come, she says to claim her revenge, though she was hoping even until just that morning that she would be offered an invitation, which might have placated her slightly. She says that she came with the intention to kill the young girl, but that now, that seems too easy. So instead, she lays the curse – that on the girl’s 21st birthday, she will die. And then she decides that the girl will die from a cursed spindle. And then she claims that maybe she won’t wait 21 years. Maybe she will make it happen any time she wants.<br /><br />The curse is laid, and Pernicia disappears, and everyone is frozen – everyone but Kat, who somehow finds herself past the barrier, at the cradle, the princess in her arms, trying to comfort the child, offering up her small gift of magic – the ability to talk to animals, just “baby magic” (magic that children exhibit occasionally, particularly children who will grow up into fairies).<br /><br />And then she is taken away by Sigil, the queen’s personal fairy, who congratulates Kat on what she has just done, though Kat doesn’t know what exactly that is. And then Sigil tells Kat to take the princess away with her. Take her back to wherever it is she lives and raise the princess as her own child, hiding her identity and keeping the princess safe. She doesn’t want to know Kat’s name or where she lives, because the more she knows, the easier Kat will be to track.<br /><br />So Kat takes the princess and goes. Along the way, she uses her beast-speech to get milk for the infant from all the animals they meet along the way, and this part of the novel reads very much like some kind of fable, and it’s wonderful.<br /><br />The trip back to the Gig takes three months, and then Kat and her aunt, who everyone calls Aunt, set about raising the princess, hiding her. Protecting her. They tell everyone that the baby is another niece of Aunt’s whose parents died, like Kat, and as Aunt has eleven siblings, no one really questions this. They call the princess Rosie, and Rosie grows up without any idea who she is.<br /><br />I’m almost positive that McKinley is pulling a bit from Disney here, the idea of the princess being whisked away from her parents to be raised by fairies (for both Aunt and Kat are very powerful fairies), but McKinley, unlike Disney, does this beautifully. We spend a lot of time in the novel on watching Rosie grow up, and it is just beautifully done.<br /><br />Because Rosie, purely by being Rosie, manages to get around a lot of the gifts given to her. She hates her ringlets, so she cuts them all off and keeps her hair short. She thinks things like dancing and playing the flute and sewing are stupid, so she never learns to do them. She can’t carry a tune to save her life, so sounding like a bird doesn’t much matter. It’s amazing and wonderful, and I love the forceful personality of this child.<br /><br />Kat watches Rosie grow up, and she spends each night before she goes to sleep imagining telling the Queen stories about Rosie and what she’s like, except that it turns out that, not having much control on her magic yet, she’s actually doing that for real, and her stories have helped the queen immeasurably.<br /><br />Because no one in the country knows that the princess was taken away from the name day. They all believe that she is being hidden in various strongholds around the country, moved from time to time to keep Pernicia from being able to find her. So the country believes that the princess is in hiding, but also that the king and queen know where she is and are still getting to watch her grow up.<br /><br />This is not, however, true. She is, instead, being brought up by two fairies in a backwater part of the kingdom as an ordinary little girl. Kat tells the Queen that her daughter is “as safe as ordinariness can make her.”<br /><br />The other thing that is helping to keep Rosie safe and secret is that Kat did, in fact, pass along some of her magic to Rosie, and Rosie can speak to animals. This is mind-boggling to Kat because the royal family is, first and foremost, magicless. It’s almost a rule. Spouses are chosen to be without magic. The royal family has no magic. And yet, there is Rosie. Talking to animals.<br /><br />She grows up a real tomboy. She hates dresses and girlish activities, preferring to spend her time befriend Narl, the blacksmith who everyone but Rosie is a little afraid of, or learning to whittle from Barder, Kat’s future husband.<br /><br />And the more we see Rosie grow up, the more we gradually shift from Kat’s perspective to Rosie’s. It’s done very subtly and very well, until we are entirely viewing the story through Rosie’s eyes almost without noticing it. But by the time Kat and Barder are married and Rosie is fifteen, she is our sole story focus.<br /><br />When Kat marries Barder, she and Aunt and Rosie move from their small cottage a ways removed from Foggy Bottom to the very heart of the town, because Barder is the wheelwright, and that’s where his shop is. So at the age of fifteen, Rosie finds everything changing, and as that happens, there’s a voice inside her head that constantly tells her she’s not who she thinks she is. She does her best to ignore it, but it sneak into existence when she least expects it, and it becomes worse with the move to town. <br /><br />Another reason Rosie dreads moving to town is that now she no longer has an excuse to avoid Peony, the niece of the wainwright who lives next door to Barder. Peony is the very picture of a perfect child. She and Rosie are the same age, and Peony does everything perfect – she sings and dances and embroiders and plays instruments, and is polite and good with children and just a paragon in many ways, and she drives Rosie crazy. Because she’s too perfect, and she makes Rosie feel inadequate.<br /><br />But the first day that Rosie can no longer truly ignore her, Peony makes some comment about Rosie’s eyelashes being the longest she’s ever seen, and Rosie snaps about how much she hates her eyelashes, and something in that exchange breaks down the barrier between the two girls, and they end up becoming the very best of friends.<br /><br />I love Rosie and Peony’s friendship because they are such different characters, but they mesh together very well. Rosie’s strange family provides an escape for Peony from an aunt and uncle who don’t have much love for her, though they treat her perfectly well. But Rosie is able to give Peony a happy sort of family, and Peony helps to ground Rosie.<br /><br />She also inadvertently wakes a couple of Rosie’s princess gifts. She convinces Rosie to try embroidery, since the only kind of sewing Rosie ever attempted was hemming and mending – not sewing she was gifted talent for. And the moment Rosie takes the thread, her gift takes over, which is a terrifying experience, and brings back in full force that pernicious idea that Rosie is someone other than who she imagines herself to be.<br /><br />It is fascinating to read Rosie’s pieces of story where she considers the princess. Because the princess occupies this almost mythological place in this kingdom. No one has ever seen her. No one ever knows for certain where she is. And Rosie feels sorry for her – says more than once that the life of the princess sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant one, constantly trapped and directed by other people, with no real freedom. Knowing more than Rosie does, in those moments, is always fun as a reader.<br /><br />As Rosie gets older, she becomes Narl’s unofficial apprentice – not of smithing, but of horse-doctoring. Narl is typically called on to do that, as a smith, but he teaches Rosie the skills, and she become well known for it. Being able to talk to animals helps.<br /><br />But it’s in working at the forge with Narl that Rosie first meets Rowland. Rowland is a young man who comes to Narl to be apprenticed in the smith work. Rosie likes him well enough, but she finds him to be fairly boring. Peony, however, takes one look at him and falls in love with him, and he with her.<br /><br />Which is problematic, because Rowland is promised in marriage. Turns out (though we don’t learn this for a while), that Rowland is actually a prince from a neighboring kingdom, out masquerading as a commoner to get a sense of the world before taking a throne. Whose throne? Well, this country’s throne, as it turns out, because Rowland is betrothed to the cursed princess. In other words, Rosie, though no one knows that. The fact that he is betrothed is communicated to Peony. The fact that he is a prince is not. <br /><br />And the whole episode with Peony and Rowland falling in love exists, largely, to set up Rosie’s romantic story, because in watching it happen to Peony, and in talking to Narl about what happened to Peony, she comes to realize that she is in love with Narl, agonizing to her because she believes, after their conversation, that Narl is in love with Peony. <br /><br />Complicated as all that is, it isn’t the focus, which is nice. It’s there, it informs the situations to follow, but it’s never the focal point of the story.<br /><br />When Rosie turns 20, things start to happen. Bad omens are seen all across the country. Magic is much more in turmoil than usual. It’s like everything with even a semblance of consciousness is aware that this is the year whose end is to bring Pernicia’s revenge and the toppling of the kingdom. And because of that, halfway through the year, Rosie is finally sent for.<br /><br />Because way back at the name day ceremony, when Sigil sent Kat away with the infant princess, she promised that someday, she would come and retrieve the princess. She never said when, but she promised it would happen. And now, Ikor, the guard who gave Kat his amulet and who happens to be a fairy, meant to be Rosie’s 21st godparent, in fact, has appeared in the Gig to tell Rosie who she is and plan for what must be done.<br /><br />And this is where things get really complex. You may have noticed that the whole ‘changing the curse of death to a curse of sleep’ thing never happened, because in this novel, it doesn’t – at least, not on the name day. But Ikor and Sigil and Kat and Aunt spin together an intricate and complicated plan designed to help Rosie defeat Pernicia.<br /><br />It involves a decoy princess – Peony, who looks so like Rosie. Who naturally has almost all the gifts that the princess was given by her godparents. Who is an orphan living with an aunt and uncle. Who would do anything for Rosie. Peony is announced to be the long-lost princess. A glamour is placed on her aunt and uncle to make them remember being brought the infant in the night to keep and protect, and Rosie and Peony are wrapped together in this spell and whisked away to Woodwold, the grand house of the Gig, where they will stay until the princess’s birthday celebration and whatever is going to go down with Pernicia.<br /><br />The idea is that Peony and Rosie will be tied together so tightly to trick Pernicia into going after the wrong girl. Because the curse is tied to Rosie so specifically, if Peony is the one who pricks her finger, she shouldn’t die. Instead, she should simply fall into a sleep, a sleep that those four fairies will put on everyone else as well while Kat and Rosie go and face Pernicia and defeat her once and for all. <br /><br />That’s the plan. But it goes wrong. Pernicia is able to find Rosie, though it is difficult, and through her magic, she draws Rosie toward her spinning wheel, in this room full of royalty and dignitaries and all these people who don’t even notice that she’s there. But Peony does. And Peony realizes what’s going on. So Peony fights against the magic trying to hold her in place, forces Rosie out of the way, and pierces her finger with the spindle.<br /><br />This action throws everything into turmoil, because just as they had hoped, Peony taking the curse instead of Rosie thwarted Pernicia’s plan somewhat. But the magical sleep that falls over the assembled affects fairies the worst, and so there’s no way Kat is going to be able to go with Rosie. <br /><br />In the end, it’s Narl who takes her on this journey, and it’s Narl who brings Rosie back to life, too, since the rebounding of the curse hit her worse than most, and she wasn’t breathing. Narl managed somehow to escape the enchanted sleep, and he found Rosie and “kissed” her (mouth to mouth resuscitation, technically) and woke her, but since she’s not the princess the sleep is tied to, it doesn’t do anything to wake any of the other sleepers. For that to happen, Rosie has to find and defeat Pernicia.<br /><br />This is the part of the novel that I’m not even going to try and touch. Suffice it to say, Rosie and Narl and most of the animals Rosie has befriended free themselves from Woodwold, find Pernicia, tear down her castle, and drive her, with Peony, back to Woodwold, where Rosie attacks her and, with the help of Woodwold itself, defeats her once and for all. The enchanted sleep is broken on everyone but Peony, and in the end, it isn’t Rowland or Narl or any sort of prince who kisses Peony awake – it’s Rosie, because in order to break Pernicia’s hold and the spell weaving her and Peony together, she has to transfer to Peony what of the princess exists inside her.<br /><br />In other words, she gives it up, and there is something magical that happens in that moment. There truly, legitimately, is a transfer, and after that kiss, Rosie is no longer the princess. She was once, and she was born to the king and queen, but what was princess inside her isn’t there any longer. Peony will go and marry Rowland and rule the country, because Rosie never wanted to do any of that. Rosie never wanted to be the princess. Peony is much better suited, already loves the prince, and will be a much better Queen.<br /><br />And Narl and Rosie live happily ever after, too, because he wasn’t in love with Peony. He was in love with Rosie. And screw you, everyone who says the age difference makes them uncomfortable. Their relationship is awesome. I don’t care that he’s at least 18 years older than she is. It’s a fairy tale world. Things like that happen. Read that confession of love and tell me those two aren’t meant to be. Just try.<br /><br />Ahem.<br /><br />I adore this book. I love it so, so much and I haven’t even come close to doing it justice here. You just, you have to read it. So much of this book exists in the narrative structure. It is beautiful and intricate and masterful, and so much more amazing than any summery will ever make it sound. This is a book you have to experience. Please. Just go read it. If you slog through no other book this year, slog through this one. <br /><br />Anyway. Checklist.<br /><br />Make the characters more active in their story? Definitely. Kat and Rosie, our two protagonists, are just wonderful. I adore Rosie as a reimagining of this princess. She is defined by her activeness, both as a princess and just as Rosie. I adore that she fulfills both the role of Sleeping Beauty and that of the prince who rescues her. She is awoken from her slumber, and she has to go out and find Pernicia. She confronts her three times, almost dies, but doesn’t let that stop her from then going to save her friend. If that’s not active and kickass, I don’t know what is.<br /><br />Introduce more conflict? Definitely. Pernicia is a deliciously evil character. She rivals Maleficent for my favorite portrayal of this role. If you’re going to make the fairy evil and not just a petty old lady holding a grudge, this is the way to do it. I also love her caveat that maybe the curse could happen at any time, because that really does increase the tension and the conflict. We never know where Pernicia is. We never know what she’s up to. The novel is full of moments where she almost finds Rosie, and only doesn’t because of a quick-thinking action from Aunt or Kat. It really ups the stakes in a wonderful way.<br /><br />Explain the actions of the parents? The king and queen really aren’t huge players in this novel, and that’s the point. Their actions were explained by being taken away from them. Their daughter was taken away from them in what was the only real way to hope of keeping her safe. I love the glimpses we get through stories and rumors of how the king and queen cope with this fact, and I love how strong and wonderful the queen is in the few moments we see her. When she meets Rosie and Peony for the first time, she knows Peony isn’t her daughter. She knows Rosie is. She knows because Kat sat on her bed and told her stories of her little girl. She is so smart and so strong, and I love her.<br /><br />Flesh out the world? Oh my good Lord, guys, this world. I. Love. It. It is rich and intricate and fully realized, but unlike other fantasy world builders I could mention, McKinley introduces us to this world piece by piece in a way that isn’t overwhelming and always enhances the story. The little details that get thrown in and keep being referred back to are magnificent. The way that McKinley very subtly connects this world to another kingdom in another fairy tale novel of hers is magnificent. Everything about the way this world is built and explored and unfolded is magnificent.<br /><br />This novel has a very strong Disney influence, but what I love is that it reads like McKinley took the Disney movie and reworked it to address its shortcomings. It focuses on how growing up not a princess influenced and defined Rosie, and Kat and Aunt, and her parents. It made the characters into real people with flaws and virtues and dreams and desires, and it played with every expectation you have with this story. And I adore it.<br /><br />Tomorrow, I’ll post the Sleeping Beauty wrap-up and a little about the future of this project now that our year has come to a close. But for now, I want to let this review stand for a little, because this is how we’re going out, y’all. I couldn’t think of a better book to end on.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-63518946897837217012013-05-27T10:24:00.001-07:002013-05-27T10:24:24.727-07:00Thornspell by Helen Lowe<i>Thornspell</i> by Helen Lowe<br /><br />Target Audience: Middle Grade/YA <br /><br />Summary: Prince Sigismund has grown up hearing fantastical stories about enchantments and faie spells, basilisks and dragons, knights-errant and heroic quests. He'd love for them to be true—he's been sheltered in a country castle for most of his life and longs for adventure—but they are just stories. Or are they?<br /><br />From the day that a mysterious lady in a fine carriage speaks to him through the castle gates, Sigismund's world starts to shift. He begins to dream of a girl wrapped, trapped, in thorns. He dreams of a palace, utterly still, waiting. He dreams of a man in red armor, riding a red horse—and then suddenly that man arrives at the castle!<br /><br />Sigismund is about to learn that sometimes dreams are true, that the world is both more magical and more dangerous than he imagined, and that the heroic quest he imagined for himself as a boy . . . begins now.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling with a perspective shift<br /><br />So, this is a change, you may notice. Originally, this week’s novel was<i> A Long, Long Sleep, </i>but after reading, though that one tries really hard to be Sleeping Beauty, it isn’t. And I figured that there were enough actual Sleeping Beauty novelizations out there that I probably ought to focus on one of those. So I picked <i>Thornspell</i>, one I hadn’t read before.<br /><br />This was a pretty intricate and complex novel, and while I do have the complaint that even after reading the whole thing, I’m still avoiding ever having to say this prince’s name aloud because I honestly don’t know how to pronounce it, for the most part, I enjoyed this book. <br /><br />I’m gonna keep the summary pretty light this week, though, because the novel is <i>so</i> complex. <br /><br />So, Sigismund (which behindthename.com tells me is a variant of Sigmund, but doesn’t give me any sort of pronunciation for) is a prince who has grown up at an isolated castle in the west of his kingdom for as long as he can remember. He was taken there by his father when he was a very young child, after his mother died suddenly and his father was needed to fight in the southern wars.<br /><br />His rules have always been simple – don’t leave the palace walls. He has free run of the grounds within them, but he is never to step outside the walls, and he shouldn’t even think about setting foot anywhere near the Wood, which can be seen from West Castle, and which was placed under interdict almost a century ago.<br /><br />The older Sig gets (yes, that’s what I took to calling him in my head so I wouldn’t stumble over his name every time it appeared), the more he starts to notice strange things happening. And it is around this time that his father sends a master-at-arms, Balisan, to teach and train him in the way of weaponry. Sig knew he was coming because he dreamed it, a dream that turned out to be true, as many of Sig’s dreams have. <br /><br />Shortly after Balisan arrives to start teaching Sig the sword, Sig has an encounter with a woman outside the gate. She is very beautiful, almost hypnotically so, and she tells Sig that she has bought a castle nearby, and in the midst of their chit-chat, she attempts to give him a ring. He has to reach through the bars of the gate to get it, though, and as he does so, he catches a glimpse of a girl on the palace grounds, which startles him so much that he drops the ring to the dirt, and then something happens.<br /><br />It’s a magical something, and it makes Sig go all fuzzy and faint and fall into a feverish . . . fancy, just because I want to keep the alliteration going. But no, the kid gets seriously ill, in illness nothing can touch until a woman in lilac appears in a dream and heals him. Sig is convinced she was real, despite everyone telling him when he wakes that there was no such woman. They ask him what happened at the gate, but hard as he tries, he can’t remember. <br /><br />All of this makes Balisan very suspicious, and he’s smart enough to figure out what’s going on. He takes Sig down to the lilac garden, and there he summons the very woman from Sig’s dream – she’s a fairy named Syrica who has hidden herself inside the West Castle garden for close to a hundred years, and she’s the one who explains who the woman at the gate was.<br /><br />Turns out, that was an evil fairy (I know you’re all shocked at this revelation) named Margravine zu Malvolin, who has been trying to infiltrate West Castle for almost a hundred years. Because almost a hundred years ago, this fairy laid a curse on a young princess, and by now, you all know the story that Syrica tells. Margravine is the evil fairy with the curse, Syrica is the good fairy with the attempted solution, but what this book allows us to see is what happens in the interim, after the spells are enacted, while our Sleeping Beauty waits to be awoken. <br /><br />The evil fairy’s motivation here is stronger than just wounded pride. She wants the kingdom of the princess for reasons that have to do with power, and she wants to destroy Sig’s family for the same reason. In this world, once magic has been set in motion, not even the spell casters can affect how it will play out, which makes all magic a risk. But what both fairies here know is that Sig’s family will be connected, and that Sig himself is very likely to be the prince meant to break the spell, as he will come of age in the year the spell is to be broken. <br /><br />The end result of all this knowledge is that Balisan begins to teach Sig magic and how to use it. It’s a complicated process, and I won’t get into it, but I will give you one more pertinent fact – in this world, there are places where the human world and the world of Faerie overlap and exist in the same space, if you know how to move between them.<br /><br />Jump ahead to the year Sig turns 16. His father (still away at war) has decided that the prince maybe shouldn’t be hidden away at a far off castle anymore, so he has Sig brought to the capital to meet the people. The king promises he will join him there soon.<br /><br />Sig falls in with a group of boys his own age, led by one named Flor, who is casually arrogant in a way that makes Sig uncomfortable, but generally seems to be a good sort.<br /><br />About a week before his father is due to arrive, the boys are invited to go on a board hunt in the West. Balisan agrees that Sig should go, but he warns the prince that he might be in danger, and he should be on the lookout constantly and be careful who he trusts. <br /><br />And sure enough, once on the hunt, Sig is separated from the rest and pursued by the board, who is larger and smarter than boars ought to be. One of Sig’s men is killed by the beast to save Sig’s life, and Sig, using his magic, is able to kill the boar. He is so numb and in shock on the ride back that he doesn’t even notice when his horse is led off course. The next thing he knows, he is in the Faerie realm, and shocker, Flor is the one who betrayed him.<br /><br />Turns out, Flor is actually the grandson of the Margarvine zu Malvolin, and he befriended Sig for just this eventuality, but what he and the Margarvine hadn’t counted on was that Sig had been studying magic with Balisan. It’s the most difficult thing Sig has ever done, but between his magical gift, luck, and the helpful presence of the girl he saw that day by the gate (who is mute but who Sig has come to call Rue), he is finally able to slip between worlds and emerge on the human side. Somewhere along the way, he gains a sword, but we’ll get to that.<br /><br />He emerges in his father’s private war room to discover that two years have passed for his father and the kingdom, while only a single night has for him. This means that the year of Sig’s destiny is much, much closer. Sig crippled the Margarvine while he was in Faerie – inadvertently, but still – but as the time for the breaking of the curse comes closer, she will be getting both more powerful and more desperate.<br /><br />So, Sig figures, why wait for the time to come to him? If the spell is tied to him, he should be able to manipulate it. So he plans to leave in secret, since his father refuses to give him permission to go tackle the curse in the woods, but Balisan finds him out. Instead of stopping him, though, he helps Sig get away.<br /><br />This is where the story gets really complicated, a bit more complicated than it needs to be, honestly. On the one hand, you have Sig, torn between this duty he thinks he has to the sleeping princess and the way he has come to feel about Rue, the mute girl trapped in a magical world. (Spoiler – they’re one and the same). And then, you have this whole complicated bit with Margarvine and her motivation and why no one has stopped her, and Syrica’s plan to get her to act against humans in the human world because that will . . . do something important.<br /><br />Sig’s first attempt to breech the wood fails, and he’s pretty badly injured in the attempt. The second time, he makes it through, through the wood and the briars and into the castle, and to the side of the sleeping princess. He wakes her with a kiss, and then realizes that he’s led Flor and the other servants of the Margarvine right to her, and though he tries to fight them, he fails, and she is taken away to the evil fairy. <br /><br />Except that that wasn’t the real princess. It was a simulacrum, and the real princess is hidden in a place Sig has visited in his dreams without understanding its significance. Rue appears to lead him to it, and once she has, he realizes that gasp and shock! Rue is actually the princess! He wakes her, and then there’s this massive battle between Sig and the Malvolin’s servants, and it gets really complicated really fast, and it turns out Balisan is really a dragon, and Syrica and Margarvine are sisters, and Margarvine does something wrong and the Faerie Queen finally arrives to sort it all out, and they do address the question of why she hadn’t done so before, but it’s not a terribly satisfactory answer.<br /><br />But happily ever after has been achieved, even if there is entirely too much tacked onto the end beyond that in an attempt to make it feel like more than just a love story, I guess.<br /><br />I liked the book, don’t get me wrong. I liked it, and I’m glad that someone decided to focus solely on the prince. But there was a <i>lot</i> going on in this story, and while it was interesting, I’m not convinced it was all necessary. But let’s look at the checklist.<br /><br />Make the characters more active in their own story? Solid yes. Sig is actively training for this destiny throughout, rather than just stumbling onto the palace randomly one day. In this story, he trains and studies and prepares and knows the whole of things before setting out. The princess, too, is given a more active role, able to send her spirit out while her body is sleeping, to help the prince help her. I liked that. <br /><br />Introduce more conflict? Honestly, there was a little too much conflict. I never did fully understand what the deal was with the Faerie Queen and why she wasn’t stepping in to stop Margarvine’s power grabs a lot sooner. I also don’t fully get why Rue’s kingdom was so all-fired important. Like, power is one thing, but this seemed excessive. There was just a little too much going on, and it felt like overcompensation.<br /><br />Explain the actions of the parents? We don’t actually see that much of them, as this isn’t the princess’s story, so this point isn’t really applicable.<br /><br />Flesh out the story? Yes, again, a little too much at times. I enjoyed the world and its imagining, but there were times I felt a little overwhelmed by it.<br /><br />All in all, I did enjoy this one, but I felt it could have been a little simpler and still been just as good. CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-46546873997186676192013-05-26T20:47:00.001-07:002013-05-26T20:47:58.971-07:00Guest Post: Disney's Sleeping Beauty with Matthew!<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Disney’s <i>Sleeping Beauty</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">or “Why Disney Didn’t Make Another Faerie Tale Movie for Over Thirty Years After This”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Let’s
be clear. I’m not going to say that this movie has nothing to offer. I
love the animation style, I love the good faeries, and I love the
villain. The parts that are good about this movie are incredibly good.
The parts that aren’t so good, on the other hand . . . well . . .</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Now,
to be fair, the original story doesn’t have a lot to offer. Girl is
cursed to prick finger and fall into extended sleep, girl does this, is
rescued in quite possibly the lamest rescue ever, they live happily ever
after. Simple, straightforward, and about as dull as faerie tales ever
get. And Disney made a good attempt at making it more interesting. They
had a good thing going for a lot of it. But on the whole, they still
focused too much on the things that were dull and uninteresting about
the original story.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But
let’s start at the beginning. We start with our storybook backstory,
learning of King Stefan and his wife having a daughter named Aurora. We
see the ensuing celebration, and we can already tell that this movie is
going to be markedly different from the previous ones. The animation is
a little more--for lack of a better word--artsy. Also, this movie draws
a lot of inspiration from Tchaikovsky’s ballet adaptation of the story.
It uses much of his music, and even a lot of the movements of the
characters are very dance like. I think a lot of people found this shift
a style a bit off-putting, which might be partly why this movie didn’t
do nearly as well, but I really like it. I actually wish they’d taken it
a bit further. How fascinating would a nearly silent animated version
of this story be?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But
I digress. Stefan asks for the three good faeries of the realm, Flora,
Fauna, and Merryweather, to bestow their magical gifts on the child.
Flora gives her the gift of beauty, and Fauna gives her the gift of
song. (I mean, she’s gotta be able to sing. It’s a Disney movie.) But
before Merryweather can give her gift, the shit hits the fan, and the
evil faerie, Maleficent, appears in a torrent of green flame.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And,
my GOD, but I love Maleficent. She is easily one of the most badass
Disney villains ever created. Everything from her name to her outfit to
her methods is just absolutely badass. Her motivation is the only thing
that’s really lacking, as she still as the same motivation as her story
counterpart: she was snubbed at the party. Only where the book faerie
kind of lost interest, Maleficent actively tries to find and kill Aurora
throughout the movie. But then again, she’s kind of one of those
villains who defies motivation. She’s just evil.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So
Maleficent does her thing, casts her evil spell, and leaves, and
Merryweather does her thing, casts her not-really-terribly-helpful-<wbr></wbr>at-all spell, and the King Stefan decides to solve the problem by burning all the spinning wheels in the kingdom.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The
difference, though, is that it doesn’t end there. They don’t just put
the sleep spell on her, burn the spinning wheels, and say “Well, that’s
that, problem solved!” The three faeries in particular know that they’ve
only delayed the problem, that it would be far better for the spell to
never occur at all, and that Maleficent wants her dead, and won’t stop
pursuing her until she is, one way or another. So, since Maleficent was
very specific as to the exact time that Aurora would be pricking her
finger, they come up with the bright idea of hiding Aurora in the woods
and raising her as a peasant until that day passes. What’s going to keep
Maleficent from just cursing her again, I don’t know, but one plot hole
at a time.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So,
they take her to the woods to live as a peasant, and . . . sixteen
years pass. This, to me, is one of the moments when the movie missed a
golden opportunity for some solid storytelling. The faeries have to live
without magic in order to keep Maleficent from noticing them, and they
don’t really know how to function without magic. The King and Queen have
just given up their daughter and watching her grow up for sixteen
years. And the princess is going to be living as a peasant, completely
separated from all civilization and all people outside the three good
faeries, while being hunted down by an evil faerie who wants to kill
her. Does this situation not seem RIPE with interesting story ideas? But
no. We’ll just skip ahead to her sixteenth birthday and pick up the
story from there. Yeah, okay.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So,
Maleficent has not been entirely idle this whole time. She’s had her
little minions looking for the baby for sixteen years. But, as we learn
in the next scene, they have literally been looking for a baby for
sixteen years, not realizing that in the course of those years, the baby
has grown up into lovely young woman with all the personality of a
beige shower curtain.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This
same woman, renamed Briar Rose to protect her identity, is actually a
girl of sixteen at this point, though she doesn’t look like any sixteen
year old I’ve ever seen, and the three faeries send her off to pick
berries--because that’s what you do when you need distraction in the
forest, right? Berries?--while they prepare for her birthday party,
which will include the revelation that Briar Rose is actually the
Princess Aurora, and she gets to leave the life of seclusion she’s
always known and go to a life of having everyone know who she is and be
required by law to obey and essentially worship her. That doesn’t sound
jarring at all, does it?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What
follows is hands down the most unspeakably dull scene in the entire
movie, where Aurora does her Disney princess thing and sings and dances
with her animal friends, who decide to dress up as a dance partner for
her, until a real dance partner shows up! A mysterious man who overheard
her singing, and decided to join her in a manner that is NOT AT ALL
creepy! It’s just a man watching a girl alone in the woods and then
pursuing her affections. No big.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But
because Aurora is a complete idiot, she falls in love with this mystery
man, and agrees to meet him that night at her cottage. So, not only
does she not run away from this man, she tells him where she lives.
Stellar. Also, she doesn’t know his name.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile,
the faeries realize that, after sixteen years, they still can’t cook or
sew without the aid of magic. How they’ve managed to raise a small
child during that time is anyone’s guess, but they eventually decide to
do the party right and use magic for the first time in sixteen years to
throw Aurora this party. This scene has some good animation and comedy,
as Flora and Merryweather argue over whether the dress should be pink or
blue, and subsequently get into a magical fight of color and sparkles
that I’m sure is not in any way noticeable to Maleficent’s pet Raven,
who is looking for any sign of the lost princess. Except that it totally
is.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So.
Aurora arrives home. She tells her “aunts” that she’s met a man, they
tell her that she’s a princess, is returning home tonight, and is
already betrothed to a prince from another kingdom named Philip. So,
there’s drama all around, but Aurora’s despair has nothing to do with
the fact that she’s about to experience a radical change of lifestyle.
No, it’s just because she doesn’t get to meet up with the boy she’s only
just met and has fallen in love with.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile,
the mystery man--who, in a twist of fate that could only come from
Disney, IS that same Prince Philip that Aurora is betrothed to--tells his
father that he’s fallen in love with a peasant woman. This displeases
his father, King Hubert, because Philip has long been betrothed to the
Princess Aurora from the neighboring kingdom, who is returning to her
parents today, in fact. Philip doesn’t listen, and goes to meet his
mystery peasant girl anyway, because TRUE LOVE!!!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile,
the faeries escort the moping Aurora back to the palace, where she is
lured away by Maleficent, and compelled to touch the spindle and fall
into the enchanted sleep . . . which kind of begs the question, if
Maleficent is powerful enough to make her do whatever she wants, why go
through all the business with the curse? Why not just have her throw
herself off the highest tower or something? Would’ve been a hell of a
lot easier. But oh well. The curse has come to pass, and the faeries put
the rest of the kingdom to sleep as well, until the curse can be broken
by--what else?--true love’s kiss.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And
as it happens, the faeries learn through King Hubert that Prince Philip
is the SAME GUY that Aurora fell in love with in the woods! Oh, happy
day! Unfortunately, Maleficent gets to him first, tying him up and
putting him through probably the most cruel torture ever devised by a
Disney villain: instead of killing him, she’s going to keep him alive
until he’s an old man, and THEN, she’ll let him go and break Aurora’s
curse.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> . . . I mean, damn. Let’s all just sit for a moment and ponder that.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But,
the three good faeries come to his rescue, arm him with the SWORD of
TRUTH and the SHIELD of VIRTUE (also the PEN of SUBTLETY), and--let’s
just be honest here--basically do all the work for him while he could
charging through. I mean, on the one hand, I love the fact that three
middle aged women are essentially the heroes of the story, but on the
other hand, it’s a little disappointing to realize that your SWORD of
TRUTH only slew the dragon because the faeries charmed it to do so. Ah,
well, still better than just having the wall of thorns give way to the
prince without him so much having to hack his way through, I suppose.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Oh, yeah, and Maleficent turns into a dragon. Badass.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Anyway,
Maleficent is defeated, Philip enters the palace, breaks the spell with
true love’s kiss, everyone wakes up, the prearranged marriage is okay
because they fell in love with each other anyway, happily ever after,
etc.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This
movie has so much incredible potential, and yet falls so short of what
it could have been. I won’t say it isn’t an improvement on the original
story, because it most certainly is, but that’s not saying a whole lot,
and I can see why so many people view this movie as a disappointment.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The checklist:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Have
somebody do something? Well, the faeries certainly do. Flora, Fauna,
and Merryweather are essentially the heroes of this story. They’re the
only real active participants in it, it’s their idea to do more for
Aurora than just burn the spinning wheels and hope for the best, and
they fight Maleficent in the end. And Maleficent, far from just making a
brief appearance at the beginning, is one of the most active characters
in the movie, as is often the case with villains. However, the main
characters still do very little. Prince Philip does do a little more
than his counterpart, as he does actually have to fight his way to the
palace to save Aurora. But Aurora is actually, in a way, LESS active. At
least in the original story, the princess went exploring when she found
the spinning wheel. This Aurora has to be magically compelled. So,
seeing as how she’s still the main character of the story, half a point.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Introduce
some conflict? Hells yeah! Ultimately, this whole story isn’t so much
about the sleeping beauty as it is about the fight between the faeries,
and Maleficent’s apparent vendetta against King Stefan and his daughter
is so obsessive that it pretty much guarantees conflict. It’s one of the
big things that movie’s got going for it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Give
the parents a reason for their stupid: Not really an issue, as Aurora
is spirited away from the palace, and the parents are actually there to
celebrate her sixteenth birthday. And the reason they didn’t invite
Maleficent is obvious. I mean, she’s basically the devil.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Flesh
out the world: Check. This is probably what Disney faerie tale
adaptations do best. They remove the ambiguity of setting that’s natural
for faerie tales and put them in a real life context. There’s still
some ambiguity, of course, but I appreciate that there is a definite
structure to the story. Two kingdoms with a definite political structure
in place, the kings have names, magic exists with faeries, and the love
interest is actually given a name other than “Charming.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As
far as an adaptation of a faerie tale, yes, this movie is a vast
improvement. However, if you’re interested in how I think it could have
been done better, well . . . read my review of Tangled.</span></div>
CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-43492764117978247842013-05-17T08:50:00.000-07:002013-05-23T08:50:55.511-07:00A Kiss in Time by Alex FlinnA Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: <br /><b>Talia fell under a spell...Jack broke the curse.</b><br /><br /><i>I was told to beware the accursed spindle, but it was so enchanting, so hypnotic.</i>..<br /><br />I was looking for a little adventure the day I ditched my tour group. But finding a comatose town, with a hot-looking chick asleep in it, was so not what I had in mind.<br /><br /><i>I awakened in the same place but in another time—to a stranger's soft kiss.</i><br /><br />I couldn't help kissing her. Sometimes you just have to kiss someone. I didn't know this would happen.<br /><br /><i>Now I am in dire trouble because my father, the king, says I have brought ruin upon our country. I have no choice but to run away with this commoner!</i><br /><br />Now I'm stuck with a bratty princess and a trunk full of her jewels...The good news: My parents will freak!<br /><br /><b>Think you have dating issues? Try locking lips with a snoozing stunner who turns out to be 316 years old. Can a kiss transcend all—even time?</b><br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Combination retelling and modernization<br /><br />Alex Flinn loves her modernizations, and thank goodness she does, because I love them, too. I am always fascinated by the prospect of putting classic fairy tales into the real, modern world because there are always issues you have to overcome, usually about magic.<br /><br />So, how does Flinn handle Sleeping Beauty? By keeping Sleeping Beauty’s origin in the fairy tale world, but increasing the length of her sleep so that when she woke up, it was in the modern world with a modern boy, 300 years later. Her kingdom is no longer a recognized kingdom, Jack isn’t a prince, and at 16, he’s gonna get married over his dead body. <br /><br />And let’s play our game, ladies and gentlemen. <br /><br />This is such a fascinating idea to me that I’m surprised someone hadn’t done it already. But we start with Talia (nice throwback to “Talia, Sun, and Moon,” one of the oldest and most disturbing Sleeping Beauty stories out there), a princess in the 17th century of a country called Euphrasia, and she has been told from the time she was old enough to understand the words that she must <i>never touch a spindle.</i><br /><br />She is told this by everyone, constantly, but no one ever explains why, and no one seems bothered by the fact that she doesn’t really know what a spindle looks like, since there aren’t any anywhere in the kingdom. It takes her years of wheedling to get the story of ‘why’ out of her constant companion, Lady Brooke.<br /><br />And here’s something I love – Talia may have been gifted with grace and beauty and talent and all that, but for all her fairy gifts, she’s kind of a spoiled brat, and she’s irritating as hell. It’s wonderful because in making her flawed, we both turn her supposed fairy “perfection” on its head and give her room to grow as a character. <br /><br />And this book more than any others we’ve read so far really brings home the fact that this iconic character doesn’t know anything about the iconic christening except what people are willing to tell her. And in this case, that’s not much. She’s startlingly ignorant of the circumstances because no one tells her about them; they just say “Don’t touch a spindle!”<br /><br />Anyway, her sixteenth birthday is approaching and all she can think about are the dresses that have been made for her. Her father has commissioned twenty tailors from countries around the world to each create twenty-five gowns for her to pick and choose for her birthday celebrations, and this scene is where we really see just how much of a brat Talia is. Surrounded by such wealthy extravagance and craftsmanship, all she can do is complain because no one has brought a dress of a green the exact shade of her eyes. I mean, you kinda want to strangle this girl and go “Are you freakin’ serious??”<br /><br />Anyway, she manages to give her caretaker the slip as she goes to visit more rooms with more dresses, and she hears something from up in one of the towers, and so even though there isn’t supposed to be anyone up there, she goes up anyway, and finds a room <i>full</i> of gowns the exact shade of green as her eyes! And it will come as a surprise to no one that this has been orchestrated by Malvolia, the fairy who cursed Talia, and it was all to get her finger pricked on a spindle and bring the curse about.<br /><br />Enter Jack. 300 years later, mind. Jack’s a teenager from Florida whose entire life is being controlled by his parents regardless of what he might want to do. So they’ve sent him to Europe for the summer because it will look good on a resume for college, but Jack thinks that if he has to walk through one more museum, he’s gonna scream. So instead, he slips away from his tour group, takes a bus to a random small town in Belgium and starts to explore.<br /><br />And he finds something weird. There’s a great big briar hedge in the middle of this woods, and he works his way through it because he feels like it’s important that he do so. And when he gets through the briars, he’s in one of those fake Renaissance or Colonial time towns, and everyone’s asleep. He can’t wake them up, though he tries, and he keeps exploring, up into the castle.<br /><br />It’s there that he finds Talia and she’s so beautiful that he decides he’s going to kiss her, but because he’s a modern kid and not a fairy tale prince, he does acknowledge that it’s a little creepy and probably morally wrong for him to kiss a sleeping girl. But he does it anyway.<br /><br />His kiss wakes her up, but it takes him a while to talk her out of a frenzy, because Talia doesn’t remember going to sleep. And that’s another thing I like about this one – no one really knows what happened. In Talia’s head, she was just looking at all these dresses, and then this strange boy was here kissing her, and she has no idea that 300 years have passed.<br /><br />And it’s fascinating to look at the fall out in this particular story, because this is not the happy ending anyone wants. Jack is horrified at the idea that he’s now supposed to marry this girl, the King is furious with Talia for doing exactly what she wasn’t supposed to do and sending the kingdom to sleep, and Talia is frustrated with the fact that no one will listen or believe that it wasn’t really her fault. And it all gets worse when the king finds out that he’s not technically a king anymore, that 300 years have passed and the world has changed incredibly. There are fights and arguments and Jack ends up thrown in the dungeon, awaiting execution.<br /><br />But Talia is angry enough with her father that she grabs her jewelry box, sneaks Jack out of the dungeon, and they run away from Euphrasia. Talia blackmails Jack into taking her with him, and then Jack has to think on his feet because he’s got this girl who talks funny and dresses weirdly and doesn’t understand the first thing about modern technology or customs or anything. <br /><br />But Talia has to go with Jack, and more than that, she has to make Jack fall in love with her; he woke her up, so he’s her prince, and the only way the curse stays broken is if Jack actually is her one true love. Malvolia has appeared to Talia and told her so. So Talia’s a bit desperate. <br /><br />Jack uses her jewels to get money to buy her a fake passport and new clothes and plane tickets back to Florida mostly because he knows that bringing her home with him will freak out his parents and make his ex-girlfriend jealous. But it’s also a little because he feels sorry for her – he kinda got her into this mess, and the real world will destroy her if he doesn’t take care of her. <br /><br />We depart a bit from the Sleeping Beauty narrative for a decent chunk of the book (but we get back to it at the end, which is why I’m still going), so I’m not going to go much into the antics that happen back in Florida. What I will touch on, though, is the way that this relationship between the two evolves. It is fascinating to watch, and really well done.<br /><br />Talia started off our story as a spoiled brat who didn’t think much about the world around her or the other people in it. Jack helps her realize how important family is, what it’s like to have someone looking out for you and to be that person for someone else, and what talents and skills she has beyond being beautiful. She’s a natural diplomat, and being with Jack really helps her grow up.<br /><br />Jack, on the other hand, started off our story as a sullen teenager rebelling against his parents, who didn’t want to take on any sort of responsibility, whose main goal in life was to find new ways to get his parents’ attention – usually through causing trouble. Talia helps him realize where his interests actually lie and what he really wants to do with his life, how to find the courage to stand up to his parents in a positive and productive way, and what it means to take responsibility for other people and himself.<br /><br />They both grow in enormous ways because of the other, and it’s really well done. And Talia’s plan backfires a little. She meant to make Jack fall in love with her. But she found herself falling in love with him, instead. Of course, her plan also works.<br /><br />But Malvolia feels she’s been cheated out of her ending, and she’s not going to let some immature teenage boy take her victory away from her. <br /><br />When the curse broke, the hedge around Euphrasia started to disappear, and pretty soon the people could get out, and the King managed to find a reporter and start spreading the tale that his daughter had been kidnapped. The reporter is making a joke out of the whole thing, but it gets picked up by US news, and Jack’s family recognizes the portrait of Talia and demand an explanation. <br /><br />And Jack is terrified of giving them one because it sounds crazy, but he has enough evidence that they do believe him in the end. And the plan is to take Talia back over to Euphrasia and try to work things out. But that’s before Malvolia steps in. <br /><br />In the middle of the night, she magicks Talia away, back to her cottage in Euphrasia, and makes it clear in no uncertain terms that Talia and Jack will not be cheating her out of her revenge, that she will be delivering Talia to her father, dead, as was the original plan. Talia will sew the green dress she so envied, and once she has completed it, she will be killed and Malvolia will have won.<br /><br />Using the skills Jack taught her she had, Talia gets Malvolia to talk about why she wants revenge on the king so badly, and it turns out that the story we all think we know isn’t entirely accurate. Malvolia isn’t a witch, as purported, but a fairy, and Talia isn’t her father’s first born child. There was a boy, born some years before Talia, named George, and Malvolia was the fairy chosen to create his christening gown. <br /><br />She went to the palace one afternoon to fit it on him, and she was shown to nursery. It was empty. The prince’s nurse had stepped out, and when Malvolia entered, she discovered the baby dead in his crib. She did everything she could to revive him, eventually resorting to magic, which is of course when the nurse came back, saw the magic and the dead baby, and screamed for help.<br /><br />The king was convinced that Malvolia had killed his son, and he wouldn’t let her defend herself. He called for her death, but she outwitted him and disappeared, and so instead, he had her title of fairy stripped from her, to be known instead as a witch of dark magic, a child killer. It was not true, she had done no such thing, but if the king was determined to blame her for the death of his child, then she vowed that she would one day make it true, hence the curse on Talia. <br /><br />Talia uses her skills of diplomacy to try and reason with Malvolia, to convince her that her death will not bring justice, that her father was in the wrong, but that Talia being killed for it won’t fix anything. She promises to do what she can to clear Malvolia’s name and to truly see justice served. And because Malvolia isn’t evil, just hurt, and because she can see how Talia has grown and changed, Talia’s words have an effect. She asks if Talia truly loves Jack, and Talia answers truthfully: that she didn’t always, but she has come to, and she believes that the same is true of Jack. And so Malvolia agrees to a different kind of test.<br /><br />She will put the sleeping spell back on Talia, and if Jack can find her, win his way to her, prove his love for her, then the spell will be broken, and Malvolia will never cause trouble again. But if Jack cannot do these things, if he fails, then Talia will sleep forever. <br /><br />She agrees. And so, Malvolia puts Jack through his paces. And each of the obstacles is designed to have turned away the boy he was before. He has to walk for three days straight, each day making no real progress. The old Jack would have given up, not had the perseverance to keep going. The new Jack doesn’t. He has to answer a question about Talia every day. The old Jack wouldn’t have listened to know her dearest wish, but the new Jack does. And before he can make it to Talia in the cottage, he has to stand up to his father, take control of his own life, and commit to what he wants. <br /><br />It’s hard, it’s a challenge, but Jack does it, and he kisses Talia awake, and he and his dad (who’s come with him) work out a plan to turn Euphrasia into a kind of theme park, like those old Colonial towns, and recreate the story to the tourists, and everything works out well for everyone.<br /><br />Have I mentioned how much I love Alex Flinn’s modernizations? <br /><br />Anyway. Checklist.<br /><br />Make the characters more active in their story? Not initially, but that’s one of the things that I love. Both of these characters are passive and actively resisting taking any initiative when the curse is broken the first time. But over the course of the story, they grow into being active participants, and that is wonderful.<br /><br />Introduce more conflict? Definitely. This wasn’t a case of jealousy or injured pride, but a real honest beef that Malvolia had with the King. She was out for revenge, plain and simple, and she didn’t just disappear once her curse was laid. She was around through the whole story and she had a much firmer motivation, and in the end, Talia and Jack had to prove their growth in order to move forward.<br /><br />Explain the actions of the parents? This is where we fall a little short for me, just because I still find the King so aggravating, for blaming Talia because she acted as a curse promised she would. However, that characterization does fit with his actions throughout, and is part of Malvolia’s problem with him, so I’ll give the point.<br /><br />Flesh the story out? Definitely. I love the double Sleeping Beauty. And watching this princess figure out the real world was very well done.<br /><br />An excellent adaptation, all the way around.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-10116067862329004382013-05-10T07:57:00.000-07:002013-05-16T07:57:35.228-07:00Sleeping Beauty: The One Who Took the Really Long Nap by Wendy Mass<i>Sleeping Beauty: the One who Took the Really Long Nap</i> by Wendy Mass<br /><br />Target Audience: Middle Grade<br /><br />Summary: <br />It's not easy being Princess Rose. Especially when a fairy curses you and you find yourself avoiding all sharp objects . . . and then end up pricking your finger anyway, causing you to slumber for a hundred years or so.<br /><br />And it's not easy being The Prince. Especially when your mother has some ogre blood and tends to chow down at the most unfortunate moments. A walk in the woods would help, you think. Until you find a certain hidden castle . . . and a certain sleeping princess. Happily ever after? Not until the prince helps the princess awaken . . . and brings her home to Mother.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling with a perspective addition<br /><br />Holy Unexpected Developments, Batman! Somebody included Perrault’s entirely unnecessary ending – and did it well, too! Color me utterly astonished!<br /><br />But we’ll get to that.<br /><br />So, as you may be able to ascertain from the title, this novel is from the same series as <i>Rapunzel: The One With All the Hair</i>. It’s called the Twice Upon a Time series, and it takes fairy tales and rewrites them for a younger audience, but in a way I can completely get behind because Wendy Mass knows how to write for this age group, and she does so very well.<br /><br />Like Rapunzel’s, this is told in chapters that alternate back and forth between prince and princess, but for the sake of coherency, I’m gonna just do them one at a time, starting with Princess Rose.<br /><br />Princess Rose is a Sleeping Beauty of the seven fairy godmothers variety, and the reason the grumpy fairy wasn’t invited is because there had been a rumor that she’d died, and as unpleasant as she was, no one was terribly heartbroken about it, or felt the need to poke around and see whether or not it was true. As soon as she arrived, however, a place was made for her, and one of the golden plates (specially commissioned for the event) would be made and sent to her as soon as possible.<br /><br />But it’s no use trying to placate a fairy determined to feel slighted, so she lays her curse anyway – death by spindle. This one doesn’t give a time frame, either. Just, she’ll prick her finger on a spindle and die. Someday. Could be next week, could be when she’s 87. We’ll see.<br /><br />Everyone’s in the typical uproar when the seventh fairy comes and makes her gift and changes the death to sleep, etc, etc. It’s all playing out pretty normally, including Father King outlawing spinning and weaving and sewing of any kind, but at least in this version, Mother Queen goes, “Dear? That’s a little bit overkill. People gotta make clothes, you know?” and they’re able to come to a compromise about bringing in clothes from other kingdoms to make sure everyone has something to wear.<br /><br />And it occurs to me that, given that we don’t have a time frame, this could have ended poorly...<br /><br />Anyway, like we saw last week, Rose grows up very over-protected, always supervised. It’s the way it’s always been for her, so it takes her a while to realize that anything’s amiss or different about the way she’s never alone. She has one friend who sticks by her, though, Sara, a peasant girl who becomes her lady in waiting.<br /><br />Now, Rose was gifted with all the gifts traditional to Sleeping Beautys, and as a way to give thanks for it, she gives a performance every year, showing off her talents in dancing and singing and playing instruments, etc. But here’s what I love about this – Rose doesn’t like it. She doesn’t like doing this. She has never felt able to take compliments because it’s not really <i>her.</i> It’s just fairy magic, and she wants to know if she would have been good at those things without it.<br /><br />So Rose sets off to find something she can do well. She takes up painting and horseback riding and cooking, and is miserable at all of them, and thrilled to be so. She may not be painting the most beautiful paintings, but at least they’re <i>hers</i>.<br /><br />And in this way, she reaches 16, and at the age of 16, she goes on a trip to a summer home, and while exploring, she finds a visiting woman from another country who is weaving. Always eager to learn new skills, Rose asks if she can try, and she proves to be a natural. The woman asks if she’d like to try spinning, too, and of course, as soon as she does, she pricks her finger and falls into her sleep.<br /><br />Fast forward 100 years. <br /><br />Here we meet the Prince, who has no name. He is just The Prince because his parents couldn’t agree on a name, and then they just never got around to it, and by then, he’d been The Prince long enough that it was just easier to keep calling him that.<br /><br />This isn’t the only unusual thing about The Prince – he also has to take care to avoid his mother on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Why? Because she’s part ogre, and that’s when she feeds.<br /><br />See? I told you Perrault got his crazy ending worked in! <br /><br />Yes, the Prince’s mother is part ogre, and she can’t stand beautiful things, so when she became Queen, she had them removed from palace – all color and gilding and pretty servants. She can’t stand the sight of them. But other than that, and a need to eat people twice a month, she’s a perfectly lovely human being, and a very good Queen.<br /><br />But all of this running around and hiding from his mother twice a month has given our Prince a pretty decent knowledge of the grounds surrounding his castle, and he has discovered something strange. In the middle of the forest, there seems to be<i> another </i>castle, identical to his, from what he can tell, but it’s surrounded by a huge hedge of briars he can’t get through. <br /><br />The more he investigates, the more certain he becomes – that castle is just the same as his castle, and when he talks to the oldest people in the kingdom, it all becomes stranger. Seems that the king and queen of a hundred years ago had a daughter who just disappeared one day. And shortly after that, the castle moved about a hundred yards and the forest grew up overnight. The ruling of the kingdom then passed to another noble family, the Prince’s ancestors. <br /><br />The Prince becomes obsessed with solving this mystery, and finds an account written and hidden in the library from the fairy who fixed the curse, and he becomes determined to find and rescue this sleeping princess. <br /><br />And he does. On the day exactly 100 years since the curse was laid, the hedge of briars parts for him, and he is able to enter the castle, find the sleeping princess, and kiss her awake. And her really truly lovely response is, “Pardon my rudeness, but WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?” Which, if you think about it, is an appropriate response to waking up by a kiss from a complete stranger. Just saying. <br /><br />Anyway, he explains everything, and Rose has to come to terms with the fact that the curse played out as planned, it’s 100 years later, and everyone she knew is gone. This is a pretty hard reality for her, but it is made easier by the discovery of Sara, waking up in the next room, who asked to sleep alongside Rose through her curse and be there when she woke (Rose’s parents asked the same thing, but the fairies gently told them that their destiny was to rule the kingdom while Rose slept).<br /><br />So it seems we’ve reached the end, right? Curse is broken, girl’s awake, happily ever after? Well, there’s just one problem with that — Rose and Sara can’t leave the castle. The Prince can, but when the girls try, it’s like they’re being held back by an invisible wall. Rose has no idea what’s going on – this wasn’t part of the spell that she’s aware of. The Prince tells her to try and summon her fairy godmother, while he returns to his castle and investigates from there.<br /><br />Rose has no luck, but the Prince does. The fairy appears to him, and tells him that there was, in fact, a second part to the spell that she didn’t tell anyone about (which, c’mon fairy, dick move, much?): Until both worlds unite/in welcome harmony/past and present as one/shall not grow to be. I agree with Sara – that’s a pretty sorry excuse for a rhyme, and geez, woman, hasn’t this girl been through enough?<br /><br />Basically, what it means (pulling Perrault back into the mix) is that the Prince’s parents have to accept Rose before she can leave the castle. Which is a problem because Rose is the most beautiful girl ever, and the Prince’s mother is part-ogre and hates beauty. So Rose hacks her hair off and rubs dirt all over her face, and it works! I think less because of that and more because the Prince’s mother is a decent sort of woman who does want her son to be happy. <br /><br />Now we’ve got our happily ever after, and the two castles actually merge back into one, and the forest disappears, and yeah. That’s that.<br /><br />It’s a tale full of cheesiness, if we’re being honest, and there are parts where I rolled my eyes (like the name the Prince finally chooses for himself is “Princess Rose’s Husband” – gag me), but overall, I like what Mass has done with this one, and I like that she pulled elements of Perrault’s story and gave them a working and believable context. But let’s visit the checklist.<br /><br />Make the characters more active in their story? I love that Rose wants to find what she’s good at beyond her fairy given gifts, and I love that she actively seeks those things out. I wish it had been integrated a little more, but at least it was there. For the Prince, I love how proactive he is. He’s curious and intelligent and seeks out the information about this castle and the princess and how to free her. So yes. Check.<br /><br />Introduce more conflict? Yes, and by pulling Perrault in, too, which I feel like ought to get double points! The conflict didn’t come from the curse or the fairy, not really, it came from this ogre-mother and how she responds to Rose. Again, it could have been fleshed out a little more, but the conflict was there, and it was stronger than the original.<br /><br />Explain the actions of the parents? Yes, largely by taking out the time frame. When you have no idea when bad things are going to befall, you kinda just have to let your kid live her life and deal with things as they come. I liked these parents. They seemed like good sorts.<br /><br />Flesh the story out? Definitely. I was engaged and interested through out, and really pleased with some of the perspectives Mass offered. <br /><br />Maybe it’s not the greatest work of literature you’ll ever read, but it’s a fun read, and it does some nice things with the story.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-80446983151597357122013-05-07T11:48:00.004-07:002013-05-07T11:48:54.167-07:00Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey<i>Beauty Sleep</i> by Cameron Dokey<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: The Princess Aurore has had an unusual childhood. Cursed at birth, Aurore is fated to prick her finger at the age of sixteen and sleep for one hundred years -- until a prince awakens her with a kiss. So, to protect her, Aurore's loving parents forbid any task requiring a needle.<br /><br />Unable to sew or embroider like most little princesses, Aurore instead explores the castle grounds and beyond, where her warmth and generosity soon endear her to the townspeople. their devotion to the spirited princess grows as she does.<br /><br />On her sixteenth birthday, Aurore learns that the impending curse will harm not only her, but the entire kingdom as well. Unwilling to cause suffering, she will embark on a quest to end the evil magic. The princess's bravery will be rewarded as she finds adventure, enchantment, a handsome prince, and ultimately her destiny.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling<br /><br />Oh, Once Upon a Time summary writers, what <i>am</i> I going to do with you? To be misleading is one thing. But to be factually inaccurate about parts of the book? Aurore didn’t spend time outside because she wasn’t allowed to embroider. In fact, her going outside coincided with learning to embroider. And it wasn’t just needles she was kept away from – it was anything that could be considered remotely sharp and/or dangerous. Honestly, do you even read the books you’re summarizing, or are you summarizing from a summary?<br /><br />Let’s just jump right in.<br /><br />So, this was one of Dokey’s first offerings to the Once Upon a Time series, and it was the first one that I read. I’ve talked in the past about how Dokey tends to open her novels to this series with some sort of commentary on the nature of storytelling? Well, this novel’s was the first of those that I read, and honestly, while I always appreciate what she has to say, this is the novel where that really fits the best. Because so much about Sleeping Beauty is about how stories evolve over time and turn into legend and myth.<br /><br />This book is a first-person narration, from our Sleeping Beauty character Aurore, and you can tell from the way that she speaks that she is coming to tell her tale after the events have already happened, after she’s woken up and been filled in on what her story has become. And so this great evolution of her narrative is silly to her, the way details have been changed to fit a little neater into place, the way things get exaggerated and overplayed.<br /><br />So in the preamble, as she calls it, she pokes fun at that, stating that she has to begin her story with <i>Once upon a time</i> because that’s how stories like this are expected to start, and she wants the reader to think her story is a good one, so she’d better conform to expectations. <br /><br />Aurore’s voice is just wonderful. She is spirited and feisty, and she speaks her mind. But more than that, she is incredibly conversational. You are always aware that she is speaking this to an audience, telling her story in a way that feels very one-on-one. And a lot of the criticism that I’ve read of this book calls Dokey out for this. It’s not a narrative tone everyone likes.<br /><br />And I can get where that criticism comes from. This is a very different tone than novels usually take, and it’s not something that goes away. It is present throughout, so if that’s the kind of thing you don’t like, you’re going to not like for the entire book.<br /><br />Personally, though, I love it. Because Aurore tells stories the way that I tell stories, and I’ve had more than one person I’ve recommended this book to tell me that Aurore sounds like me. I can see it, I guess, and if it’s true, then it goes a long way to explaining why I adore this character and her voice so much.<br /><br />There are a lot of books I read and love and cannot understand why everyone in the world doesn’t love them as well. This book isn’t one of those. I love it, yes, I adore it and it’s one of my favorites. But I do understand why other people might not like it. Just to get that out of the way.<br /><br />Anyway, we wrap up the preamble with <i>Once upon a time</i>, and Aurore begins to tell her story. And the first thing Dokey does to make me love her even more is give a point to the whole “king and queen couldn’t have a kid” mention that just kinda sits there in the fairy tale. Here, in this scenario, the lack of a child meant the lack of an heir, which made the kingdom uncomfortable, and so eventually, the king had to go ahead and essentially give up hope of having a child of his own and name his orphaned nephew, Oswald, his heir. <br /><br />And then the queen got pregnant. Immediately, now, this gives us tension and conflict. Because Oswald has been being raised as if he would succeed to the throne, but now, here’s this baby, so what becomes of Oswald? <br /><br />That will become a more relevant question as the novel continues, but for now, we have Aurore’s christening, which, as she tells us, we think we know the truth of, but we actually don’t. For one thing, there were no fairy godmothers present, because there were no fairies in Aurore’s kingdom. Aurore’s kingdom was a placed so steeped in magic that everyone had some and so there was nothing for the fairies to do. There were magic workers at her christening and there was a godmother who was a powerful magician, but no fairies.<br /><br />Secondly, Aurore tells us, the so-called “evil fairy” was nothing of the sort. And she certainly wasn’t poosty about not getting this one invitation. No, the being who cast the curse over Aurore was her mother’s cousin, a woman named Jane who had been overlooked and overshadowed and forgotten her whole life. And as magic in this place made you into more of what you already were, magic made Jane even more invisible. And that resentment and abandonment built up and up and up in Jane, and so being forgotten in terms of being invited to the christening was just what made it boil over.<br /><br />Aurore was cursed to die sometime in her sixteenth year, death brought by one drop of blood being spilled. This was to punish the Queen, giving her daughter sixteen years to live her life, as Jane was given sixteen years before being forced to follow her cousin to a foreign land. Jane casts the curse and disappears, for good this time, and the Queen, angry and hurt and scared, demands that someone do something.<br /><br />But you can’t go around undoing the magic cast by others. Magic doesn’t work that way because if it did, everything would unravel. So the Queen’s demand cannot be met, and when Chantal, Aurore’s godmother and the Queen’s closest friend, steps forward to remind her of this, the Queen sees it as a betrayal and orders Chantal to leave and never return. <br /><br />And Chantal does, but not before whispering another spell over Aurore, that she need not die from a drop of blood being spilled. Merely sleep, a hundred years, a spell to be broken with a kiss, though whether or not it would be the kiss of true love would remain to be seen. This is as much as Chantal can do to combat Jane’s curse, but she also whispers another key to the princess — that she will keep what she holds in her heart safe and strong. <br /><br />And then Chantal does as she was ordered and leaves and no one ever sees her again. And thus we launch Aurore into her childhood, a childhood which her mother has decided will be much safer if she keeps her daughter away from anything and everything that might possibly puncture her skin ever even a little bit.<br /><br />And if you’re under the impression that that doesn’t sound like a particularly fun existence, then you’re right on track with Aurore, who spent eight years under that cloud of ridiculous over-protection. The Queen’s argument is that any injury might bring on the curse. Aurore’s argument is that she’s bored and wants to go outside. <br /><br />In the end, it was Oswald who turned the tide for Aurore by arguing that the more of the world she experiences, the less likely she’ll be caught off guard by something she doesn’t understand. The more comfortable she becomes with all that is in the world, the smaller the chance that she’ll be harmed by it. The Queen is convinced, and Aurore’s life opens up considerably, but more importantly, the incident changed how she viewed her cousin.<br /><br />Before he became the reason she was allowed to go outside, she hated him entirely. She found him to be thoroughly unpleasant and believed that he was jealous of her, even though he was still her father’s heir, as the king hadn’t changed his declaration even after Aurore had been born. But then he went and helped her gain her heart’s desire, and he was actually the one who took her outside that first day and showed her the garden and named the plants and brought the world to her. And she could no longer quite hate him. <br /><br />Aurore and Oswald have just a fascinating relationship throughout this novel, and I love it. They are both such different people — Oswald is charming and charismatic and the very image of a king. The nobles love him, and he is a true diplomat, but he is constantly aware that he is not fully accepted and that his position is a precarious one. Whereas Aurore is loved by the people of the kingdom because she is down to earth and straightforward, but she is clumsy and not charming and she has none of the social graces that everyone expects royalty to have, which makes her a very surprising Sleeping Beauty. She is not her father’s heir, but she is her father’s child, which she always used to rub in Oswald’s face.<br /><br />And you never feel for Oswald more than the day that Aurore asks for permission to go beyond the palace grounds. Her father asks why she wants to, and she doesn’t have an answer beyond that she feels like she has to, has to see all of the kingdom and its people, not just the ones who live within the palace walls. She’s pulled to do so, she says. She has to.<br /><br />It is in that moment that the king names Aurore his heir, even if she sleeps for 100 years. Oswald and his children, the king says, will be the kingdom’s stewards until Aurore is able to take the throne, but Aurore must be the person who succeeds him because she has expressed the desire that Oswald never has — to see and be part of all the kingdom and all its people. <br /><br />Oswald is understandably hurt by this, because his uncle never communicated that this was what he was looking for, never gave any warning or indication that Oswald had been found wanting. And I just, I want to hug him so badly in this scene. <br /><br />And so Aurore transforms into the most unlikely fairy tale princess ever. She goes out with her father to the villages and learns to take in a harvest and shear sheep and climb trees and spin and plant a garden. She gets brown from the sun and gains callouses on her hands from the work she does, and becomes more and more beloved by the people and more and more scorned at by the nobles.<br /><br />And Oswald is constantly right in between, and she never has any idea what he truly thinks of her. <br /><br />And then she reaches her sixteenth birthday. She’s put in a dress and fancy shoes and thrown a ball, and she’s never been so uncomfortable in her life, and she’s painfully aware of how at ease Oswald is when shown next to her. She overhears him speaking with the daughter of one of the most influential nobles, talking about her, and though Oswald won’t say anything against her outright, it’s pretty clear what the noblewoman’s opinion is, and Oswald doesn’t really refute it. <br /><br />Aurore confronts Oswald about this conversation, and she’s angry and upset and uncomfortable and frustrated with the whole evening and the whole affair, and she says some pretty hurtful things, but Oswald doesn’t react the way she’s expecting. Before she has a chance to ponder this, however, the Bad Things start happening.<br /><br />First blood rains from the sky. Then impossible heat kills all the crops. Then magic everywhere just starts going nuts. Everything is at odds, and no one can explain what’s going on, but Aurore has an inkling. The horrible things that are happening started on her birthday, and are the work of opposites pitted against each other — just like the two spells spoken over her.<br /><br />She’s not the only one to come to this conclusion; several of the nobles do as well, and they go to the king and try to convince him to either send Aurore away or draw the drop of blood and bring on her curse. This is a poor choice, and to Aurore’s surprise, no one is more vocal in her defense than Oswald.<br /><br />The king immediately dismisses the nobles and refuses to even consider what they had to say, but Aurore can’t stop thinking about it. And she knows, on some level, that they’re right. This is happening because of her, and it’s affecting her kingdom and her people and she has to do something about it. So in the middle of the night, she packs a bag and prepares to run away.<br /><br />But Oswald, who knows her better than she likes to admit, is waiting for her. He calls her out on her cowardice and tells her if she listens to the nobles, then they’ve won. But Oswald doesn’t understand, so Aurore explains it all to him, why she has to do this, why she has to leave, and over the course of the conversation, they both learn some important things about one another. Aurore learns that Oswald doesn’t want the throne so much as he wants to be accepted as part of the family, not as a nephew but as a son. And Oswald learns that Aurore knows what she’s doing and has the potential to be a great ruler some day. And so, he promises to look after her parents and guard her kingdom well, and he lets her go.<br /><br />She knows exactly where she’s going, too – to La Foret, a place that has long been forbidden to her, a forest where magic is almost sentient and ten times as strong as anywhere else because, long ago, two feuding magicians cast spells beyond their power, and the fairies, to save the lands surrounding, trapped all the magic within the forest’s borders. So time and magic are strange in La Foret, and unpredictable, and Aurore has felt a pull to the place for a very long time.<br /><br />So into the forest she goes. She doesn’t know what she hopes to accomplish, and she doesn’t know why she’s there, but she knows that she’s meant to be, and from the way the Forest continually manipulates her in a specific direction, it knows more than she does.<br /><br />Her first night in the Forest, she meets another person, which comes as a shock to her, as other people don’t venture into the trees. The young man goes by the name Ironheart (an unfortunate nickname from an older brother), and he is awkward, impossibly cheerful, and very absent-minded-professor. He’s on a great quest – to find the princess who’s been sleeping in the heart of the Forest for 100 years and wake her up.<br /><br />Aurore is stunned when he tells her this, because she is the princess in question, but she hasn’t fallen asleep yet, and she’s only been there for a day. She doesn’t tell Ironheart any of this though, largely because he’s convinced that this sleeping princess is his soulmate, his true love, and that would be a pretty awkward conversation. <br /><br />So, Aurore and Ironheart venture forth on this quest, and it becomes very quickly frustrating for Aurore, because she thought it was going to be a lot harder. She thought quests meant obstacles and challenges and proving your mettle, and all they’ve done is walk through a forest for five days at a leisurely pace.<br /><br />And what I love about this part of the book is how opposite and complementary these two are. When Aurore gets frustrated, she gets snappy, but instead of getting snappy back at her, Ironheart just smiles and is perfectly polite and at ease and not fazed in the slightest by Aurore’s sour attitude, which makes it hard for her to hold onto it. <br /><br />And they have a great conversation at one point about how he can be so certain that this princess he’s going to wake up is his soulmate. She’s basically picking a fight with him, and he manages to identify why, even when Aurore didn’t know – she’s scared. She’s scared of the end of the quest because she knows that her destiny, whatever it is, is waiting for her at the heart of the forest, where Ironheart’s supposed sleeping princess waits.<br /><br />And what I love about these two is that there is absolutely no romantic chemistry between them. None. I love it. They fall into a fascinating friendship, but it is not romantic in the slightest, despite the fact that you know this young man will be the prince who wakes Aurore up.<br /><br />Anyway, on their sixth day in the forest, they reach the heart, and it’s a great maze of rose hedges. Ironheart charges in, knowing the secret to finding the center, but he says the thing you shouldn’t say when you’re a character in a novel (about how easy something is going to be), and gets whacked across the face by a rose branch, slicing open his cheek and forehead. <br /><br />He’s determined to keep going until he reaches the center, but when they do, there’s no one there. There’s a bench, with a pillow on it, but that’s all. No princess. No tower. Nothing. Ironheart can’t understand it. He’s numb with shock, and Aurore tries to reassure him that they’ll find the princess, but she should really tend to his face first. <br /><br />His cheek needs to be stitched, so she pulls needle and thread from her pack to do the deed, then sticks the needle through the fabric of her breeches while she ties off the thread.<br /><br />And then, in possibly my favorite part of this retelling, she goes to stand up, bracing her hands on her legs, forgets that the needle is there, and stabs herself. Not destiny, not fate, just what her mother was worried about the whole time.<br /><br />She draws the necessary drop of blood, has enough time to think, <i>Aurore, you’re an idiot</i>, and then she faints, the spells taking over.<br /><br />She sleeps for all of . . . two minutes? If that? Because Ironheart is right there, and he does all the things you do when a friend of yours goes pale and keels over for no good reason right in front of you, and kissing her is one of those things. He wakes her up, and they have the very confused (on his end) conversation of yeah, hey, guess I was your sleeping princess all along. <br /><br />The rose hedge parts for them, and they find themselves no longer in the heart of the forest, but at the edge of it, Aurore’s kingdom in the distance. She remarks that this is her home, and Ironheart says cryptically that he was afraid she was going to say that. She asks what he means, and he says he’s gonna wait and let his grandfather explain.<br /><br />His grandfather was the one who sent him on the quest in the first place, who told so often the tale of the sleeping princess, who was very concerned that, 100 years after she started sleeping, someone be there to wake her up, who is the oldest living man most people know.<br /><br />(Who is Oswald, I hope you all were able to guess. Spoilers.)<br /><br />Because Aurore has been gone both six days and 100 years. Time moves differently in la Foret. While she was in the forest, 100 years passed in her kingdom, and Oswald has been waiting for her. And he says that he is so happy, that she will marry his grandson and become Queen, and it is all he ever wanted.<br /><br />And then, because she’s wonderful, Aurore says no. <br /><br />She says she’s sorry to disappoint anyone, but she isn’t going to marry Ironheart because while she has come to think quite highly of him, she doesn’t love him, and when she was in the forest and the spells went to work, Chantal’s last gift was made clear to her. She saw what she held in her heart, and she knows what that gift has the power to do. She kisses Oswald and restores his youth, because Oswald is the one she loves, and the only one she will marry. <br /><br />And that might be squicky to some people, but personally, I love it. <br /><br />Guys, I love this book. I love everything about this book. Checklist.<br /><br />Make the characters more active in their story? Check. Aurore is an incredibly active princess, going out and doing things and being a part of her kingdom. And she’s also in charge of her own destiny. She actively seeks it out. Her father is the same. And Ironheart actively searches for his maiden; Oswald would have, if he’d been young enough, but because he can’t, he trains and sends his grandson in his place. Check check check.<br /><br />Introduce more conflict? Yes, and so well done. I love that Aurore wasn’t cursed over a momentary slight, but over a lifetime of being forgotten. That Jane wasn’t evil, just embittered from constantly being overlooked. It makes her much more complex. I also love the conflict within Aurore, this idea that her curse wasn’t replaced by the good fairy’s spell, but that both spells were still there, warring over her her entire life. Conflict was added, and not a predictable sort of conflict.<br /><br />Explain the actions of the parents? There is no burning of the spinning wheels. There is no being gone on the day of the birthday. And these two are incredible parents. The Queen is a bit overprotective, yes, but understandably so, and even so, she’s no fainting flower. And the king is honestly one of the best fathers I’ve ever read.<br /><br />Flesh the story out? Beautifully. Absolutely beautifully. I love this land and the way magic works and la Foret and the twist and how it all came together. The world was fleshed out, the story was fleshed out, the characters were fleshed out. One of my favorite things about this book was how flawed a character Aurore was. Because she was. She snapped at people and had a temper and took her frustrations out on whoever happened to be around. But she was also brave and loyal and incredibly thoughtful. She felt <i>real</i>. Everyone did. Just beautifully done.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-19488254115785722172013-05-01T08:00:00.000-07:002013-05-07T11:39:42.379-07:00Sleeping Beauty (According to Cassie)Sleeping Beauty (According to Cassie)<br />
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So, basically, as happens so often in these things, we have a king and a queen who really want a baby, but aren’t having one for some reason until they do. It’s a girl, and what happens next depends on whose version you read. <br />
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A christening is planned, and the girl is given three or seven or twenty-one fairy godparents, who are each to bestow a gift upon the child, but the thing is, there’s another fairy in the kingdom who doesn’t get invited. The reason varies from story to story. You’ve got the pretty bad reason – the royals just forgot she existed – and then the really dumb reason – they left someone off the guest list because they didn’t have enough golden plates. I mean, seriously? You couldn’t just go buy another golden plate? Like, for reals?<br />
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Anyway, the Left Out Fairy is understandably pissed, so she shows up anyway, in the middle of the christening, after every fairy godparent but one has given their silly gifts of beauty and grace and musicianship and what have you, to show her displeasure. And rather than focus it on the parents who did the actual insulting, this fairy decides to curse the helpless infant princess who has pretty much done nothing except be born at this point.<br />
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The Petty and Petulant Fairy (I’m not calling her Evil because in the originals, anyway, she’s usually not) announces that the princess will live for fifteen years, but on her sixteenth (or eighteenth or twenty-first) birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. <br />
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Everyone is horrified, because geez, over-reacting much? But then the last fairy steps forward to give her gift, and her gift is to change the nature of the Ego-Bruised Fairy’s curse – the princess won’t die. She’ll just sleep for a hundred years! Because, yeah, that’s totally better. . . <br />
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I mean, seriously, if you have the power to change the gift, couldn’t you shorten the time frame a bit? Like, she sleeps for a year? But anyway, the fairy changes the death to a hundred year sleep, saying that the curse will be broken when the princess’s True Love comes to kiss her awake.<br />
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And then the king goes, “I have a better idea. Let’s just destroy all the spinning wheels ever and forget this ever happened because that will totally take care of the problem!” I hope whatever clothes exist in the kingdom currently will serve everyone for the next couple decades, because your king just told you that you won’t be making any more thread anytime soon.<br />
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And apparently, this is a king who is really confident in his decreeing power, because not only do he and the queen not tell their daughter about this curse, they’re out of town on the day when the curse is supposed to be enacted.<br />
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. . . Okay, so, let me get this straight. Your daughter is cursed to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and either die or fall into a century-long sleep, depending on whose magic was stronger, and you happen to have the exact day this will all happen, your course of action is to 1) destroy all the spinning wheels (supposedly) so that your daughter will never know what one looks like, 2) leave her completely ignorant of the fact that the curse exists and there are things she should avoid touching, and 3) leave her completely alone on the day you know the curse is supposed to come to pass?<br />
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. . . Keep up the parenting, dude, you’re doing a <i>stellar </i>job. <br />
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Anyway, not surprising to me in the slightest, the princess stumbles across an old woman in the palace with a spinning wheel, who apparently has moved in since the king’s decree. To be clear, this is not the Grudge-Holding Fairy in disguise, it’s just an innocent old lady going about her business. The princess, never having seen a spinning wheel before because her father is somehow simultaneously the most over-protective and negligent father of all time ever, is intrigued, and asks if she can try. And she pricks her finger and falls down as if dead because she was never given the necessary knowledge to avoid this fate.<br />
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So the unconscious princess is taken up to the highest room of the tallest tower and laid out on the bed, and then the fairy shows up and puts everyone in the castle to sleep alongside her – usually. Not always, though. Sometimes the princess alone sleeps and everyone else just goes about her business, which has to kinda suck. <br />
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The fairy also encloses the castle in thick briars, presumably for protection, though we’re never told. <br />
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And then we sit and wait and nothing happens for a hundred years. <br />
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Now, see, if this was me, I would have handled what goes down next a little differently. The characters in this fairy tale are in the unique position of knowing exactly dates and time frames. The curse will happen on the princess’s sixteenth birthday. The princess will sleep for 100 years. It’s hard to miscalculate, is what I’m saying.<br />
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So, me, I’d have posted a sign or something: Hey. There’s a cursed princess sleeping in this castle. On this date, somebody should go wake her up or something.<br />
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Or, you know, at least passed the story down so people knew. I can sort of understand the parents not doing this; there may not have been time. But this good fairy? Yeah, she puts everybody to sleep and then disappears. Far be it from me to tell a godparent how to look after their godchild, but, uh . . . seems to me you could maybe be a little more involved? Nope? Okay.<br />
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Anyway, with the briars growing up around the castle and everyone being put to sleep and the fairies disappearing, the result 100 years later is that no one really knows anything about the castle and the princess and the curse. There’s tons of stories flying around, but they’re all rumors and hearsay, and honestly, the prince who finally makes it through to the palace is just trying to solve that mystery as much as anything else.<br />
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And again, how grim this part of the story gets depends on who’s telling it. In some versions, lots of princes have tried to get to the castle, but have been killed by the briars, until this One True Love prince comes by at the right time. In other stories, he’s the only one who ever really gets curious about a castle buried by roses bushes. <br />
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Either way, he sets out to get to the castle, and the briars . . . part for him. Evidence of his suitability, some might say. Me, I’m more cynically inclined to read this as yet another moment of inactive passivity, but we’ll get to that.<br />
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And then it’s the iconic scene, where he finds the princess on the bed, is overcome by her beauty, and kisses her – not because he knows it will wake her or break the curse mind you, just kisses the for-all-he-knows-dead girl – or, if you’re Perrault, just walks into the room and his presence is enough to break the curse and wake her up. <br />
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And so, with no one really having done anything at all, we reach happily ever after in possibly the most anti-climactic fairy tale climax ever. <br />
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Unless you’re Charles Perrault, in which case, you tack a whole other fairy tale onto the end of this one involving a stepmother who’s part ogress trying to eat the prince and Sleeping Beauty’s babies. Because why not?<br />
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Thoughts on this story?<br />
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I took a seminar on this fairy tale in college, so I’m pretty intimately familiar with it, and I actually have written a full length novel adaptation of it, addressing my issues with the story. And the biggest one is this: <br />
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Nothing happens in this story. Seriously. Nothing happens. Girl is cursed, she falls asleep, a prince walks in, she wakes up. That’s it. This story is boring. And stupid as Perrault’s tacked-on ending is, at least someone<i> does</i> something in it. There’s a villain and conflict and action. But the bulk of what happens in the tale of Sleeping Beauty we all know? There’s none of that.<br />
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Checklist? Checklist.<br />
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Make the characters more active in their own story. Seriously, this is the fairy tale of People Who Had Things Happen to Them. The most active anyone gets is the evil fairy responding to something that <i>didn’t</i> happen, and the good fairy, who reacts with a solution that is possibly more passive than dying. I would like <i>some</i>one, <i>anyone</i>, to <i>do</i> something. <i>Anything</i>. <i>Please</i>.<br />
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Introduce more conflict. I’d like something to be at stake, beyond the evil fairy going, “YOU DIDN’T HAVE A GOLDEN PLATE FOR ME?? CURSED!” and then just kind of losing interest. This is a plot that desperately needs a driving force behind it. Give me one.<br />
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Explain the actions of the parents. Seriously. Parents of the Year, these guys. I desperately need an explanation – why didn’t they tell Sleeping Beauty about her curse? Why would they leave her alone on the day the curse is supposed to be enacted? And why would a man who lives in a place inundated with magic and fairies really think he could dispel the curse by going, “Burn ALL the spinning wheels!”<br />
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Flesh the story out. We get very few details here, on what is not a very long story, unless you’re Perrault and really need to add a wicked stepmother somewhere. Give me background and detail, and you’re golden. Find a way to work Perrault’s ending in and get me to commit to it? You’re super-human. <br />
Like Cinderella, there are a lot of novels to choose from, but the line-up for the month after careful deliberation is:<br />
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Week 1: <i>Beauty Sleep</i> by Cameron Dokey<br />
Week 2: <i>Sleeping Beauty: The One Who Took a Really Long Nap</i> by Wendy Mass<br />
Week 3: <i>A Kiss in Time</i> by Alex Flinn<br />
Week 4: <i>A Long, Long Sleep</i> by Anna Sheehan<br />
Week 5: <i>Spindle's End</i> by Robin McKinley<br />
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Feel free to read along!CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-20885623886475812652013-04-30T10:02:00.000-07:002013-04-30T10:02:00.694-07:00Little Red Riding Hood Wrap Up<i>Little Red Riding Hood </i>Wrap Up<br />
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So, this month, we looked at another of those problem fairy tales, those “Then I Found Five Dollar” tales. And similarly to Rumpelstiltskin, in wrapping up the month and looking at how our different authors chose to handle adapting the tale, we’re going to set aside <i>Cloaked in Red</i> for the time being, and look at the three novels that weren’t written specifically to address the issues of the original tale: <i>Scarlet</i> by Marissa Meyer, <i>Scarlet Moon</i> by Debbie Vigue, and <i>Princess of the Silver Woods </i>by Jessica Day George.<br />
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So the first thing I noticed about these three novels is that in exactly none of them is Little Red a child. Scarlet is 19 and Ruth and Petunia are both 16, and this directly ties in with the second thing I noticed, which was that in exactly none of these novels was the wolf an actual wolf. <i>Scarlet</i> came the closest, making Wolf a sort of human-wolf hybrid, and there’s the werewolf bit in <i>Scarlet Moon,</i> but essentially, all of these novels portray the wolf as human. Which leads directly to the last thing I noticed:<br />
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In each and every one of these novels, the wolf became a love interest for Little Red. <br />
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This point is a little disturbing to me. I mean, I get it, we live in a culture where every story has to have a romance, and Little Red Riding Hood doesn’t, but . . . the wolf? The creature who preys on Little Red in the original story, who wants to kill her? That’s who we’re choosing to turn into a love interest?<br />
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And I mean, yes, all three of these novels also have a secondary wolf in there somewhere who fills the bloodthirsty, wanting Little Red to die role, allowing these primary wolves to also play the role of the hunstmen, but . . . still.<br />
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Honestly, as much as I loved <i>Scarlet</i> and <i>Princess of the Silver Woods</i>, I am a little disappointed that no one took a different direction with this story. No one made the wolf a real wolf, no one made Little Red a child, everyone turned it into a romance. Which is fine, looking at each novel individually. But all together, seeing the stories that, boiled down to essentials, are so similar . . . I don’t know. To me, making Little Red older and turning the wolf into the love interest is the easy way to retell this story, and I find myself wishing that someone had taken a more challenging route.<br />
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So to that end, thank you Vivian Vande Velde. <br />
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I also noticed that of the people we read this month, only one chose to deliberately retell Little Red specifically, creating a world around that story. We’re leaving <i>Cloaked in Red</i> aside again, because of the different motivation in writing it, and <i>Scarlet</i> and <i>Princess of the Silver Woods</i> both used LRRH as a sequel structure, fitting the fairy tale into a world already established for another fairy tale, and while they both did it very well, LRRH was not the starting point for either of them.<br />
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At the end of the day, the offerings we have on this story say a lot about how well it lends itself to retelling, which is: not very well. The most successful adaptations this month didn’t try to retell the story on its own, but wove the elements of the story in with others, which I feel like you almost have to do with a story this problematic.<br />
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So! Rankings for the month:<br />
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<i>Cloaked in Red</i> by Vivian Vande Velde,<i> Princess of the Silver Woods </i>by Jessica Day George, and <i>Scarlet</i> by Marissa Meyer all receive Highly Recommended ratings for vastly different reasons. <br />
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<i>Scarlet Moon </i>by Debbie Vigue gets a Not Recommended from me, but with the caveat that it is very much not my cup of tea, but isn’t necessarily badly written. <br />
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May’s fairy tale, and the last fairy tale of the year and the project, is Sleeping Beauty. See you tomorrow!CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-34666026700781139702013-04-26T07:31:00.000-07:002013-04-30T07:32:08.535-07:00Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George<i>Princess of the Silver Woods</i> by Jessica Day George<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: When Petunia, the youngest of King Gregor's twelve dancing daughters, is invited to visit an elderly friend in the neighboring country of Westfalin, she welcomes the change of scenery. But in order to reach Westfalin, Petunia must pass through a forest where strange two-legged wolves are rumored to exist. Wolves intent on redistributing the wealth of the noble citizens who have entered their territory. But the bandit-wolves prove more rakishly handsome than truly dangerous, and it's not until Petunia reaches her destination that she realizes the kindly grandmother she has been summoned to visit is really an enemy bent on restoring an age-old curse.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling in combination with the legend of Robin Hood<br /><br />So, I’m facing some significant challenges summarizing this one for you, not because it’s not good, and not because it’s not Little Red Riding Hood, and not because the LRRH narrative doesn’t extend fully throughout the novel. No, all those things are true. But <i>Princess of the Silver Woods</i> written by the object of my literary adoration, Jessica Day George, is the final book in the Princesses of Westfalin trilogy, the final sequel to <a href="http://talesoldastime.blogspot.com/2012/08/princess-of-midnight-ball-by-jessica.html" target="_blank"><i>Princess of the Midnight Ball</i></a> and <a href="http://talesoldastime.blogspot.com/2013/03/princess-of-glass-by-jessica-day-george.html" target="_blank"><i>Princess of Glass,</i></a> which means that while it tells LRRH and tells it fully, the plot that LRRH arranges to is very much the final plot of a trilogy.<br /><br />In other words, this book is more concluding the story of PotMB and PoG than it is being a Little Red Riding Hood narrative.<br /><br />But I’m gonna do the best I can, and I’m gonna try not to stray too far from what is LRRH. <br /><br />So! Our Little Red character is Petunia, also known as the youngest sister from PotMB, and one of the things I really like about the way this is set up is that, in PotMB, Petunia was six, so she couldn’t really fulfill the role of the kickass youngest princess in The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but now, it’s ten years later, and Petunia is grown and a person with opinions and she’s kind of a badass. <br /><br />As the story starts, she is traveling through the woods near the border of Westfalin in a carriage when they are set upon by the “Wolves” of Westfalin – a band of thieves living in the forest, stealing from the rich who pass by while wearing masks like wolves to protect their identities. In other words, enter Robin Hood, whose name in this case is Oliver.<br /><br />But Petunia is no fainting damsel, and after all the trouble she and her sisters have had, she carries a pistol and she knows how to use it, so she points it in Oliver’s face and basically says, “yeah, no. How about you leave us alone?” And that in combination with the coach driver slapping the reigns on the horses and taking off through the forest gets them free of the Wolves and back on course to visit the old Grand Duchess Petunia met in Russaka during the Great Inter-Country Marriage Swap of three years before. <br /><br />Oliver watches her go, impressed in spite of himself, because Petunia is tiny and really doesn’t look like much, but she didn’t hesitate to pull a pistol on him and threaten to use it. He doesn’t know who she is at this point, but he’s pretty captivated by her. <br /><br />Unfortunately for Petunia, the mad dash through the forest damaged the carriage and one of the horses, and they’re still too far from the Duchess’s estate to try and walk there, and night is coming. The guards accompanying them will stand watch against the Wolves, but when Petunia heads toward the trees to relieve herself, Oliver manages to capture her and abduct her, taking her back to the cottage estate in the woods where, it turns out, he lives with his mother and brother and band of men he’s responsible for.<br /><br />And his mother, one Lady Emily, recognizes Petunia immediately, for she looks just like her mother, and Lady Emily was one of Queen Maude’s ladies in waiting. This is when Oliver starts to realize just how much trouble he might be in. <br /><br />Oliver, it turns out, is supposed to be an earl, but the war saw his earldom split into pieces and given to the losing country, and the estate that should have been his is the one Petunia was on her way to. Petunia learns all this and feels awful, and promises to talk to her father about it, presuming Oliver will let her become un-kidnaped. <br /><br />Which he does. In fact, he sees her safely to the estate, though he himself almost gets caught by Prince Grigori (the Grand Duchess’s grandson) and his hunters, who have been charged with trying to find the Wolves and bring them to justice. They repeatedly fail. But having to run for safety puts Oliver in a position to observe Petunia in the Grand Duchess’s home, and he comes quickly to the conclusion that she is not entirely safe there.<br /><br />And this is where we leave the LRRH narrative behind for a bit. So we’ve got our Little Red here in Petunia, a girl journeying through a forest to see her grandmother, or grandmother equivalent. She wears a red cloak, made over from one of Rose’s gowns from long ago, and on her journey, she encounters a wolf who forces her off the path, but eventually, she makes it to her grandmother’s, a place where she is not entirely safe.<br /><br />The LRRH narrative doesn’t come back until much later in the novel, and what I really appreciate about what Jessica Day George has done is that she’s layered two tellings of this story on top of one another. You have the one summarized above, set in the real world, where Oliver is the Wolf and Prince Grigori and his men are the hunters who “save” Petunia from the Wolf. And then, near the novel’s end, we have the one set in the Land Under Stone (which Petunia and her sisters are forced to return to).<br /><br />In this half of the story, Petunia is traveling through another forest, this one the silver forest that grew from her mother’s cross so many years ago. Here the wolf she seeks to escape is Prince Kestilan, the youngest son of the King Under Stone, who was to be Petunia’s betrothed, and the reason she strays from the path is because if she ventures into the trees of blessed silver, Kestilan cannot follow her.<br /><br />And again, she ends up at a cottage in the wood, and the grandmother figure is in the cottage, and is still the Grand Duchess. But when Petunia sees her here, she recognizes her for who she is, noting her green eyes and the shape of her face, identifying her as one who bore a half-human son to the King Under Stone. In this half of the LRRH story, the “wolf” who attacks her is Grigori, who wants to force her to stay, to use her as leverage against the King, and the hunter who rescues her is Oliver.<br /><br />I love how these two layered versions play with our perception of the story, and I love how the roles of the wolf and the hunter are swapped, and how you can play with the LRRH imagery to layer a third series of events into it: falling into the Land Under Stone being equated with being swallowed by the wolf, and the combined efforts of the hunters – in this case, the magicians and husbands and Oliver – being what releases both our Little Red and all her sisters from the belly of the beast. It’s very impressively done, and I may be reading too much into it, but it’s Jessica Day George, so probably not.<br /><br />And that’s as much as I’m going to summarize, really, except to wrap up our Robin Hood portion and assure you that Oliver got his earldom back, and he and Petunia were set to live pretty happily ever after.<br /><br />Checklist.<br /><br />Make Little Red less of an idiot? Hells to the yes. What I have loved about these princesses from the beginning is that they are not meek and simpering. Each one of them knows how to shoot a pistol, they constantly fight against their curse, and they are as responsible for rescuing themselves as anyone else is, and Petunia is no exception. She is smart, and she figures things out, and she fights against being seen as the “baby” of the family, and it’s lovely.<br /><br />Develop the world? Yes, and like Marissa Meyer before her, Jessica Day George has also managed to work this new story into the brilliant and fully developed world she created two books ago.<br /><br />Give me a point? Without a doubt. The reason for telling the story was obvious and inherent, and it was all done so brilliantly.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-69888119527730214022013-04-19T21:18:00.000-07:002013-04-24T21:18:56.881-07:00Scarlet Moon by Debbie Vigue<i>Scarlet Moon</i> by Debbie Vigue<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: Ruth's grandmother lives in the forest, banished there for the "evil" that the townsfolk believed she practiced. But if studying the stars, learning about nature, and dreaming of flying is evil, then Ruth is guilty of it too. Whenever Ruth took food and supplies to her grandmother, she would sit with the old woman for hours, listening and learning.<br /><br />When she wasn't in the woods, Ruth was learning the trade of her father, a blacksmith, now that her brother would never return from the Crusades.<br /><br />Amidst those dark days, a new man enters Ruth's life. William is a noble with a hot temper and a bad name, and he makes her shiver. But the young man is prey to his heritage, a curse placed on his family ages ago, and each male of the family has strange blood running in his veins. Now Ruth must come face-to-face with his destiny at Grandma's house.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling (I feel like I should call it Historical Recontextualization, because it’s set against the backdrop of the Crusades, but given that the Crusades spanned 200 years, we’re never told which Crusade it is, we’re never given a country in which it takes place, and magic’s a real thing, I decided ‘Retelling’ was the best bet)<br /><br />So I feel like I ought to start this review with an apology to my friend Drew because when I started reading the Once Upon a Time series back in high school, this was his favorite book of that series, but when I read it, I hated it. That was almost a decade ago, though, so I tried to go into the reread with an open mind, but . . . sorry, Drew. I still hated it. At least now, though, I hope I can be better about articulating why.<br /><br />And the best way I can think of to do that is to explain that <i>Northanger Abbey</i> is my favorite Jane Austen novel, and then to reassure you that, yes, this has a point. See, <i>Northanger Abbey</i> is Jane Austen’s most satirical novel, and it spends the majority of its time making fun of Gothic romances and everything they entail. I love this because I hate Gothic romances and the tired and cliche melodrama they’re made up of.<br /><br />In other words, if Jane Austen was writing today, it would be books like <i>Scarlet Moon</i> that she was making fun of. This book is so over-the-top melodramatic, teen paranormal romance in the worst way. And hey. If that’s your thing, fine. But for me? Let’s just say that forcing myself to finish this novel was a pretty big task. Let’s get right to it, shall we?<br /><br />So, we start with a girl, Ruth, who is walking through the woods one day as a child when she and her brother are attacked by a giant wolf. Ruth’s brother manages to wound the animal with his dagger and he chases the beast off, then gets Ruth back to the village to be cared for – the wolf’s attack leaves her with huge scars all down her legs, injuries that it takes months to recover from. <br /><br />The entire village turns out to hunt down the wolf that attacked their children, and they find and kill and huge one, but Ruth examines it, and she knows, it’s not the same wolf (because this, spoiler, is a werewolf story, and apparently when the man in question changes to a werewolf, everything except his eyes transforms, so Ruth knows it’s not the same wolf because it doesn’t have green eyes. Which I find to be stupid, but hey. That might just be me.)<br /><br />And in typing this review, and being reminded of this point, I’m forced to point out something of a continuity error — we’re told later that there are no longer any natural wolves in the area, because the presence of the werewolf has forced them all away, and the werewolves have been here for generations – so where exactly did this other wolf come from?<br /><br />Anyway, a few months after the attack, Ruth’s brother and cousin leave for the Crusades, and to prove her strength to her father, Ruth takes up her brother’s work in their father’s blacksmith shop.<br /><br />Anyway, we flash forward several years, to when Ruth is sixteen, I believe. She is still working as a blacksmith, which I felt could have been a point of interest and used to make important commentary had it been used to inform her character at all or served any point other than being something to Set Her Apart from the townspeople and be the Thing That Her True Love Accepts later on in the story.<br /><br />Anyway, Ruth’s days are monotonous, filled with working at the smithy and visiting her grandmother in the woods, banished there by the townsfolk who believe her to be a witch, but not strongly enough that they’re going to do what people did in Europe during this time and burn her or anything. <br /><br />And strange things happen in the woods. There’s that wolf attack that happened when Ruth was a child, and Ruth finds a naked man on the path one day who runs away as she approaches, and the trees talk (maybe? I don’t know. I’ve read this book twice now, and I still can’t figure out if the trees are actually supposed to be talking or if it’s just narrative anthropomorphization to help set mood), but that’s really the most exciting thing that ever happens in her life.<br /><br />Until her cousin comes back from the Crusades, broken in body and spirit and bearing the awful news that Ruth’s brother was killed. <br /><br />Peter’s return seems to incite the rest of the action to begin. It is shortly after Peter returns that Ruth meets Lord William for the first time. Ruth is alone in the smithy when the tanner comes to pick up some knives, and he’s trying to get out of paying the bill and being disrespectful to Ruth, and Lord William comes in and goes Lord of the Manor all over his ass, much to Ruth’s embarrassment and indignation.<br /><br />He’s come in because he needs his horse shoed, and at first, Ruth has no idea who he is, so she berates him for trying to take care of her when she had the situation in hand. William finds this attitude refreshing because of course he does, and then when Ruth finds out who he is, she’s mortified with her behavior, but William expresses the wish that she will always treat him in such a way.<br /><br />And the whole meeting and the whole conversation is underlined by sexual tension because of course it is. And then we follow William, who returns to his manor and walks broodingly through his portrait gallery and swears that he has to stay away from Ruth because he will not condemn her to a cursed life, an oath that he makes about twenty times over the course of the novel and always breaks because this is <i>that </i>book. <br /><br />In Gothic romances of the 18th and 19th century, you had the pure, innocent, naive, virginal maiden. And then you had the dark and foreboding man of the world, corrupted by the pleasures of the world, who seeks to lead the maiden into temptation down that dark and sexual path, the man who is a danger to the maiden’s virtue, but keeps returning to her despite knowing he will be her ruin because he just can’t stay away.<br /><br />This? Reads exactly like that. There’s not the puritanical emphasis on the maiden’s virginity, and the man in question is less corrupt man of the world and more cursed werewolf, but the structure is there and fully in tact. He is a danger to her. He knows he is a danger to her. He states several times that if he truly wanted what was best for her, he would stay away and never speak to her again.<br /><br />Spoiler: he always speaks to her again.<br /><br />And like the naive virginal maiden she’s paralleling, Ruth becomes preoccupied with William as well, and he ends up giving her a gift, a silver cross that he urges her to wear for protection. Grandma in the woods is pretty sure that more is going on here than Ruth is aware of, and that William has a dangerous secret he isn’t communicating.<br /><br />And then the full moon rolls around and horrible things start happening. Namely, the tanner who was so rude to Ruth is found brutally murdered – by a wolf. Ruth knows nothing about William being a werewolf at this point, but William is pretty sure he did it, though he can’t remember anything about his transformation, which is troubling because usually he can. But, he states, since meeting Ruth, his self-control is shot to pieces.<br /><br />That’s right, folks. He is so overcome by lust for this girl that he’s lost control of the incredibly necessary mind exercises designed to keep him from savagely killing anyone in the three days he spends as a wolf. I feel like this is something he should really focus on fixing, but his attitude toward it seems to be “Well, that’s that. I’m a goner. Nothing to be done.” In fact, his whole attitude toward Ruth is like that. <br /><br />And he “can’t stay away from her,” which is bullshit. I mean, seriously, dude. I feel like I’m supposed to be sympathetic to this plight in a “true love has a call that cannot be denied” sort of way, but I just think William is a selfish bastard who just got reminded that girls are a thing. Like, seriously, he gives her this cross and then kisses her and then says, “No! You have to stay away from me because I’m dangerous!” and I’m just like, <i>dude</i>. Lock yourself in a room and deal with it. But don’t put that on her when you’re the one who keeps showing up and you’re the only one who fully understands just how dangerous you actually are, you know what I’m saying?<br /><br />Anyway, during one of those “can’t stay away from her” moments, he ends up at the smithy to sneak a conversation with her, but encounters her father, and is all, hey, I need Ruth to come . . . shoe my 130 horses! Which, I’m sorry, how many horses did you say you just had? Over 100? A small-time country lord? Has over a <i>hundred </i>horses? This does not seem accurate to me. But what do I know, right? I mean, it’s not like I did the research – except, oh wait. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horses_in_the_Middle_Ages#cite_ref-Labarge41_60-0" target="_blank">Yes I did</a>. (For those who don’t want to wade through the article, it states that the royal household of England in the 1400s had 60 horses for personal use and 180 for carts and chariots. Which, yes, is over 130, but it’s the frickin’ <i>royal household</i>, with a huge and massive court and lots of traffic. Lord William? Lives alone with his servants. Wikipedia and I call bullshit on your 130 horses, Vigue).<br /><br />Sorry. Tangent done. So, another full moon happens, and Ruth is attacked again by a wolf. And she recognizes the wolf – it’s the same one that attacked her as a child. And when William comes to get her to shoe his 130 horses, she tells him, and he realizes that he attacked her, and he is so overcome with guilt that he confesses everything to her. And Ruth is so angry with him that she almost takes her dagger and kills him, but instead — she kisses him. She kisses him, and then, in a conversation that defies logic, but sadly not my expectations in any way, he tells her again that he’s dangerous and she really ought to stay away from him, but if she won’t do that, would she consider marrying him, maybe? <br /><br />Because, yeah. That makes sense. Dude, are you even legitimately trying to keep this girl safe anymore, or has your entire world focused down to your need to get laid? Because<i> seriously</i>, what the hell?<br /><br />Anyway, Ruth accepts him because of course she does, remember, it’s <i>that </i>book, and they have this talk about having died a little every day since they met and nothing, no curse, no murderous actions, can ever come between their love, and are you two forgetting that you’ve met, like, twice, and the first time was less than a week ago. Because I’m not. <br /><br />Anyway, the scene gets real sexual real fast, until Ruth plays the “I’m a pure virginal maiden and must remain so” card, which will make an appearance basically every time they’re alone together from here til the end of the novel. When they’re apart, however, they each grapple with the decision and almost call off the wedding, and then they see each other again and are so consumed with lust that they just have to go through with it.<br /><br />Granny posits that there must be a way to break the curse, and Ruth agrees. She says that she will set herself up with William when he transforms next and watch him, to ensure that he doesn’t go kill anyone else. So they chain him up in the manor, and I don’t know why this isn’t a thing that’s done really every month. And Ruth sits in the room with this wolf, trusting that the Power of her Love will keep him sane – which works until she falls asleep and he gets free.<br /><br />Ruth, you had one job. <br /><br />And while he’s free, a couple who visited Granny in secret are killed. Ruth finds their mangled bodies and knows she has to find William before the villagers do. She runs to Granny, but instead of getting help there, she finds Peter (you remember Peter? The cousin from the Crusades? Turns out he’s been studying with Granny, hoping that she really is a witch who will teach him Dark magic so he can go get his revenge in the Holy Land, and he’s gone a bit round the bend and thinks he’s a wolf now). With filed teeth and the wolf paw from the wolf that the village killed all those years ago, he’s been committing these murders, and now that Ruth has discovered him trying to kill Granny, he has to kill her. <br /><br />But before he can, William the Wolf shows up and rips his throat out! Ruth’s hero! In his beast form, he savagely murders people to protect her! That’s the way to a girl’s heart!<br /><br />Once he’s human again – and through the Power of Love and Plot Convenience can remember everything! – they hide all the bodies and Ruth and William decide to go ahead and get married and just deal with the wolf thing as best they can, and that’s when Granny goes, no just take this here portrait of the guy who got cursed and chuck it in the fire. Curse broken.<br /><br />Yeah. It’s that simple. And I’m done.<br />
The whole thing is just <i>so</i> melodramatic and <i>so</i> over the top that I was just rolling my eyes <i>constantly</i>.<br /><br />And the thing is, it’s not that this is a bad book, not really. I mean, it’s got it’s bad moments and the characterization can be lacking and there are some plot issues, but it’s not the kind of bad book that I get great pleasure out of tearing to pieces, as has been true with some titles this year. It’s more that this book is telling a story I have absolutely no interest in, and have never had an interest in.<br /><br />I don’t do teen paranormal romance. I just don’t enjoy it. It’s the Gothic Romance genre of the 18th century updated for today’s generation, and I just don’t understand the appeal. I don’t get why so many readers these days get so obsessed over stories that paint the ideal romance as one that is forbidden and dangerous. The innocent maiden who knowingly and willingly puts her life and her virtue in the hands of a man who could literally kill her. It’s tired, and cliche, and it was tired and cliche before Twilight got ahold of it. It’s <i>Wuthering Heights</i> and <i>The Mysteries of Udolpho</i> all over again, just with werewolves and vampires in place of angsty philanderers, and I’m sorry, but that’s not a story that interests me.<br /><br />And I’m not saying that this highly sexualized version of events isn’t a perfectly valid interpretation of the Little Red Riding Hood story – it totally is, given the origins of this fairy tale. It’s just not an interpretation I have any intention of rereading ever again.<br /><br />But let’s plug it into the checklist.<br /><br />Make Little Red less of an idiot? Well, she’s certainly not an idiot in the same way as LRRH’s main character. She’s not “dumb and unobservant as a box of rocks” idiotic. But I would argue that she’s still pretty idiotic, willingly letting this man be a part of her life even knowing what he’s done to her in the past. So, half a point.<br /><br />Develop the world? Yeah, this is where Vigue loses me. What the hell is going on with your world? What country are we in? Which Crusade is being fought? What’s our time period? And most importantly, what the heck is going on with your magical parameters? Okay, witches and werewolves are a thing, I get that, but Granny? Is she a witch? And what’s going on with the trees? I just felt lost, like the characters knew things about their world that they weren’t sharing with me, and it got annoying. No point.<br /><br />Give me a point? Yeah, okay. I didn’t much care for it, but I guess it was there. So I’ll give you this one.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-52460440217097728372013-04-12T06:45:00.000-07:002013-04-20T06:47:51.186-07:00Scarlet by Marissa Meyer<i>Scarlet</i> by Marissa Meyer<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Futuristic Retelling<br /><br />So, <i>Scarlet</i> is the sequel to <i>Cinder</i>, <a href="http://talesoldastime.blogspot.com/2013/03/cinder-by-marissa-meyer.html" target="_blank">which we read last month</a>, and I was a little wary of adding it to the review list because of that. And true enough, there’s about half of this book I won’t be touching because it’s a continuation of Cinder’s story, which isn’t our current focus. But I really wanted to read this sequel, and it was Little Red Riding Hood, so . . . <br /><br />And as an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, this book surprised me. But in a good way. <br /><br />Where<i> Cinder</i> took place in the Asia area of this futuristic, post-WWIV version of earth, <i>Scarlet </i>takes place in Europe, specifically France. Scarlet is a teenage girl who works alongside her grandmother at a small country farm. Scarlet is largely responsible for driving the delivery hover to vendors in the city and delivering their food.<br /><br />But Scarlet has been fighting a problem for some time when our story opens, and that’s that her grandmother is missing, and has been for almost two weeks. The police have decided that there is no foul play involved in her disappearance, but Scarlet knows otherwise, and if the police won’t help her, then Scarlet is determined to find her grandmother on her own. <br /><br />She tries to get the townspeople to help, tries to unite them with concern, but her grandmother was considered pretty odd, and no one wants to help. Scarlet’s temper gets the better of her, and she’s thrown out of the tavern, but she did manage to catch the attention of one person, a street fighter who’s known as Wolf. <br /><br />So already, we’ve got these familiar elements popping up. A LRRH figure, named Scarlet, whose job is delivering food. She wears an old red hoodie, and she’s looking for her grandmother. And now, we have a character named Wolf. <br /><br />What I really appreciate about this book is how seamlessly the story of Little Red Riding Hood is blended into the world created for Cinderella. In fact, LRRH actually ends up making a little bit more sense in this world in many ways, but we’ll get to that.<br /><br />Anyway, Scarlet tentatively accepts Wolf’s help, but that changes when her father, who she hasn’t been on speaking terms with for years, shows up at the farm, claiming that he barely escaped with his life from the people who kidnaped him – and who have Scarlet’s grandmother. He’s able to tell Scarlet that he was tortured by a man with a tattoo of numbers and letters, starting with LSO. And it just so happens that Scarlet knows someone with that tattoo.<br /><br />She confronts Wolf, furious, thinking he’s behind her grandmother’s kidnaping, and eventually, he manages to convince her otherwise. Yes, he acknowledges, he bears that tattoo, but so do many others. The letters LSOP stand for the Loyal Society of the Pack, a city street gang from Paris. He was a member, but he left, and now it seems the Pack has Scarlet’s grandmother, so she accepts his help to travel to Paris and find her.<br /><br />But Wolf isn’t what he seems, and really, that sentence can sum up the majority of this book – Wolf’s double and triple and quadruple crossing is incredibly complex and complicated and really quite fascinating.<br /><br />Because LSOP doesn’t stand for Loyal Society of the Pack, at least not exclusively. It stands for Lunar Special Operative, and this is where Meyer gets brilliant. <br /><br />Remember in <i>Cinder</i>, that the bad guy in question was the Lunar Queen Levana, who ruled the colony on the moon? Well, she’s still a threat, and it turns out that these LSOP boys are hers. She’s been sending Pack’s like Wolf’s into the major cities of Earth for months, genetically altered Lunar males with the instincts, senses, and killing abilities of wolves — wolfish humans, connected to the moon? LRRH meets the Lunar Chronicles universe seamlessly. <br /><br />Scarlet’s grandmother, it turns out, was kidnaped by the Pack because years ago, she was the pilot who flew the first and only diplomatic mission to the moon, and Queen Levana thinks she had something to do with saving Princess Selene, the true heir of Luna, who is in fact, Cinder, if you’ll remember my disappointment (which has lessened somewhat with Cinder’s side of the story in this book, as it isn’t being treated as a magical fix, which is nice).<br /><br />So the Pack has Scarlet’s grandmother, but she has proven herself to be immune to the Lunar mind-control, and Wolf’s initial mission was to find a safeguard against that. To go undercover into Scarlet’s town, convince her he had left the Pack because he disagreed with their actions, win her trust and loyalty. Which he did, but the thing is? He also became captivated by her, which wasn’t supposed to be able to happen.<br /><br />I love that you never fully know what side Wolf is on because <i>Wolf </i>doesn’t know what side he’s on. He knows what his mission is. He knows that when his instincts are controlled and taken over by the leader of his pack, that control is absolute and he’ll become a hungry, killing machine. And yet, here’s Scarlet, for whom he has this incredibly protective instinct, one that proves in the end to be stronger than the animal instincts genetically grown in him. He’s a marvelously complex character, and I love it.<br /><br />That protective instinct is what makes him try to convince her to abandon hope of rescuing her grandmother once they reach Paris, but no dice. And so, she has to live with his betrayal as he turns her over to the Pack, revealing that his allegiances still lie with them . . . kinda. They have her grandmother, in an abandoned Opera House in Paris, and they plan to use her to get the old woman to talk. <br /><br />In the other half of the story, Cinder has escaped from prison, which has pissed off Levana, and when Emperor Kai can’t recapture Cinder, Levana orders attacks on Earth from her LSOP units in those 14 major cities around the world. Wolf knows it’s coming, he manages to show Scarlet (and us) that he’s still on her side by getting her an ID chip that will allow her to find her grandmother once the attack begins. <br /><br />And Scarlet is able to find her grandmother, but granny’s not doing so well. She’s been beaten and tortured, to find the secret of why she can resist the mind-control and for information on Princess Selene. But neither aim have gone terribly well, and her body has been so broken and abused that there’s no way Scarlet can try and remove her from the Opera House. Granny tells Scarlet to run while she can, but Scarlet won’t leave her again, and that’s when another member of the Pack, Ran, shows up. He kills Granny and eats her flesh/drinks her blood in way that was ridiculously difficult for me to read (the neck/blood phobia is typically linked to vampires, but apparently, it can manifest with the right kind of werewolf, too! Great!), and then he turns on Scarlet.<br /><br />She tries to get away, and goddamn if she doesn’t fight her heart out against him. But he’s genetically engineered, so it’s just not going to happen, and this wolf-man is on the verge of destroying her, too, when Wolf appears and throws the other wolf-man off and proceeds to wolf-fight to the death in a scene that is gruesome like something out of Grimm. <br /><br />The thing is, Wolf is still mostly in wild animal mind control at this point. He’s not resisting in order to protect Scarlet; protecting Scarlet has just become one of his instincts. Which plays against the trope, and I like it.<br /><br />This is the point where the two stories converge and the series’ next installment is set up, but we’ll leave off there because Little Red Riding Hood has come full circle.<br /><br />Because it is all there. There’s a lot that happens in between the original fairy tale’s events, but the high points of the fairy tale are in place. Little Red goes on a journey to find her grandmother, her grandmother is attacked and eaten by a wolf, and Little Red herself is saved by a protector. It’s all there, and not once is it forced, which was another concern of mine. But Meyer has done this incredibly well, and I am quite impressed.<br /><br />Checklist.<br /><br />Make Little Red less of an idiot? I adore Scarlet. She is kickass and hot-headed and a hell of a fighter. She is not a wimp, she is not an idiot, she is not weak and malleable in really any way at all. She is badass.<br /><br />Develop the world? So well done. Meyer is building off of the world she created for<i> Cinder</i>, and the way she has worked in the LRRH narrative is just masterful. She gives an explanation for the wolves that fits so perfectly into this world where the moon is a threat. It never felt forced, it never felt contrived, it just felt natural and seamless, and I applaud that.<br /><br />Give me a point? Oh, yeah. There was definite meaning to the journey, urgency and need and high stakes, and just absolutely yes.<br /><br />So . . . when does part 3 come out? <br /><br />. . . 2014? <br /><br />Damn.<br />CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-16526851589959639592013-04-12T02:30:00.000-07:002013-04-20T06:49:57.624-07:00Guest Post! Hoodwinked with Jesse<br />
<section>
So, because it is looking doubtful that a book review is
going to be posted today (I’m sorry guys; I know I’m so behind. April
has been stupid busy at both jobs, I’ve got a show opening tonight, and
it’s not that I’ve been procrastinating on writing the reviews — I
honestly haven’t had time to read the books), have a guest review from
Jesse (codedlockfilms)!<br />
<br />
<div id="internal-source-marker_0.9584005877052798">
Fairy Tale Reviews: Hoodwinked! by Jesse Coder</div>
<br />
Hail and well met, friends. So, I am a big ol’ fan of fairy
tales that have been deconstructed and told from another perspective.
This penchant of mine began in the early 90’s when I first read Jon
Scieszka’s The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales,
a short children’s book of parody fairy tales, including such stories
as “Cinderrumpelstilskin,” “Chicken Licken,” and yes, “Little Red
Running Shorts.” My love for this type of story continued with some of
Scieszka’s other books, like The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Frog Prince, Continued (seriously, if you have not read any of Scieszka’s books, give them a look) and has continued to this day. Into the Woods is one of my favorite theatre productions ever, I adore the Maynard Moose Tales by Willy Claflin, and I greatly enjoy Enchanted, which is, in my opinion, one of Disney’s most underrated movies.<br />
<br />
And yet, for as much as I love this type of story, I had not seen Hoodwinked!
until about 6 or 7 years after it came out. This was not a movie that
advertised itself well. The trailers looked dumb, the animation looked
really half-assed, and it just seemed generally unappealing. I probably
would have never seen the movie at all if not for my friend Jethro, and
when I saw this movie for the first time, it reminded me of something.
You see, no matter what your preconceptions are, no matter how well you
might think you have something pegged, no matter how often your
instincts about your entertainment are proven correct, you should at
least give everything a chance, because stuff can still surprise you. Hoodwinked!
is not only one of my favorite fairy tale adaptations; it is also a
proud member of my personal favorite-movies-ever list. So let’s take a
look at the film, shall we?<br />
<br />
Hoodwinked! begins with the climax. Interesting
choice. Okay, it doesn’t begin with THE climax, just A climax.
Specifically, the climax of the Red Riding Hood story with which we are
all familiar. Red Riding Hood enters her granny’s house and finds the
wolf in her grandmother’s bed, wearing a conveniently provided costume,
complete with a novelty mask. Where he got that, we don’t know. At the
moment. More on that shortly. They do that whole “what big blanks, the
better to blank you with” deal (wow, that sounds really bad when worded
like that) and the Wolf swiftly loses his cool. He and Red square off,
Granny stumbles out of the closet all tied up, and the Woodsman bursts
through a window, swinging his axe and yelling like a crazy person. The
title screen then pops up, and we cut to shortly thereafter, where the
police have the place surrounded and cordoned off, with Red, Granny, the
Wolf, and the Woodsman all in custody. The police chief, a grizzly
bear, decides to just take them all downtown, though as one of the
officers points out, they don’t have a downtown, this being the woods
and all. But before he can do so, a famous frog detective by the name of
Nicky Flippers stops by to get to the bottom of the case. He begins to
interrogate each of the suspects to get their respective versions of the
story, beginning with Red.<br />
<br />
She begins her day like any other, making deliveries for her
Granny Puckett’s sweets shop. See, the forest in which this story takes
place has something of a pastry-based economy, where the only goods that
ever seem to get exchanged are cakes, crumpets, muffins, things of that
sort. And schnitzel. But we’ll get to that. Red spends a short amount
of time talking to a bunny named Boingo, who tells her that he is no
longer able to make deliveries for the Muffin Man. This is because the
Muffin Man is the latest victim of a criminal known as the Goody Bandit,
who has been stealing recipes all over the forest, putting everyone out
of business. Red decides to take the recipe book from her shop and make
the dangerous trip up the mountain to her Granny’s house, where she
believes that the recipes will be safe. She disguises the recipes within
a fake basket of goodies and takes a short cable car ride towards the
mountain peaks, but ends up accidentally falling out of the car and
landing completely unharmed in the middle of the woods, because this is a
cartoon, and you can do things like that. She encounters the Wolf, who
asks her a bunch of questions and acts generally suspicious before
attempting to take the basket from her. She proceeds to beat the crap
out of him and escapes by tricking him into falling into the river.
Awesome. She then finds a path up the mountain and encounters Japeth the
mountain goat. And please, if you go the rest of your life without
seeing Hoodwinked!, please at least watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNAbb7vKjY">this one scene</a>.
It’s edited for time; it’ll only take you three and a half minutes, and
you will be glad you watched it. Just trust me, no summarization could
possibly convey the humor of this scene adequately. Go on, watch it.
I’ll wait.<br />
<br />
No, seriously, I’ll wait. This post will still be here in three and a half minutes. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNAbb7vKjY">Go</a>.<br />
<br />
…Did you watch it? I hope so, because all I am going to say is,
“I know! Amazing, right?” And you’ll need to know what happens in that
scene to understand some of the stuff I talk about in the rest of this
post. No, I am not giving you a choice. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNAbb7vKjY">Watch the damn scene.</a><br />
<br />
Red then arrives at Granny Puckett’s house and the opening
climax happens again, albeit primarily from Red’s point of view. The
detective then begins to question the Wolf, because there are a few
distinct holes in Red’s telling of the story. The Wolf, as it turns out,
is actually an investigative reporter who formerly worked on the old
Stiltskin case, chasing down leads on his real name. Cute. He is
currently investigating the Goody Bandit case, and believes that Red is a
prime suspect, since more goodies pass through her hands than anyone
else in the forest. He follows her around looking for evidence, and
approaches her in the woods to ask her the questions we saw him asking
earlier in the movie. Through this, we get new insight into the events
of the scene in question. For instance, Red heard him growling before
coming out of the bushes, but it was really his stomach growling because
he skipped lunch. Also, his supposed “attack” on her was actually just
him crying out in pain as his tail gets caught in his photographer’s
camera winder. The reason he asks questions of her is not because he
wants to eat her Granny, but because he is a reporter. The reason he
tries to steal the basket is because he thinks the stolen recipes are
inside. That sort of thing. We also learn why the track that Red was on
earlier was blown out. (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNAbb7vKjY">Told you you’d need to watch that scene</a>.)
He then shows up at Granny Puckett’s cottage looking for more clues. In
an attempt to get some answers out of Red, he disguises himself using
some novelty Granny Puckett merchandise (remember, she runs a famous
sweets shop) and the opening climax plays again from yet another
perspective.<br />
<br />
As with Red’s story, there are still some holes left over, so
the Woodsman is questioned, and as it turns out, he actually has very
little to do with the story at hand. He’s not really a woodsman; he’s a
struggling actor named Kirk who tried out for a part in a commercial for
Paul’s Bunion Cream. His day job is driving a schnitzel truck for a
bunch of nightmare fuel children. He got a callback for the audition and
was in the forest doing a bit of method acting when he chopped down a
particularly large tree and ended up accidentally on top of it. He
rolled down a hill and crashed through Granny Puckett’s window,
screaming in terror. Like you do.<br />
<br />
With Kirk not being much help, it’s Granny’s turn to be
questioned, and she confesses her big secret: She is an extreme sports
junkie that goes by the handle of “Triple G.” I am so not even kidding.
She is in the middle of competing in a high-speed downhill ski race when
she is attacked by the “European team,” a team secretly made up of
mercenaries sent by the Goody Bandit to put Granny out of commission. If
you haven’t yet figured this out, this movie is kind of insane. To get
rid of them, she uses a few grenades (because of course she has
grenades) to cause the avalanche that almost inadvertently killed Red (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNAbb7vKjY">I really wasn’t kidding when I said you would need to see that scene</a>)
and parachutes down to her cottage. She accidentally lands in the
chimney, gets tangled up in the parachute, and stumbles into the closet,
which is why she is tied up in the opening climax.<br />
<br />
With the questioning done, Nicky Flippers considers the
evidence, while Red slips away to have an existential crisis about what
it actually means to be a Puckett, since basically everything she knew
about her grandmother is a lie. This is honestly the weakest part of the
movie, and while it’s mostly played for laughs, it’s still kind of
forced. But it’s only a small flaw in an otherwise solid movie. Nicky
puts everything together and deduces that the Goody Bandit is actually
the rabbit Boingo, since he was mentioned in all their stories at some
point. It’s more complicated than that, but this is a summation, after
all. Suffice it to say that you pretty much knew it was going to be him
from the beginning, given that he was voiced by Andy Dick. See, Boingo
was sick of working as a low-rate peon for the likes of Granny and the
Muffin Man, so his plan is to steal every recipe in the woods, then blow
up the entire forest and build a massive factory, where he will put
addictive chemicals into his sweets and take over the market. Yeah…<br />
<br />
Um, Boingo, I get that you’re the cartoonishly evil villain and
everything, but how exactly do you plan on controlling the entire
market for sweets when you’re about to blow up the forest that the
market exists to serve? I don’t care how addictive your goodies are; you
can’t sell cookies to smoking piles of rubble and charred flesh. You
just don’t seem to have really thought this one through, is all I’m
saying. My advice is to not be voiced by Andy Dick if you can help it;
he doesn’t really possess the ability to play characters with actual
dimension.<br />
<br />
So Red confronts Boingo, but it turns out that he knows
ear-based kung fu, so he beats her and straps her into the cable car
that is set to blow the forest sky-high. If it seems like my
descriptions are a little dry here, please understand that it is only
because this is the kind of movie where such bizarre things happen that I
think the best way to make it entertaining is to just tell you what
happens and let the events speak for themselves. Luckily, the Wolf,
Kirk, and Granny are able to mount a rescue, since the cops have already
gone in the wrong direction, expecting to find the Goody Bandit robbing
Red’s cottage. The cable car is sent down the mountain, but Red manages
to free herself from her restraints as Granny grinds down the rail on a
muffin pan to help her escape. They free the cable car from the line,
and it falls into the river, and since the explosives powerful enough to
level a forest were underwater when they went off, no harm is done.
Cartoon, remember? The villains are captured and sent to prison, the
recipes are returned, and Nicky Flippers invites our protagonists to
join a secret team that travels the world ensuring that stories have
happy endings. And our movie comes to a close.<br />
<br />
Hoodwinked! is a movie that only exists because of
a lot of luck. Its animation is distinctly subpar, the result of a less
than 8 million dollar budget, which is pocket change in the world of
animation. But the animation they could afford is used to great effect.
It may not look smooth overall, but each character is animated with a
distinct personality and the comedic timing is flawless. This is a movie
that was made not because some big studio thought it would make a ton
of money, but because a tiny team of creative people knew they had a
good idea and fought tooth and nail to make it happen. It had a
fantastic cast of voice actors, including the talents of Glenn Close,
Anne Hathaway, Patrick Warburton, Jim Belushi, and many others. But does
it hit the important points on Cassie’s list?<br />
<br />
1. Make Little Red less of an idiot. Absolutely. She is
portrayed as very intelligent, independent, and able to take care of
herself, as well as being much more proactive. It’s her idea to take the
recipes to Granny for safekeeping, it’s her that confronts the villain
first, and thankfully, she also didn’t fall for the Wolf’s disguise. She
just wanted to keep him talking long enough to get him to incriminate
himself, since she thinks he might be the Goody Bandit. She has a
distinct character arc, if a relatively small one, and was a very
enjoyable protagonist.<br />
<br />
2. Develop the world. Yes. The forest has a defined geography,
culture, and even an economy. It’s not just the wolves who talk; it’s
all the animals, to the point that humans are actually a very small
minority. The wolf doesn’t want to eat the humans; he wants to get a
scoop on the Goody Bandit. The wolf isn’t mistaken for Granny; that is
an act on Red’s part. A little girl is allowed to go by herself into the
woods because the animals are all completely sentient and possessed of
human-level intelligence, so they are safe to interact with unless they
happen to be evil. The only question that isn’t really answered is what
the carnivorous animals eat. It’s sort of implied that they do get
hungry for meat, but we can probably just assume that they subsist
mainly on sweets, just like everyone else.<br />
<br />
3. Give me a point. Yes. In fact, that is the whole idea behind
the movie: To give the original story a point by looking at the
perspectives of each of the characters involved and figure out what is
really going on with the story at hand. The reason we are telling this
story is to finish telling the story. If that makes sense. There are
even little messages about growing up and moving on, as well as teaching
the value of honesty. Plus a message about being prepared. Quite well
done.<br />
<br />
As I have said, Hoodwinked! is not a
movie that I expected to enjoy. But as I sit before you, behind the
words and lines of code, through the tubes of the Internet and back onto
my computer where I am typing this long before you will see it, I say
to you that despite its limitations, it is brilliantly constructed,
brilliantly acted, and it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen
in my entire life. Do yourself a favor and see it at least once. I
guarantee that you will not regret it. Or at least watch that one scene.
The link’s still up there, if you haven’t looked already.<br />
<br />…<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNAbb7vKjY">Do it</a>.<br />
</section>CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-16707050337099954052013-04-05T09:05:00.000-07:002013-04-13T09:06:05.935-07:00Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde<i>Cloaked in Red</i> by Vivian Vande Velde<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: So you think know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl with the unfortunate name and the inability to tell the difference between her grandmother and a member of a different species? Well, then, try your hand at answering these questions:<br /><br />-Which character (not including Little Red herself) is the most fashion challenged?<br /><br />-Who (not including the wolf) is the scariest?<br /><br />-Who (not including Granny) is the most easily scared?<br /><br />-Who is the strangest? (Notice we're not "not including" anyone, because they're all a little off.)<br /><br />-Who (no fair saying "the author") has stuffing for brains?<br /><br />Vivian Vande Velde has taken eight new looks at one of the world's most beloved (and mixed-up) stories. You may never look at fairy tales in quite the same way again<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retellings<br /><br />So, <a href="http://talesoldastime.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-rumpelstiltskin-problem-by-vivian.html" target="_blank">as I stated before</a>, I believe, Vivian Vande Velde is a writer after my own heart. I would love to sit in a room with her and talk about fairy tales and how silly some of them are, and if she continues to write short story anthologies on what I like to term the “Then I Found Five Dollars” fairy tales, I will be a very happy lady.<br /><br />And in this anthology, like in <i>The Rumpelstiltskin Problem</i>, she has tackled the issues she (and I) has with Little Red Riding Hood in eight short stories, so let’s just jump right in, yes? Yes.<br /><br /><i>Red Cloak</i><br /><br />In this tale, Little Red’s real name is Meg, and Meg doesn’t like to stand out, which makes it a problem that her mother has suddenly decided to dye her cloak bright red. Meg is horrified, and immediately starts to figure out how she can get away with not wearing it really at all when Mum insists that she trot over to Granny’s to show it off (under the guise, of course, of returning a soup bowl). <br /><br />Granny lives on the other side of the village, but there’s no way Meg is walking through the town square looking like a strawberry. So she decides to skirt through the woods on the far edge of the town instead, but she keeps almost meeting people, and so strong is her desire to avoid notice that she keeps venturing deeper and deeper into the woods until she is quite lost.<br /><br />Quite lost, and carrying a soup bowl that still smells of chicken, which soon attracts the attention of a wolf. Like, a wild animal one. Not a talking one. Meg starts running, hoping to find someone who can help her, and she encounters a woodcutter. She tells him she’s lost and needs help finding the village.<br /><br />But the woodcutter is less than savory, and he smells a chance to make some money, believing that if she has a find red cloak, she must be from a rich family. Thinking fast, Meg throws the soup bowl at the woodcarver and lets out her best wolf howl. The woodcutter thinks she’s crazy — until the wolf comes, following the sound of a challenging howl and the scent of the chicken. The wolf heads straight for the soup bowl – and the woodcutter, who has climbed up a tree. <br /><br />Meg taunts him by talking about how long the wolf’s claws are, and how big its teeth are, and then she makes in the direction of the town, coming to the conclusion that maybe being noticed isn’t so bad, compared to the alternative.<br /><br /><i>Red Riding Hood Doll</i><br /><br />In this tale, Georgette is a seamstress who works under her mother for rich, snobby folk who don’t appreciate the work she does and constantly complain to get out of paying. Georgette is tired of the life she leads, and what she wants more than anything is a child, though she has no interest in marrying.<br /><br />And so, when a rich woman complains about the work Georgette has done on a fancy red cloak, despite the fact that it was made to the woman’s exact specifications, Georgette snaps a bit. She takes the offending article and cuts it down, using the material and other supplies from the shop to create a full-sized lifelike little girl doll in a red riding hood. She calls it her daughter, and refers to her mother as “Granny” and refuses to let the doll be sold. Period.<br /><br />But the girl isn’t real, and Georgette knows it, but she desperately wants it to be, and so, on Midsummer Night, she takes it to a fairy’s hollow in the hopes that magic will help make her a daughter at last. Which it does — kind of. It turns the girl real, but holding all the humanity that the doll itself had. No heart, and a head full of muslin. <br /><br />Though Georgette tries to school her, the girl goes off with the first swarm of young men who descend, praising the “big strong arms” they have and the “firm lips” they have, leaving Georgette behind to scoff at the trouble children can be, and wondering if she should just go get a cat.<br /><br /><i>Little Red Riding Hood’s Family </i><br /><br />From a silly daughter in our last story to silly parents in this one, here we have Roselle, who is so exasperated by her parents and how they act because it’s so embarrassing. Case in point, the evening we enter the story, when Roselle’s parents are having a water fight in the kitchen and her mother ends up spraining an ankle.<br /><br />This is a problem because Mother was supposed to visit Granny that night and take supper. Dad could do it, but he’s terrified of his mother-in-law, so Roselle, being the responsible one in the family, volunteers to go, even though the sun is setting and she’s never made the trip after dark.<br /><br />But, she reasons, she’s a competent and responsible young woman, so she can make the trip without incident. Which she does, though when she gets to Granny’s, she’s concerned at the outset because Granny doesn’t come out to meet her or respond to Roselle’s calls. And Roselle can hear some disturbance coming from the bedroom. So she musters her courage to go and investigate, and what should she find, but a wolf in her grandmother’s clothing, rummaging through the wardrobe! <br /><br />The wolf is, in fact, her grandmother, because it’s after dark and the moon is out and Granny happens to be a werewolf. She was on her way to go check on Roselle and family because no one had come, but she couldn’t find four matching shoes, and she wasn’t about to leave the house in a state of undress.<br /><br />Roselle helps Granny find the fourth shoe, and as she’s doing so, a vampire shows up, looking for a meal, but he’s not into werewolves. The fur, you know. But Roselle will be a nice treat – except that she turns him into a frog before he gets a chance to do anything. Because you don’t mess with a witch. <br /><br /><i>Granny and the Wolf</i><br /><br />This story focuses on Granny, whose name is Nelda, and who has spent some time fighting off the advances of an unwanted suitor. On her way home one day, she finds a wolf caught in a hunting trap. She releases the animal, who is relatively tame and well behaved, and leads her back to her home to bandage the wound. <br /><br />So there she is with a wolf in the house when her twelve-year-old granddaughter stops by, because Nelda is making her a red dress for the festival and she wants to know if it’s ready. Knowing that if Scarlet sees a wolf in the house, she’ll tell her father who will fuss and worry, Nelda hides the wolf in her bedroom. <br /><br />And then, in a convoluted series of hilarious events, Nelda ends up hiding the wolf from Scarlet, and Scarlet and the wolf from the unwanted suitor, and Scarlet and the wolf and the unwanted suitor from her son, and eventually, Scarlet finds out about the wolf, and the wolf chases the unwanted suitor away for good, and Granny decides to keep the wolf as a pet and guard.<br /><br />I’m trying to keep the summary on control on this one, but it flows really nicely, and is very funny, hitting all the points of the story as the wolf gets hidden in the wardrobe and in the bed, and Scarlet gets hidden under the table and in the wardrobe, and the way the original story gets woven into the insanity is very smartly done.<br /><br /><i>Deems the Wood Gatherer</i> is a delightful story about a near-sighted wood collector who inadvertently ends up helping all the villains of the woodland fairy tales (LRRH, Hansel and Gretel, The 3 Pigs, etc) due to his poor eyesight, but as it isn’t exclusively LRRH, I’m going to leave it out of this discussion.<br /><br /><i>Why Willy and His Brother Won’t Amount to Anything</i><br /><br />This is possibly my favorite tale in the entire collection for reasons we’ll get to at the end. In this story, Isobel lives next door to a pretty annoying boy named Willy. Willy has an overactive imagination that often gets him into trouble, and Isobel’s parents constantly say that he will never amount to anything.<br /><br />Case in point, one day Isobel finds a fox cub, and she’s trying to coax it nearer to her when Willy comes rushing up, chasing away the “wolf” who was about to “attack” her. Isobel tries to argue, but it’s Willy, the color-blind boy who continually insists her green cloak is red, no matter how many times she corrects him, so she gives it up pretty quick as a lost cause, telling him that he’s welcome to stop in for a drink if the work gets too hot just to be polite.<br /><br />Isobel heads to her house to help her grandmother, who is in the process of sewing draft protectors for the doors in the house. She had the idea to wrap stones in batting and then sew them with fabric to make them look like animals. She’s made a snake and a fish and a caterpillar, but she’s having trouble with the wolf she’s working on now, and asks for Isobel’s opinion.<br /><br />The trouble, Isobel identifies, is that the arms are too long, and the eyes and ears and teeth are too big. Playfully, Grandma makes the wolf snap at Isobel, saying, “The better to eat you with!,” and that’s when Willy bursts into the room and cuts the “wolf” in two with his knife, crying out that he will protect the two women from the dangerous wild animal!<br /><br />Despite their protestations, Willy and his little brother march away, confident in the knowledge that they’ve saved lives, and Isobel and Grandma watch them go, shaking heads. “Those Grimm brothers,” Granny says with a sigh, “they’ll never amount to anything.”<br /><br />Hehehehe, I love it. <br /><i><br />The Little Red Headache</i><br /><br />Here we take the tale from the perspective of the wolf, and it’s made very clear early on that the wolf doesn’t speak human, and humans don’t speak wolf, and that will make up much of the confusion.<br /><br />See, the wolf gets woken from slumber by a child stepping on his tail. And as if that wasn’t enough, her screaming when she see him pop up gives him a headache. He tries to reassure her that’s he fine, no harm done, but it comes out as a growl, and she runs away.<br /><br />But she forgets her basket. And while the food smells delicious, and the wolf is tempted to just eat it, he was brought up better than that, so he takes the basket in his mouth and tries to follow the little girl. However, every time he gets close, she screams some more and runs away. <br /><br />Determined to do the right thing, he keeps on through the woods until he finds a cottage. He scratches at the door until it opens, then asks if the basket he has belongs to the woman who lives there, and if she wants it because it smells delicious, and someone really should eat it. But this woman, who also doesn’t speak wolf, just starts screaming just like the little girl, and the wolf’s head is really starting to kill him. <br /><br />The woman runs into another room and jumps in a big box (wardrobe) to hide. The wolf takes that to mean, no, it isn’t her basket, so he goes ahead and eats what’s in it. And that’s when the little girl shows up and starts screaming again, which sets the old lady to screaming, and that’s when the wolf decides he’s had enough and leaves the humans behind, knocking into a woodcutter on his way out.<br /><i><br />Little Red Riding Hood’s Little Red Riding Hood</i><br /><br />In this story, a fairy godmother is late to a christening because she can’t decide what to wear, and in the end, she ends up throwing a long red cloak over her out of date gown and just getting on to the christening. She arrives late, in a bad mood and distracted, not to mention frustrated by the cloak that has just been a total nuisance.<br /><br />Long story short, her intention was to gift the child with intelligence. Instead, she ends up gifting the cloak with intelligence, and then giving the cloak to the girl, whose name is Ruby.<br /><br />So here we have this intelligent and self-aware cloak. It becomes whatever length or shade of red will best suit little Ruby. It can become warmer or lighter, tighter or looser, and it soon becomes apparent that the cloak is a good deal smarter than its owner. But being fabric, it lacks the ability to speak, so no one knows just how intelligent the cloak is.<br /><br />And Ruby certainly doesn’t appreciate what she has. Ruby is a silly girl and a bit spoiled. She’s also kind of dumb. Because when she has to go off into the woods to visit her grandmother and a talking wolf pops up, she starts talking right back, complaining about her mother and this unfair task, in no way aware of the danger she’s in.<br /><br />The cloak is aware, though, and she tries to get Ruby to hurry along, but Ruby is having none of it. This continues through the story we know, the cloak taking the place of the audience in many respects, and finally, Ruby gets fed up enough with the cloak that she disowns it, which allows the cloak to finally leave the idiotic, belligerent girl behind to die however she chooses.<br /><br />The cloak then searches for a new owner, and is passed from person to person for many years until she finally ends up on the back of a young superhero, helping him leap tall buildings in a single bound, but that’s another story entirely.<br /><br />Thoughts on this anthology?<br /><br />I adore it. I mean, yeah, some of the stories are not as good as some others, but you get that with any anthology, and the whole idea behind these collections of Vande Velde’s is one that I am completely behind. There were stories in here that were absolutely wonderful, and there weren’t any stories that I hated or felt missed the mark. <br /><br />Checklist.<br /><br />Make Little Red less of an idiot? Yes and no. It depended on the story in question, but what I appreciated was that even in the stories where Little Red was still an idiot, there was another character in there somewhere who wasn’t. And if Little Red was an idiot, there was a reason for it, a comment being made by it, and it was acknowledged within the story itself. So, point.<br /><br />Develop the world? Yes. What I love about this collection is that every story felt very self-defined. The story had a context and the world was deliberately created. If there actually was a talking wolf, we got an explanation as to why. If there was magic, it was consistently present and used in the story. All eight worlds presented here were well drawn and well defined.<br /><br />Give me a point? Well, yes, obviously. The whole point of this book, like with <i>The Rumpelstiltskin Problem</i>, is to address the issues of the original fairy tale. So the book gets a point overall for that. But also, individually, each of the stories had a point and purpose as well. There were message being put forth, and yeah, some of them were silly, but that’s fine.<br /><br />All in all, she’s done it again folks, and if you like meta and snark, pick up this book and read it, by all means.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-74202086836640324902013-04-01T20:54:00.000-07:002013-04-09T20:54:54.315-07:00Little Red Riding Hood (According to Cassie)<i>Little Red Riding Hood</i> (According to Cassie)<br /><br />So basically, there's this girl, and she's named after a piece of clothing because that makes perfect sense. She lives with her mother on the edge of the woods; if there's a father, we never hear about him. <br /><br />There's a grandmother, though, and she lives in the middle of the woods, and she's also been feeling a bit under the weather, so Mother asks young Little Red to take a basket of bread and wine into the forest for Granny, to make her feel better. Why we're sending wine and not soup or something isn't made clear, but hey. Alcohol's medicinal, right? Though it should be noted that not everyone includes the wine. Perrault just had them send a cake and some butter because that'll heal a body right up!<br /><br />Anyway, the mother packs the basket and sends Little Red out into the woods. In some versions, she gives instructions: don't talk to strangers and don't stray from the path; but in Perrault's, the little girl just goes skipping off into the woods with alcohol and sugar for the invalid. <br /><br />And as she skips along the path into the woods, who should she encounter but a wolf! And not just any sort of wolf -- a talking wolf! Why a little girl has been sent alone into a forest containing a talking wolf is not addressed. Nor is it addressed why an invalided old lady is living alone in a forest containing a talking wolf. <br /><br />Anyway, Little Red meets this wolf and does not immediately turn and run in the opposite direction. Nor does she express any sort of surprise at the fact that this wolf strikes up a conversation with her, so maybe in this world, talking animals are fairly commonplace. <br /><br />Or maybe Little Red is just an idiot. I mean, that's certainly not out of the realm of possibility, given what happens next.<br /><br />Because the wolf starts chatting up Little Red, asking where she's going and what's in her basket and why she's in the woods. And Little Red doesn't say "none of your business" or "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," or "why do you care?" No, instead she flat out tells him that her grandmother lives alone and is sick, and then, she practically draws him a map with GPS coordinates for how to find said sick old woman who can't possibly defend herself.<br /><br />Seriously, it's not, "I'm visiting my grandma who lives in the forest." That would be not too smart, but the forest is a big place, and hey, maybe grandma's a lumberjack or something. But, no. No, Little Red tells this wolf <i>exactly</i> where to find her sick grandma, which house in which part of the woods and all. And then, the wolf proposes that they race to grandma's and see who can get there first.<br /><br />No, none of this strikes Little Red as suspect at all. Which means she's either young enough that she shouldn't be wandering around a forest on her own or dumb enough that she shouldn't be wandering around a forest on her own. Either way, this girl really ought to be supervised, is what I'm saying.<br /><br />So, Little Red finds nothing creepy or suspicious at all about the wolf’s suggestion, and in fact, seems to entirely forget about it once the wolf follows her incredibly specific directions and heads away. In some versions, he specifically distracts her by suggesting she go further into the woods to gather flowers for her grandmother, but in Perrault's, he doesn't have to! The child wanders away of her own accord, and honestly, I'm surprised it took this long.<br /><br />So, yeah, the wolf gets to Granny's way ahead of Little Red, and in a move that provides decent evidence that Little Red's idiocy might just be hereditary, this obviously male wolf tells Granny that he is her granddaughter, and she gives him instructions on how to unlock the door from the outside and invites him right in. Having very easily gained entrance to the house, the wolf eats Granny. <br /><br />Then he dresses himself in her nightgown and climbs into bed to wait for Little Red. And soon enough, Little Red shows up. She knocks on the door, and when the wolf answers, claiming to be her grandmother, Little Red is slightly alarmed by the sound of his voice, but decides that her grandma must just be hoarse because of her cold, and so she goes right in. This, to me, is slightly excusable.<br /><br />But what happens next is not. Little Red heads for Granny's room, and sees the wolf in Granny's nightdress. And despite the fact that a) she met this same wolf earlier, b) he told her he was going to be heading to Granny's, c) she's already suspicious because of the unfamiliar voice, and d)<i> it's a freakin' wolf in a nightdress!!!</i>, Little Red does not immediately recognize that it is not her grandmother in the room with her. <br /><br />Now, I’m no expert, nor did I grow up in this fantasy land, but it seems to me that if you have difficulty distinguishing between your grandmother and a wolf in a nightdress, then you either need to have your eyes checked, your head examined, or offer some sort of explanation as to why your grandmother is regularly covered in fur. <br /><br />And what gets me about this is how Little Red knows that <i>something’s</i> wrong . . . she just can’t quite put her finger on <i>what</i>. Is it the fur-covered arms and legs that end in paws and claws? No . . . Is it the pointed, furry ears on top of the head? No. . . Is it the glowing yellow eyes? No . . . Is it the fangs in the snout-like mouth? Oh. Yup. That was it. The teeth. Being eaten now. Shucks. Wish I could have seen that coming.<br /><br />That’s the end of the story, by the way. Little Red gets eaten, along with Granny, the wolf enjoys a nice full meal and heads off, presumably in search of other idiotic little girls to eat. No huntsman, no rescue, no survival. This is the end of the tale, as far as Perrault is concerned.<br /><br />Honestly, if it weren’t for Perrault’s heavy-handed moral, I’d really be okay with that. Seriously. Act like an idiot, get eaten by a wolf. Works for me. Unfortunately, though, Perrault’s moral is not ‘Learn to tell the difference between your family members and hungry wild animals, you idiot child.’ No, his moral is this:<br /><br />“Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say "wolf," but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all.”<br /><br />Thanks, Charlie. Your concern for the well being of children, particularly “attractive, well-bred young ladies,” is really quite sexist and condescending. But what else is new? And point of interest: morals become slightly less effective when they’re longer than the story you were telling in the first place. Also, if you have to explain the metaphor.<br /><br />And, yeah, I know the story has been continued in many other versions. The wolf curls up to sleep after eating Little Red, and a huntsman, the smartest human in the forest, apparently, passes by and realizes that wolves don’t normally curl up in nightdresses, so he figures out that something strange is afoot. He cuts open the wolf’s stomach (which somehow doesn’t kill said wolf) and out climb Little Red and Granny, somehow not dead despite having been eaten. <br /><br />Then Granny fills the wolf’s stomach with rocks to kill him in a slow, torturous, agonizing death that I really don’t feel he deserved, skins him once he’s dead, and makes Little Red a cloak from the skin.<br /><br />Guess she’ll have to have her name legally changed now.<br /><br />Thoughts on this story?<br /><br />It should be noted that I am entirely ignoring the incredibly rape-y original oral versions of this story, and focusing on when it got written down for kids.<br /><br />As you might be able to glean from the heightened levels of snark in this synopsis, this fairy tale kinda rubs me the wrong way, at least with the common ending. I can get behind it as Perrault’s morality tale, even if I think the moral he identified is stupid and sexist. If the purpose of this story is to say, “hey, this is what happens when you’re an unobservant idiot, try thinking before you act next time,” then I’m totally down with it.<br /><br />The problem is, that’s not what this story is, usually. When you add the huntsman and the rescue and the wolf’s death . . . what are you left with? No one learns anything, no one grows as a character, and there’s no point to this story. It’s Rumpelstiltskin all over again. I disobeyed my mother, I got eaten by a wolf, I was rescued by a huntsman, and then I found five dollars. <br /><br />So. What am I looking for in an adaptation?<br /><br />Make Little Red less of an idiot. Make her innocent and naive and overly trusting, by all means. But make her less of an idiot, and let’s see some growth by the end of the story, hmm?<br /><br />Develop the world. I want background and exposition and explanation. There are questions we don’t ask in a morality tale, but when it’s novel length, I need answers. Why do the wolves talk? Why is that not cause for concern? Why does the wolf want to eat the humans? Why is the wolf so easily mistaken for Granny? I need this world to be more developed and more defined, offering answers to some of those questions.<br /><br />Give me a point. For the love of God, give me a point. Just like with Rumpelstiltskin, why are you telling this story? What’s your message? What’s your ending? Why should I care about your story?<br /><br />The line-up:<br /><br />Week 1: <i>Cloaked in Red</i> by Vivian Vande Velde<br />Week 2: <i>Scarlet</i> by Marissa Meyer<br />Week 3: <i>Scarlet Moon</i> by Debbie Vigue<br />Week 4: <i>Princess of the Silver Wood</i> by Jessica Day George<br /><br />Feel free to read along!CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-65030139661495448252013-03-31T20:45:00.000-07:002013-04-09T20:45:54.492-07:00Cinderella Wrap Up<i>Cinderella</i> Wrap-Up<br /><br />As ubiquitous as the fairy tale of Cinderella is in cultures around the world, it is easily as ubiquitous in fairy tale novelizations. There have been months in the past where the struggle was finding enough novels to fill a full month. Here, the struggle lay in narrowing down the choice (in other words, the “Other Notable Novels” section is going to be quite full this month).<br /><br />And yet, for all that that is true, almost every novelization I could have read and reviewed pulls from Perrault’s Cinderella. There are exceptions, of course. Donna Jo Napoli has a wonderful one that uses the Chinese Cinderella as its basis, and Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters Cinderella retelling uses more of Grimm’s, but for the most part, authors tend to latch onto Perrault’s.<br /><br />And that got me thinking — why? Why fixate on arguably the weakest version of Cinderella out there, a story with a heroine so helpless she can’t even voice her own wishes? And then it occurred to me (and hang onto your hats, folks. I’m about to go Super Meta):<br /><br />Maybe authors latch onto Perrault’s Cinderella because she’s the one most in need of rescue. Not from an evil curse, not from enforced servitude, but from the very confines of her own story told by an incredibly sexist narrator (appreciate as much as you want the work that Perrault did in terms of collecting and reproducing oral tradition tales in France; I certainly do. But that appreciation aside, you can’t deny that he was sexist and chauvinistic, and the stories he chose to collect and the way he chose to tell them reflect this).<br /><br />I think authors tend to hone in on Perrault’s Cinderella because they want so badly to rescue Perrault’s Cinderella, above and beyond the other Cinderellas out there. Because Grimm’s made her own way to the ball. Chinese, Russian, Native American Cinderellas took charge of their own destinies. And so many other Cinderella figures out there – even if they couldn’t go after what they wanted, they could at least articulate it. But Perrault’s is so terribly helpless, you can’t help but want to give her a stronger personality and some small measure of control.<br /><br />Because that’s what I noticed this month. Without exception, every Cinderella from every novelization was far less passive, far more proactive, far less willing to sit around and wait for her life to improve. Across the board, we got Cinderellas with gumption and fire and stubbornness, far more than Perrault’s ever showed.<br /><br />I also noticed that all five of these novels offered Cinderella friends, another thing missing from Perrault’s tale. Ella from <i>Just Ella</i> had Jed and Mary; Poppy had Christian and Marianne and Dickon; Cinder had Peony and her android and Kai; Cindy had Malcolm and India; and Ella from <i>Ella Enchanted</i> had Char and Areida and Mandy. None of our Cinderellas were left alone, and in four out of five cases, they all met and became friends with the prince long before the ball, and in the one instance they didn’t, he turned out to be an idiot.<br /><br />So, we give her passion, and we give her friends, and I think that’s significant. Every novel we read this month stressed the importance of those two things above and beyond the importance of romance, and it’s hard not to be a fan of that.<br /><br />So. Rankings.<br /><br /><i>Ella Enchanted</i> by Gail Carson Levine and<i> Princess of Glass</i> by Jessica Day George both come Highly Recommended and remain some of my favorite novel adaptations.<br /><br /><i>Just Ella</i> by Margaret Peterson Haddix and<i> Cinder</i> by Marissa Meyer are both Recommended for sure.<br /><br /><i>Cindy Ella</i> by Robin Palmer was pretty disappointing, and I wouldn’t want anyone to go out of their way to read it. <br /><br />Other Notable Novels: Tons. Seriously, guys, there are so many. <br /><br /><i>Bound</i> by Donna Jo Napoli, which tells the tale of the Chinese Cinderella.<br /><i>Phoenix and Ashes</i> by Mercedes Lackey, which is one of my favorite of her Elemental Masters series.<br /><i>Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister</i> by Gregory Maguire, which I haven’t read for a while but remember being blown away by.<br /><i>Before Midnight</i> by Cameron Dokey, which has a fantastic take on Cinderella’s father.<br /><i>I Was a Rat</i> by Philip Pullman, which examines the story from the perspective of one of the rats turned into a footman, and is tons of fun.<br /><br />And I’m gonna go ahead and throw out <i>The Stepsister Scheme</i> by Jim C Hines and <i>The Fairy Godmother</i> by Mercedes Lackey, both of which have Cinderella as a character combined with other fairy tale characters in truly wonderful ways.<br /><br />Also, someone please read <i>Cinderella: Ninja Warrior</i> for me? My copy had to go back to the library before I could read it, and I just want to know!<br /><br />There are so many others, guys. Cinderella is everywhere! But the month is up, and we have to move on.<br /><br />April’s fairy tale is <i>Little Red Riding Hood</i>!CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-83830978003914993972013-03-29T07:27:00.000-07:002013-04-09T07:28:07.562-07:00Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine<i>Ella Enchanted</i> by Gail Carson Levine<br /><br />Target Audience: Middle Grade<br /><br />Summary: At birth, Ella is inadvertently cursed by an imprudent young fairy named Lucinda, who bestows on her the "gift" of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must obey. Another girl might have been cowed by this affliction, but not feisty Ella: "Instead of making me docile, Lucinda's curse made a rebel of me. Or perhaps I was that way naturally." When her beloved mother dies, leaving her in the care of a mostly absent and avaricious father, and later, a loathsome stepmother and two treacherous stepsisters, Ella's life and well-being seem to be in grave peril. But her intelligence and saucy nature keep her in good stead as she sets out on a quest for freedom and self-discovery as she tries to track down Lucinda to undo the curse, fending off ogres, befriending elves, and falling in love with a prince along the way.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling<br /><br />So, disclaimer right at the start, I am fully aware that I view this novel through something of a nostalgia filter because this was the first fairy tale adaptation that I ever remember reading, and I adored it when I was younger, and it remains one of my favorite novels of all time ever, and it’s what got me into fairy tale novelizations in the first place. Rereading it for this review, I did my best to as objective as possible, but basically, this book is amazing and nothing and no one will ever convince me otherwise. <br /><br />So, Ella is a girl cursed with obedience. It wasn’t intended as a curse initially; it was intended to be a gift, a blessing, from a well-meaning but significantly misguided fairy named Lucinda. But it became a curse very quickly because anything Ella is told to do, she must do, whether it’s to finish her dinner, to stop crying, or to cook herself in a stewpot. She has no control and no choice. If she tries to delay or disobey, the curse causes her incredible pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, etc. Ella must be obedient.<br /><br />She hates it, and I love how feisty this girl is, how strong in mind and spirit, and I love that a gift designed to make her pliable and easy to manage has, in fact, done just the opposite – it’s made her stubborn and rebellious and clever. <br /><br />Because Ella has found little ways around the curse, learning how to obey the orders she’s given to the letter but not the spirit, wasting the time of the person giving the order and forcing them to be more and more specific.<br /><br />Not that many people are aware of the curse; in fact, hardly anyone is. Ella’s mother knows, and Ella’s cook/fairy godmother Mandy. But the curse has been kept secret from everyone else, both because Ella sure doesn’t want anyone else knowing, and because Ella’s mother gave her a rare command not to tell anyone.<br /><br />But while this one aspect of her life sucks, in general, Ella’s life and childhood don’t. Her father, a difficult and cold-hearted man, travels as a trader and is hardly ever home. Ella’s mother adores her and raises her with love and laughter, and Mandy is stern but obviously cares for Ella as well, and so things aren’t too bad.<br /><br />Until Ella’s mother dies. And her father returns home to find that his daughter is clumsy and awkward and too tall and doesn’t know how to do anything that he deems valuable. She can’t dance or sing or embroider, she isn’t at home in fancy clothing or in a fine setting. She breaks things and is too stubborn for her own good. So when he hears at his wife’s funeral of a finishing school that a woman called Dame Olga is sending her two daughters to, he packs Ella up and sends her along as well. Ella is ordered to go, and so, there is nothing she can do.<br /><br />The only people upset about this development (apart from Ella) are Mandy and the prince, Char. Ella met Char at her mother’s funeral, and he was kind and gracious toward her as no one else was that day. And he knew the real version of her mother, the fun-loving woman who was always full of laughter, not the dutiful wife and lady that everyone else spoke of. Ella and Char struck up a friendship that day, and Char is indignant on Ella’s behalf because, as he says, she doesn’t need to be finished – she’s fine the way she is!<br /><br />But despite having the prince in her camp, Ella is off to finishing school, where she is inundated and overwhelmed with orders – to correct her posture, to learn to sew, to dance gracefully, to eat properly, the curse forces her bit by bit to become “finished,” and Ella hates every minute of it, except for the time she spends with Arieda, the one girl she becomes friends with.<br /><br />Hattie, daughter of Dame Olga and Ella’s future stepsister (spoilers) discovers Ella’s curse, sort of. She works out that Ella has to do whatever she’s told, though she doesn’t know why. She doesn’t need to, though, not to thoroughly order Ella about. And when Hattie orders Ella to stop being friends with Arieda, Ella has had enough. Rather than have to obey the order, she runs away in the middle of the night, making up her mind to track down Lucinda, the fairy who cursed her, and try and convince her to take the curse away.<br /><br />She learns that Lucinda will be at a giant’s wedding, so she sets out in that direction. Along the way, she’s captured by ogres, the kingdom’s most dangerous enemy because they have the power of persuasion, not that they need it with Ella. But one of Ella’s gifts is a way with languages, and she manages to turn their technique against them long enough for help to arrive in the form of Char and his knights. Char and Ella rekindle their friendship, and he sees her safely delivered to the giant’s wedding. <br /><br />At the wedding, Ella manages to track down Lucinda and beg for the gift of obedience to be taken away, but no dice. Lucinda tells Ella to be happy with her gift, and because it’s an order, Ella has to obey, an order that turns her into a puppet and really shows just how insidious a gift this can be – with the right command, your thoughts and emotions aren’t even your own, which is one of the most horrifying aspects to me.<br /><br />Mandy is able to reverse this command once Ella makes it home, but there are bigger problems up ahead. Ella’s father has lost his fortune, and his solution is for Ella to marry a rich man. When that falls through, because he can’t find one rich enough, Sir Peter is left with no other choice than to find a rich lady for him to marry.<br /><br />Reenter Dame Olga and her horrible daughters. Sir Peter lies to Dame Olga about his own fortune, leading her to believe that he’s still as rich as he ever was – at least until after they’re married. Ella can’t stand the proceedings or Hattie and Olive, so she slips away from the wedding, and ends up spending an afternoon with Char, exploring the old castle. They find a pair of fairy-made glass slippers on their explorations that fit Ella perfectly (Ella has a drop of fairy blood in her, which means she will always have the abnormally small feet of fairies), and Char gives them to her as a gift.<br /><br />I love the friendship Levine builds between these two because, as you all should know by now, I love it when romance in these stories is built on more than just “love at first sight.” I love when it has a firm base, and this one does. Char tells Ella that he’s leaving in a few days to spend a year in a neighboring kingdom, and that he wants to write to her while he’s gone. Then he convinces her to slide down the stair bannister, which is, of course, when her new stepfamily finds them.<br /><br />Hattie is furious that Ella should be so close with the prince, and so, when he calls on Ella the next two days, Hattie orders Ella to stay in her room, so Ella doesn’t get the chance to say goodbye to Char before he leaves, and they part on uncertain footing. Luckily, Hattie doesn’t know that they’re writing letters, and as they write back and forth, their friendship deepens, and Ella falls more and more in love. <br /><br />It’s about the only thing life has going for her. Dame Olga discovered that her new husband is basically broke, and while he is able to travel and escape her, Ella has no such respite. She’s forced to be a servant in her own home because Dame Olga refuses to treat her as a lady, given that she has no wealth. So Mandy takes her in as a scullery maid, and while Ella’s life isn’t what she would wish, it could be worse.<br /><br />And then Char confesses his love to her in a letter. And for one shining night, she’s over the moon, thinking that this is her way out. She marries the prince, and he takes her away from Hattie and Olive and Dame Olga, and she spends the rest of her life with the man that she loves.<br /><br />But in the light of day, she knows she can’t accept Char. Her curse makes it impossible; it would endanger him in the worst way. She could be ordered to spy, to betray, to kill him. And she can’t tell him about the curse – her mother forbade it. So the only thing to do is to break his heart. <br /><br />This moment is beautiful and heart-breaking. Because yes, you can argue that there were other options – tell him she doesn’t love him but wants to still be friends, for instance – but Ella knows that even as friends, she’s a danger to Char. Hell, she’s a danger to him just by existing, but even more so if she’s close to him in any degree. And there’s nothing she could tell him that would convince him to break off their friendship. <br /><br />So she does the only thing she can. She breaks his heart so thoroughly that he’ll hate her, playing on his hatred of being made to look like a fool, because that’s the only way he’ll eventually move on. She writes as her stepsister Hattie, telling him that Ella eloped with an old rich man, that Ella used to read Char’s letters aloud to the family and was only ever taking advantage of Char’s attentions. Then she writes a short letter in her own voice, to drive it all home.<br /><br />It’s the hardest thing she’s ever had to do, and Mandy resolves to do something about it. So summons Lucinda and tricks her into agreeing to try out her so-called “wonderful” gifts, to see if they’re really so grand. It gives Ella hope that, if she realizes how awful it is to have to be obedient all the time, Lucinda will take the gift away, since she remains the only one who can. <br /><br />And while Mandy’s plan works, it works a little too well for Ella, because Lucinda has sworn off all big magic, and while she now knows everything Ella has gone through, she won’t take the risk of removing the curse. <br /><br />So now we have Ella, still cursed, all hope gone, a servant in her own home, the man she loves with all her heart hating her. She’s at her lowest point. And that’s when Char’s return is announced, along with a three-day festival being thrown by the king.<br /><br />Ella is determined to go, both to spite her step-family and to see Char one last time. She resolves not to approach him in any way, just to see him from afar, but she needs that closure. She and Mandy make three gowns and a mask in secret, but on the night of the first ball, it’s raining, which means Ella can’t walk to the palace as was her plan. In a moment of desperation, she calls on Lucinda, who agrees to help as long as it’s with small magic – transforming objects rather than creating new ones, and the transformations will be temporary, disappearing by midnight. So Ella ties on her mask, climbs into the pumpkin-turned-coach, and heads to the ball.<br /><br />She sees Char, and watches him, but it isn’t enough, and so, breaking her resolve, she jumps into the receiving line. She changes the pitch of her voice and calls herself Lela (. . . really? Sweetie, I don’t think you’re trying very hard, here), and is determined to be just like the other girls, sweet and polite, but she can’t stand the idea of Char being bored with her, finding another girl to dance with, falling in love with someone else right in front of her eyes, and so she makes one comment like her true self, and it makes him laugh, and he asks her to dance. <br /><br />She comes the next night, and he spends as much of it with her as he can. Hattie is not pleased, and she takes “Lela” aside to tell her that she and Char are secretly engaged, and that she must ask to see “Lela’s” face behind the mask, to protect her. Because she didn’t order it, Ella can refuse, so Hattie tries to plant doubt in Char’s mind, but no dice. <br /><br />Char asks “Lela” to stay longer the third night, to hear him sing, and Ella resolves to be able to. She foregoes Lucinda’s magic that night so she can stay past midnight, and the moment she enters the ballroom, Char is at her side, and it’s clear he doesn’t intend to leave it.<br /><br />But my favorite moment of this portion of the novel is when Char takes Ella aside and confesses that he might have been misleading her, spending so much time with her. He admits that the purpose of the balls is to find him a wife, but that he has no intention of marrying, and he hopes she isn’t disappointed to learn that. I love this, because it’s another example of a character taking charge of his own destiny. The balls were the king’s idea; Char doesn’t appreciate being forced into a marriage without being consulted about it, so he’ll go along with the balls, but he’s not going to choose a bride. It’s not a vow I think he can realistically keep – the need for heirs and all – but I appreciate that in this moment, that’s his move.<br /><br />He tells Lela that even though love is supposed to be forever, friendship can be, too, and then he starts to ask a question, but before he can get it out, Hattie dances by and snatches off Ella’s mask. Char recognizes her immediately, of course, as does Hattie, and that’s why Ella runs. Not because it’s midnight, not because of any magic, but because she realizes how foolish she’s been, so desperate for his voice and his touch that she forgot why she broke his heart in the first place.<br /><br />She runs home, losing a shoe along the way, but she can’t stop. She has to take Mandy and escape someplace where Char can’t find her, can’t come after her, can’t be put in danger by her. <br /><br />But Char comes faster than Ella thought he would, and he knows where she lives. Before Ella and Mandy can slip away, the entire household is forced to assemble. Ella tries so hard to disguise herself, but she’s pulled out anyway, and it’s clear that Char recognizes her immediately. But Ella (and Hattie) denies who she is, and so Char pulls out the slipper, the magic fairy slipper they found in the palace that day, the one he gave to Ella. He knows it’s hers. He tells her that it will fit Ella and Ella alone.<br /><br />Hattie tries to claim the slipper as hers, but it’s fairy-made, for fairy-feet, so it doesn’t fit her or Olive. Char draws Ella to a chair and slips it on, but he does so privately, not making a show of it, and he sees how utterly terrified she is when it fits, this proof of who she is. And so, even though he doesn’t understand it, he tells her, in a whisper, “You needn’t be Ella if you don’t want to be,” and . . . guys, it’s such a wonderful, beautiful moment. Char was my first literary crush, and this scene is why. <br /><br />Because he’ll let her go if she tells him to. He doesn’t understand why, doesn’t know why she lied or why his presence here inspires so much fear, but if she tells him to go, he will. He figures out that her letter was a trick, and she confirms it. He asks if she loves him, he needs that from her, and she confesses that she does. And he says, “Then marry me!”<br /><br />It’s a command, though Char never intended it as one. But it is a command, and Ella must be obedient. Hattie commands her not to marry the prince, but Dame Olga steps in and says with a princess for a stepsister, she’ll have everything she wants, and Ella knows it’s begun, what she was so afraid of, the reason why she broke Char’s heart in the first place. <br /><br />She’s been ordered to say yes, to accept his proposal, to marry him. But she <i>can’t</i>. She can’t put him in that danger, she can’t let herself be used against him. She has to say no.<br /><br />This two-page scene is one of my favorite things that’s ever been written, guys, because it is so powerfully and effectively done, Ella’s inner turmoil, her struggle to fight against the curse, to save Char by breaking it, by finding the strength to refuse him. And that need, that love, is strong enough when nothing else has been. It isn’t easy. It’s the hardest thing Ella has ever done, but she is finally able to yell, “No!” and refuse to marry Char. <br /><br />Ella is jubilant, refusing him over and over again, and Char is confused, and it’s just . . . lovely. It’s lovely, and I love it. He asks why she won’t marry him if she loves him, making it clear that she doesn’t have to, that she can say no, he’s just confused, and she tells him that she’s cursed, and he wouldn’t be safe if he married her. <br /><br />And then she realizes that she shouldn’t be able to tell him that. And she thinks back on all the commands she has not followed in the last minute or so, and Mandy confirms what she doesn’t dare believe – the curse is broken. And Ella kneels before Char and asks him to marry her. And happily ever after.<br /><br />God, I love this book. I could rhapsodize all day, but this review is already over a week late, so I’m just gonna take us to the checklist.<br /><br />Give Cinderella control of her own destiny? You wouldn’t think so, would you, with a main character cursed into obedience? And yet, Ella takes charge of her own story undeniably. I love that forcing her to be obedient to every command has actually made her incredibly strong-willed and stubborn, determined to fight against a world constantly telling her what to do. I love that the secret to breaking the curse lies is loving Char enough to refuse him. I love that, in the end, Ella’s curse isn’t taken away by Lucinda or removed by Mandy or broken with a kiss from Char – she breaks it herself. She rescues <i>herself</i>. I love it, and I love her.<br /><br />Enhance the role of the prince? Every time I read this book, I fall in love with Char all over again. He’s not perfect, but he is <i>good</i>, through and through, right down to his core. He is pure-hearted and a good friend, and he loves Ella enough to trust her, to let her go if that’s what she needs. I love the relationship built up between these two throughout the novel, that while Char did fall in love with Ella, what he was really looking for most was a friend, someone he could talk to, and he fell in love with Ella because she was able to be that for him, first and foremost. <br /><br />Address the plot transgressions? Let’s see.<br /><br />Why does Cindy’s dad allow her to be treated so horribly? Because he’s kind of a horrible human being, and I love it. I love that Levine had the guts to characterize the father in this way. He is cold-hearted and closed-off and he doesn’t really care about his daughter. His business has always been more important to him.<br /><br />Why doesn’t Cindy fight her servitude or leave if she’s being treated so badly? Because she can’t. She’s cursed to obey, and she’s been ordered to be a servant. She fights against it in all the ways that she can, but she can’t actually leave.<br /><br />Why hasn’t the fairy godmother made an appearance before this point, if she’s charged with Cinderella’s happiness and well being? The FG’s role is split between Mandy and Lucinda, and Mandy has always been there, protecting Ella, watching over her, keeping her safe, acting as you would expect a FG to act. <br /><br />Anybody going to question glass slippers? They’re fairy-made to bend and give without breaking.<br /><br />Why don’t the slippers disappear along with the rest of the FG’s gifts? They weren’t given to her by Lucinda; she got them earlier from the prince.<br /><br />Why does the prince need the shoe to identify Cinderella, and is it really reasonable to assume that it will? Because Ella has super tiny feet, thanks to her fairy blood. But it’s less about the show fitting and more about Char knowing that these slippers specifically are Ella’s, because he gave them to her.<br /><br />This book is everything a Cinderella adaptation should be. Nostalgia goggles or not, this remains one of my favorite books of all time, and nothing will convince me otherwise. <br /><br />Expect the Cinderella Wrap-Up later today. Thanks for your patience!CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-42971680830060245342013-03-24T13:05:00.000-07:002013-03-24T13:05:38.335-07:00Guest Post: Disney's Cinderella (from Matthew)<div id=":tj">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Disney’s <i><span class="il">Cinderella</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">or “Why This Movie Really Isn’t As Bad As You Think It Is” - by Matt Guion</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Seriously, people. It’s not.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Okay, to be fair, Disney’s <i><span class="il">Cinderella</span> </i>is
one of the earliest movies I remember watching. My family didn’t get a
VCR until I was about three, and we only had a handful of VHS home
movies, of which <i><span class="il">Cinderella</span> </i>was one, and
one that I watched a lot. So yeah, there’s a fair amount of nostalgia
attached with this film. But the same can also be said for Shirley
Temple’s <i>The Little Princess, </i>and I have no qualms whatsoever about ripping that movie to shreds. So, that being said . . .</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span class="il">Cinderella</span></i>
came after something of a dry spell for Disney animation, partly due to
the war and a reliance on “package films,” or movies that told more
than one story. <i><span class="il">Cinderella</span></i> was the first full length animated feature since <i>Bambi</i> to tell one story, and only the second full length animated feature to be based on a faerie tale. And like <i>Snow White, </i>it was a big hit, and effective started Disney’s classic era, which would sustain them for much of the next couple decades.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This
time, Disney tackled a story that was well-known and universal, the
classic rags to riches story, and while they definitely put the Disney
spin on it, they also stayed pretty true to the source material. But
what I have found, after watching it again, is that the things about
this movie that I’m not crazy about are the things from the original
story that they stayed true to. Pretty much everything Disney DID add
their touch to, I liked better.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So,
starting from the beginning: the movie opens, just as Snow White and
Sleeping Beauty, with the storybook exposition, where a narrator gives
us the beginning of the story. <span class="il">Cinderella </span>-- who,
incidentally, has that name with no sort of explanation behind it -- is
the daughter of a wealthy widower, who marries Lady Tremaine believing
that <span class="il">Cinderella</span> needs a mother. Lady Tremaine
has two daughters of her own, Anastasia and Druzella, both of whom are
generally spiteful and mean-tempered. Then, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>’s father dies (thus, taking care of that little problem from the story) leaving <span class="il">Cinderella</span> at the mercy of her stepfamily, who now reveal their true colors and treat <span class="il">Cinderella</span> as little more than a servant.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Which brings us to our first “issue” that people cite with this story. Why doesn’t <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
just leave, if her family is treating her so badly? Well, let me answer
your question with a question: where would she go? It’s indicated that
she’s still a child when her father dies, and thus, her stepmother is
her legal guardian. When she is old enough to take her life into her own
hands, as it were, she’s no longer the daughter of an aristocrat. She’s
a commoner, a servant. Her stepmother has basically stripped away
whatever legal claim she might have had to her father’s estate. And
awful as Lady Tremaine is, she’s still giving <span class="il">Cinderella</span> a place to stay. Yeah, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
has to work, but she has a home, she has food on her plate, and a roof
over her head. She’s not going to give that up lightly. Also, when
you’ve been raised from childhood to be a servant to your stepmother,
you kind of grow up with that inferior mindset into adulthood. Also,
legality aside, I do think that <span class="il">Cinderella</span> still
sees the place as her father’s house. We’re told that it’s falling into
disrepair, because Lady Tremaine cares little for it, and <span class="il">Cinderella</span> has a vested interested in staying.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So for better or worse, <span class="il">Cinderella</span> stays and allows herself to be treated as a servant. But it’s worth noting that this <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
is considerably more interesting than her Perrault counterpart, as well
as more interesting than the other Disney princesses from this time
before being a Disney princess was even a thing. She actually has a very
enjoyable personality. Yes, she’s optimistic and kind against all odds,
but she can also be vaguely sarcastic, as though she’s on the very edge
of talking back at times. Unlike Snow White, who just seemed oblivious,
and Aurora, who actually <i>was</i> oblivious, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
seems fully aware that her situation pretty well sucks, but she’s
trying to make the best of it that she possibly can. I wouldn’t call her
content with her situation. More like resigned. Her attitude seems to
be, “I may not like the lot life has dealt me, but there’s not a whole
lot I can do about it, so I may as well try to make the best of it.” And
unlike Perrault’s <span class="il">Cinderella</span>, who isn’t even able to make her wish and has to have the Fairy Godmother do even <i>that</i> for her, this one does actually <i>try </i>to
make her life suck less. It just doesn’t seem to work. She befriends a
group of mice, and one of them accidentally gets into trouble. She sings
while she works, and Lucifer the Worst Little Demon Cat Ever messes up
the floor she was cleaning. She finds a dress to wear to the ball, and .
. . but I’m getting ahead of myself.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I said, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>--being
a Disney princess--has animal friends. Birds, who don’t talk, and mice,
who sadly do. (And if befriending mice in your house doesn’t force you
take a step back and reexamine your life situation, then I don’t know
what will.) And this is the one thing Disney did that I’m NOT wild
about: the mice. And really, it’s not even the mice themselves. It’s
their voices. The mice themselves actually have very enjoyable
personalities, with Jaq and Gus taking on an Abbott and Costello style
friendship. In a way, this movie is kind of their perspective of the
story. <i><span class="il">Cinderella</span></i> from the point of view
of the mice. I mean, yeah, it’s mostly a bunch of filler material of Tom
and Jerry-style antics with Lucifer, but they’re still enjoyable to
watch.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So, the plot properly gets going when <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
answers the door to a royal official with an invitation to the ball,
which she promptly takes up to her stepfamily. And again, to her credit,
unlike Perrault’s <span class="il">Cinderella</span>, this <span class="il">Cinderella</span> does actually assert herself here. While her stepsisters are laughing at the idea of her going to the ball, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
points out that EVERY eligible maiden is to attend, and that includes
her. Lady Tremaine reluctantly agrees on the condition that she finish
her work AND find something to wear . . . which she will, of course,
make impossible by keeping her constantly busy.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So, singing mice to the rescue! <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
has a dress and an idea of how to fix it up, but she doesn’t have time
to do it herself, so . . . the mice do it. This leads to one of the more
creative, though also sillier, sequences of the movie where the mice
and the birds fix up the dress . . . while singing. (Ugh.) It also leads
to another fun sequence with Lucifer, as well as the whole “Leave the
sewing to the women,” line that kind of irritates me. But regardless, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
tells her stepfamily that she’s not going, tries to make herself feel
better and fails, and then the mice surprise her with her newly updated
dress. Delighted, she puts it on, and rushes downstairs to join her
stepfamily in going to the ball.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Unfortunately, the mice, in their innocence, used things that the stepsisters had discarded in order to work on <span class="il">Cinderella</span>’s dress, specifically a sash and a necklace of beads, and they use that as an excuse to rip <span class="il">Cinderella</span>’s dress to pieces. The stepfamily leaves <span class="il">Cinderella</span> standing in the ruins of her dress as they go off to the ball without her.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So,
yeah . . . SHE FREAKING CRIES. Guess what? So would I! She’s been
trying to make the best of a crappy situation for so long, she thought
she’d finally have a chance to escape, at least for a little while, and
then she’s attacked by her stepsisters -- and I mean physically attacked,
that scene is creepy! -- while her stepmother did nothing. This was the
breaking point. This was the point when she just couldn’t take it
anymore. We’ve all been there, and <span class="il">Cinderella</span> has been through more than most. Cut her some slack, folks.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Anyway,
she’s had enough. She’s hit her lowest point. She doesn’t even see the
point of dreaming anymore. And that’s when the Godmother shows up. Not
when she’s doing her best to dream and hope and do what she can, but
when she’s lost all hope and needs someone to give her some. And the
Godmother doesn’t just grant her this wish on a whim. This is exactly
what <span class="il">Cinderella</span> needs, and not just because the
Prince is going to be there. So, the Fairy Godmother is not someone who
rescues a helpless damsel in distress, but someone who gives hope to
someone who has lost it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So, the Fairy Godmother sings her song and casts her spell and gives <span class="il">Cinderella</span> her warning, and <span class="il">Cinderella</span> is off to the ball. Now, we’ve been ignoring the prince all this time, so let’s turn to him for a bit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> .
. . Yeah, not much to say about the Prince. He doesn’t show up until
the ball, and has little to no personality. But we can talk about the
king and the duke for a bit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So,
the King is the one who is so gung-ho to marry his son off, very simply
because he wants grandchildren. This seems to be partly
practical -- carry on the family line -- and partly personal -- his son has
long since grown, and the King misses the child he once was. So really,
the King is the real love interest in this story. He’s the one with the
schemes and the desire for his son to be married. He’s looking after his
own happiness rather than his son’s, but the character is so funny and
likable that we don’t really mind how selfish and unreasonable he’s
being. The King has a very belabored Grand Duke, who basically does all
of his bidding and helps to carry out the King’s schemes.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Prince, therefore, is bored out of his skull during the ball . . . until <span class="il">Cinderella</span> turns up. He sees her, wandering through the palace lost, and approaches her for a dance. And somehow, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
is unaware that this is the Prince. I mean, okay, he’s dressed like any
other nobleman at the ball, but given that everyone’s, you know,
looking at him and deferring to him, you’d think it would’ve been
obvious. But never mind. They dance, obviously infatuated with each
other, while we hear “So, This is Love.” Whether they’re actually in
love . . . well, I personally think the question is irrelevant, for
reasons I’ll explain later.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The dance the night away, and the clock strikes twelve, and <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
is off and running. The Prince makes a few token protests (seriously,
three lines and a song, that’s all this guy gets) before he is engulfed
by adoring young women and obscured from the remainder of the plot. The
Duke, who has been charged with keeping an eye on them and informing the
King when the Prince proposes, runs after her instead and sends the
palace guards after her, knowing that his neck is on the line. (Again:
the duke does all this. Not the Prince.) And of course, <span class="il">Cinderella</span> loses the slipper.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="il">Cinderella</span>’s
ensemble changes back to pumpkin, mice, horse, dog, and rags, and since
the palace guards aren’t looking for those things, they run right past.
<span class="il">Cinderella</span>, far from being disappointed, is
actually quite happy, and why shouldn’t she be? She got out of the
house, away from her stepfamily, got to go to a royal ball, danced with a
handsome guy, basically had a one-night stand without the sex, and even
though she has to go back to her old life, this night just might be
enough to restore her hope in the future again. And of course, she still
has the other glass slipper. And no, it’s never explained why the other
things disappear and not this. I guess we have to assume that the Fairy
Godmother had enough magic to at least let her keep the shoes.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The
scene that follows, where the Duke tells the King that the girl got
away, is one of the most hilarious scenes in the movie, as the King goes
from being giddy at the thought of his son getting married to flying
into a murderous rage when hearing that the Duke let the girl get away,
and then back to delighted once he learns that the Prince has said he’ll
marry the girl who fits the slipper. So here, the King sees an
opportunity. The King isn’t really terribly picky whether the Prince
marries the girl he loves or not, he just wants him to marry <i>some</i>one.
So since the Prince has, probably in a fit of passionate grief, sworn
he’ll marry the girl who fits the glass slipper (most likely meaning the
girl who <i>owns</i> the slipper), the King intends to hold him to that exact promise, probably thinking that <i>someone</i> is bound to fit the slipper, it doesn’t matter who. Just so long as she can bear grandchildren.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Next
morning, as the stepfamily is suffering a post-ball hangover, the
King’s proclamation arrives. The stepmother sees the same opportunity
that King did, though from the other end of it. The shoe could easily
fit either Anastasia’s or Druzella’s foot as well as anyone’s. Once she
explains this to her rather dense daughters, they immediately fly into a
frenzy, ordering <span class="il">Cinderella</span> around as usual so they can get ready for the arrival of the Duke.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="il">Cinderella</span>, however, isn’t listening. Because she has caught on as well, and this is one thing I love about this moment of the movie. <span class="il">Cinderella</span> not only realizes that the guy she danced with last night is looking for her, but that he’s the Prince. <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
had already given up ever seeing him again, dismissing her feelings as
infatuation that she would get over eventually. But this isn’t just any
suitor: this is the Prince. This is someone who can finally get <span class="il">Cinderella</span> out of her crummy situation. This is her way out.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And
once she realizes that, she STOPS listening to her stepfamily. She
doesn’t do what they’re ordering her to do; she hands off the clothes
and goes to get ready for the Duke. She essentially extends her middle
finger to her stepfamily, and goes off to do her own thing, never
thinking for a moment that there’s a damn thing they can do about it,
because the Prince is looking for HER, and she knows it. Unfortunately,
she completely underestimates her stepmother’s bitchiness, and gets
locked in her own tower.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So,
it’s not like she does NOTHING here. She knows she’s finally getting
her break, and prepares for it. The reason why she is thwarted here and
has to be rescued is because she’s locked in a remote tower. She can’t
jump out the window, she can’t yell for help, and she can’t break out of
the door. There’s literally nothing she can do.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So
once again, mice to the rescue! As the stepsisters are comically trying
on the tiny slipper on their overly large feet, Jaq and Gus retrieve
the key from Lady Tremaine’s pocket and start laboriously moving it up
the stairs. And can we just stop and look at how freaking badass these
mice are? I mean, did you SEE all those stairs? Damn.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Okay,
so they bring the key to the top of the tower, but just as they are
about to slide it under the door, Lucifer the Cat That Just Needs to
Freaking Die Already, traps Gus and the key under a cup and won’t let
him go. And now, we have to look at what <span class="il">Cinderella</span> does next. When the birds are having no luck deterring Lucifer, <span class="il">Cinderella</span> remembers the dog, Bruno. Now, earlier in the movie, <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
scolded Bruno for terrorizing Lucifer, even though Lucifer totally
deserved it, because they had to learn to live together and get along.
But now that Lucifer is directly keeping <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
from happiness, she says, “Fuck that shit, get the dog up here so he
can get rid of this little spawn of Satan.” The birds do, Lucifer falls
out the window, and <span class="il">Cinderella</span> is able to free
herself and rush downstairs before the Duke storms out in a huff. Lady
Tremaine trips the Duke so that the slipper falls and shatters, but even
as the Duke is freaking out, <span class="il">Cinderella</span> just calmly pulls out the other slipper. She already knows that she’s won.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And she has. We don’t know what becomes of the stepfamily, but <span class="il">Cinderella</span> and the Prince get married and go off to make grandchildren for the now ecstatic King, and they all live Happily Ever After.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s
easy to write this movie off as “Just another Disney movie,” but I
think they did a much better job with this movie than people give them
credit for. Again, if anything, the problems in this movie have more to
do with the source material than how Disney adapted it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But to the checklist:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Give <span class="il">Cinderella</span> control over her destiny: I would say check. Though this <span class="il">Cinderella</span> isn’t the most active of the Disney princesses, she’s still a hell of a lot more active the Perrault’s <span class="il">Cinderella</span>. This <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
is very much an optimist, someone who tries to make the best of things,
who does actually make an attempt to go to the ball on her own, who
makes a conscious choice to leave her stepfamily for the Prince, and who
does what she is able to do to get herself rescued. She receives help
only when her own efforts have been thwarted by circumstance and general
bitchiness. She’s a lot more interesting and active of a character than
I think most people give her credit for</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Enhance
the role of the Prince: Heh, no. But to be fair, they do enhance the
role of the people who ACTUALLY want to see the Prince get
married--namely the King and, to a lesser extent, the Duke--and I think
that actually does a lot. I think that reinforces the fact that despite
the way it’s often romanticized, this is still, at its heart, an arrange
political marriage. Yes, the <span class="il">Cinderella</span> and the
Prince make googly eyes at each other for a bit, but that’s not where
the focus is. The focus is on the King scheming to marry off his son by
any means necessary, and <span class="il">Cinderella</span> using the
fact that the Prince happens to like her to escape from her family. Not
that the two of them don’t like each other, I’m sure they do. But it’s
more of an added perk to the marriage than something that the story
actually revolves around.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Address the plot transgressions: SOME of them are addressed. <span class="il">Cinderella</span>’s dad dies, so isn’t around to see his daughter being treated horribly. <span class="il">Cinderella</span> doesn’t run away because her life with her stepfamily is really all she has. The Fairy Godmother shows up when <span class="il">Cinderella</span>
is no longer capable of being optimistic and hopeful and has pretty
much reached the end of a very long rope. And it’s not really the Prince
using the shoe to identify <span class="il">Cinderella</span> as it is
his father taking advantage of the Prince’s grief and using whatever
means he can to marry him off. I might be reading quite a lot into a
simple story, but I think the characters are well-defined enough in this
movie to fill in a lot of these plot holes, and I think that’s really
key in this adaptation. They don’t really address the question of the
impracticability of a glass slipper or the fact that the slippers don’t
disappear with the rest of the outfit, but given that those are iconic
parts of the story, and this is an adaptation rather than a retelling,
they couldn’t very well get rid of them. So, I’ll give this
three-fourths of a check.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span class="il">Cinderella</span></i>
might not be the best of the Disney faerie tale movies, and maybe my
childhood nostalgia colors a lot of this, but I still think the movie
holds up pretty well. For all that it’s romanticized, both by Disney
lovers and by Disney detractors, the movie actually manages to keep a
fair amount of the romance OUT of the movie, and just focuses on telling
a compelling story about a girl who gets handed a bad lot and finally
gets her break . . . not unlike the previous Disney princess, as it
turns out. Walt Disney loved stories about the underdog, the downtrodden
protagonist who finds him or herself and rises above adversity. Really,
romance was a secondary concern. Viewed in that way, this story works,
and much better than I think a lot of people think that it does.</span></div>
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CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-33319858585119287512013-03-22T20:41:00.000-07:002013-03-22T20:41:16.767-07:00Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer<i>Cindy Ella</i> by Robin Palmer<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: Prom fever has infected LA—especially Cindy’s two annoying stepsisters, and her overly Botoxed stepmother. Cindy seems to be the only one immune to it all. But her anti-prom letter in the school newspaper does more to turn Cindy into Queen of the Freaks than close the gap between the popular kids and the rest of the students. Everyone thinks she’s committed social suicide, except for her two best friends, the yoga goddess India and John Hughes–worshipping Malcolm, and shockingly, the most popular senior at Castle Heights High and Cindy’s crush, Adam Silver. Suddenly Cindy starts to think that maybe her social life could have a happily ever after. But there’s still the rest of the school to deal with. With a little bit of help from an unexpected source and a fabulous pair of heels, Cindy realizes that she still has a chance at a happily ever after.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Modernization inspired by Cinderella<br /><br />Yeah, so, originally, I wanted to review <i>Cinderella: Ninja Warrior</i> by Maureen McGowan for reasons that should be self-explanatory. Cinderella. Ninja Warrior. Why <i>wouldn’t </i>I pick that novel?<br /><br />But, sadly, it ended up being a Choose Your Own Adventure type of novel, which was going to be super hard to review. So I went with choice number two, because I wanted to do an modernization if there was one. And there was . . . but that “inspired by” . . . well, we’ll get to that.<br /><br />So, this novel is set in LA, and our protagonist, Cindy Ella, has just committed social suicide. How, you ask? Well, by writing a letter to the editor of her school paper denouncing prom. She tells her classmates that they are brainwashed by society to see prom as a major rite of passage, but that one dance shouldn’t be that all important, and they should stand with her and boycott.<br /><br />She was expecting to stir up the waters. That’s not what happens. What happens is that everyone hates her and she becomes a social outcast. <br /><br />Now, I don’t personally remember my proms being taken this seriously, but then, I did go to school in hickville, Ohio rather than Hollywood-obsessed LA, so I’ll take this reaction with a grain of salt. <br /><br />The only two people who stand by Cindy are her two best friends, Malcolm and India, and their inclusion made my eyebrows quirk because I wasn’t aware that Cinderella had friends, I thought that was kind of the point of her story, but hey, <i>A Cinderella Story</i> made it work, so I’ll let it be for now.<br /><br />Two of the people who are appalled by Cindy’s actions are Ashley and Brittany, her twin stepsisters, nicknamed “the Clones,” and once they tell their mother what Cindy has done, her stepmother is appalled, too. She’s concerned that Cindy is acting out, and that this article is a sign of her deep-rooted depression following the loss of her mother, and that if left unchecked, Cindy might start self-mutilating or something equally drastic.<br /><br />Which, correct me if I’m wrong, doesn’t quite seem in keeping with the usual attitude of Cinderella’s stepmother. But at least she’s still practically a servant in her own home. I mean, constantly being asked to babysit her baby brother if she has nothing else going on? That’s totally the equivalent of hard manual labor with no pay and humiliating work conditions.<br /><br />Yeah, the longer I read this novel, the less it read like Cinderella. <br /><br />And the plot is one of the most high-school-drama-centric things I’ve read in a long time. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I understand that these are issues that, in the moment, do seem all important to these kids. But coming from the perspective of a 24-year-old with student loans to pay back, a slightly laughable degree in terms of finding a job, and the prospective of a cross-country move in about five months? I find it really hard to connect to a girl whose biggest troubles stem from the fact that she can’t decide who of the three hot guys she has a crush on to focus her attentions on.<br /><br />Because when you boil this book down to its essentials, that’s what it becomes. Cindy has eyes for Adam Silver, the most popular guy in school, to whom she has never spoken. And then there’s her 23-year-old SAT tutor upon whom she develops an instant crush. And in the third corner, we have BrklnBoy, an online friend she chats with who, if you’ve seen <i>A Cinderella Story</i> or really read a book ever, you will know is actually Adam Silver. <br /><br />And Cindy’s level of obsession not only about these three guys but also about how she appears and is presented to these guys is really disappointing to encounter when she is supposedly so very anti-Hollywood values. <br /><br />And that’s the biggest thing for me here – for a girl who wrote such an impassioned letter against prom and its superficiality, she is awfully fixated on Operation Turn Cindy Into a Girl, which, no seriously, is what it’s called. This new crush, her tutor, walks into the scene, and suddenly Cindy is trying makeup and straightening her hair and wearing new clothes and the whole nine yards — exactly what she is supposed to be denouncing. <br /><br />It doesn’t help that the Cinderella narrative completely disappears for about 150 pages, meaning that this is the only thing left to focus on. <br /><br />Noah turns out to be gay, by the way. If you didn’t see that coming. He’ll fill the role of the fairy godmother, or as I like to call him, the Fairy God Gay Man. . . . yeah, the title needs work. <br /><br />So let’s recap briefly. You have a Cinderella figure, except, not really because she isn’t a servant, she doesn’t have an oppressive family, and she has no desire to go to the ball. . . . Where’s our story, again?<br /><br />Ah, right. Pointless high school drama. Got it. <br /><br />The Cinderella narrative reemerges . . . ish . . . as prom draws closer and Cindy finds herself abandoned by India and Malcolm, who have both been asked to go, so they will not be standing with her in anti-prom solidarity. She’s complaining about all of this to BrklnBoy, who asks her to be his not-prom date. Thinking it’s a joke to make her feel better, she accepts. <br /><br />So she’s in for quite a shock when he messages her the day of prom and asks what time he should pick her up. She’s all, “But you live 3000 miles away in NY!” and he’s all “Lol, no. I go to your school. Conveniently, I’m Adam Silver, your crush, and I’m anti-prom, too, isn’t that fantastic?”<br /><br />All this is paraphrased, of course. In the novel, there’s much more chatspeak and unnecessary abbreviation, which just . . . fueled my irritation. She’s supposed to want to be a journalist more than anything. Doesn’t seem like it. <br /><br />Sorry. My grammararian is showing. <br /><br />So she realizes who BrklnBoy is and that he’s actually going to come get her to do something tonight, so what does our self-professed prom-dress-makeup-hating, t-shit-jeans-and-flip-flop-loving high school sophomore do? Does she go out in whatever, just happy to have time to spend with this boy she’s liked for ages and turns out to actually know? Does she say, “hey, I have to babysit my brother, so how about just hanging at my house watching movies?”<br /><br />Nope! She calls her Gay Godmother Tutor Noah, and they go and BUY HER A FRICKIN’ PROM DRESS AND EXPENSIVE SHOES AND GIVE HER A FREAKIN’ MAKEUP SO THAT SHE CAN BE PRETTY FOR HER CRUSH AND I JUST CAN’TAESDFK;JOAR;LKAV;LKAJRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!<br /><br />*deep breath*<br /><br />I’m okay now. Really. I’m better. <br /><br />Yeah, okay, they didn’t go to the actual prom, but they might as well have. She still went through the whole ritual, it doesn’t <i>matter</i> that she was freakishly overdressed at a carnival instead of crowded into a gymnasium somewhere, she became what she supposedly hated, and gave into the ritual she literally started the novel speaking out against!<br /><br />Cindy Ella Gold, give me back your activist card because you’ve lost it.<br /><br />She also loses a shoe on the ferris wheel. It breaks. And she has to be home by midnight because that’s when her dad and stepmom are getting home, and if they find out that she took their one-year-old son out to a carnival on her date (because yeah, that actually happened), they’ll kill her. Rightly so.<br /><br />And the next day at school, he returns her shoe, saying, “I think you dropped this last night,” and kisses her in front of the whole school. <br /><br />Okay. Setting aside all my prom-debate-characterization rage, I have another slight bone to pick.<br /><br />This novel? It isn’t Cinderella. It isn’t. It tries to be. It throws in a lot of the elements. But a stepfamily and a party and a godmother and a prince and a pair of shoes do not Cinderella make. It’s not about the iconic images, it’s about the situations. Cinderella doesn’t boil down to losing a shoe. It’s a lot more than that.<br /><br />At its heart, Cinderella is a rags to riches story. This is what you need: a young girl, oppressed in some way, looking desperately for an escape. She finds it in the form of a ball and a prince. She is transformed beyond recognition into the object of desire, but she is lost. A single clue left behind provides the means to find her, and she wins her escape. The rest is just details. Set dressing. <br /><br />Cindy is not oppressed, not looking for escape, doesn’t want the ball. She’s transformed, but the mystery isn’t there. Her identity is never in question. He never has to search for her. Hell, they never even make it to the party, and that’s kinda key, because it’s not just the prince for whom she is transformed; it’s everyone. And that’s just not there.<br /><br />There’s a party and a prince and a pair of shoes. But this isn’t Cinderella, despite how hard it tries. And in trying, it just becomes infuriating.<br /><br />Checklist.<br /><br />Give Cinderella control of her own destiny? She never needed it. She’s as in control as most 16 year olds. She’s a bit at the beck and call of her stepmother, but she’s never really controlled as such, and her destiny never really comes into play.<br /><br />Enhance the role of the prince? I found Adam Silver to be shallow and two dimensional, playing at being insightful rather than ever showing any real sort of depth. Sorry.<br /><br />Address the plot transgressions? Let’s see.<br /><br />Why does Cindy’s dad allow her to be treated so horribly? He doesn’t. Because she isn’t. She’s asked to babysit, guys. That’s the extent of it.<br /><br />Why doesn’t Cindy fight her servitude or leave if she’s being treated so badly? Again. Babysitting. Occasionally. And having to listen to her stepfamily’s shallow ranting. But that’s all.<br /><br />Why hasn’t the fairy godmother made an appearance before this point, if she’s charged with Cinderella’s happiness and well being? Not a fairy godmother as such. Just a gay friend who helps her out in a moment of crisis when called on. Her well being was never really his charge.<br /><br />Anybody going to question glass slippers? No glass slippers. Just designer heels that rip because she wore them on a ferris wheel.<br /><br />Why don’t the slippers disappear along with the rest of the FG’s gifts? See above.<br /><br />Why does the prince need the shoe to identify Cinderella, and is it really reasonable to assume that it will? He doesn’t need it to identify her, he just gives it back to her at school.<br /><br />Guys, if you want a modern Cinderella, watch <i>A Cinderella Story</i>, which I've mentioned about twelve times in this review because this book really did read like a ripoff of that, frankly, much better movie. Yes, I enjoy that movie. Don’t judge me. <br /><br />CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-42611594355122981622013-03-15T12:55:00.000-07:002013-03-22T12:55:13.671-07:00Cinder by Marissa Meyer<i>Cinder</i> by Marissa Meyer<br /><br />Ugh, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck. Sorry, sorry, sorry for my extreme suckitude.<br /><br />Now that that’s out of the way, I swear I am getting back on track with the posting of these. I swear. Anyway, self-degradation done, onto the review.<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .<br /><br />Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Futuristic retelling<br /><br />So, when picking the novels for the month, I really wanted to have at least one with a vastly different setting than vaguely medieval fairy tale land. And with <i>Cinder</i>, I certainly hit that mark. <br /><br />To start with, let’s place this novel. Our story begins an indeterminate amount of time into Earth’s future, but it’s long enough that the fourth world war is about 150 years in the past and the moon has been colonized long enough that the people there have basically evolved into their own species. So, a while. <br /><br />Our protagonist, Cinder, is a teenage girl who happens to be the best mechanic in the city, largely because she’s had lots of experience in the field, given that she happens to be a cyborg. She is about 36% machine, as a matter of fact, including her left leg and arm and most of her nervous system. She can’t afford skin grafts to cover her cyborg parts, so she hides them as best she can, behind heavy gloves and long overalls, but they’re always there.<br /><br />The attitude of this world toward cyborgs is made pretty clear – they’re basically considered second class people, despite the fact that they are, in many cases, people who just had a robotic limb attached after an accident or something similar. Cinder is unusual in her percentage. Most cyborgs are only 5-10% machine. <br /><br />And what I love about Cinder is that she is still thoroughly human. She has implants controlling her circulation and respiratory system and her chemical releases, but her mind is thoroughly human, and she has control over herself in all but the direst cases. <br /><br />We start symbolically of Cinderella, watching Cinder replace her too-small robotic foot with one that is actually made for someone her size and not an eleven-year-old, which she was when she was in the accident that killed her parents and nearly killed her. <br /><br />It’s the atmosphere surrounding Cinder that clues us into the relations of humans toward cyborgs, rather than any exposition, which I appreciate. The exposition we do get is to fill us in on how Cinder is Cinderella, and who her family is.<br /><br />It turns out, the repair booth she runs in the market belongs to her stepmother and legal guardian, as does all of the money made from Cinder’s work. Cinder’s stepmother Adri inherited Cinder when her husband died, but that husband was not Cinder’s father. He was just a man who had adopted a cyborg orphan from an orphanage for reasons he never made clear to his wife before dying, so now Adri’s stuck with her.<br /><br />Being a cyborg, and underage, Cinder lacks rights; she is legally owned by Adri, and on top of that, she has no money to speak of. She had to pay for her new foot by sneaking it into another shipment of parts to keep Adri from finding out. <br /><br />So we learn all this at the start of things, and then a stranger arrives at the booth, with a malfunctioning android that needs to be fixed. Turns out the young stranger is, in fact, Prince Kai, and though he tells Cinder he needs the android for sentimental reasons, her cyborg readout lets her know that he is lying (a handy little tool). But he’s the prince, and she’s a cyborg (though he doesn’t know that), so she doesn’t press him. <br /><br />He leaves the android with her and heads off, and shortly after he does, a plague outbreak happens in the middle of the market.<br /><br />Because in this futuristic world with five major Earthen empires and pretty solid world peace, the biggest threat to Earth (apart from Lunar, the moon country that is apparently crazy and magical) is letumosis, a serious plague without cure or antidote, that passes in an unknown way from person to person. They’ve gotten good at shutting down outbreaks, but hundreds of people are still dying every day. <br /><br />Cinder makes it home from the market, lying to her stepmother about how close it was to their booth. She finds Adri and Pearl, her older stepsister, completely engrossed in news about the upcoming Festival, which is being held despite the fact that the emperor is sick with letumosis. Adri is spending an insane amount of money on dresses for her girls, and true to the Grimm version of the tale, she promises Cinder that she can go if she completes all her chores.<br /><br />Cinder sees through this lie, knowing that Adri will never run out of chores for her to do, but that’s okay, since she doesn’t really have any interest in going to the ball anyway. Or at least that’s what she tells Peony, the nice stepsister she’s actually friends with, another throwback to the Grimm version of this tale. But the truth is, well, the truth is complicated.<br /><br />And it gets further complicated when Cinder allows Peony to come along with her to a junkyard to look for parts to fix the hovercar. In the junkyard, she stumbles onto a very, very old car that, as she discovers on closer inspection, isn’t a hovercar at all, but a gasoline car, which fell out of use decades ago. It’s a hideous orange and is described as reminding Cinder of a rotting pumpkin (a description which made me smile), and it’s currently inhabited by rats, but it’s presence sparks an idea in Cinder. That maybe, she can try and fix it up in her spare time, and maybe someday she can escape.<br /><br />But reality is brought crashing back down when Peony starts to display plague symptoms. Cinder has to report her; if she doesn’t, Peony will infect hundreds. But it’s still the hardest thing Cinder has had to do. And she is fully expecting to be hauled away along with her by the med-droids, but they test her blood and declare her clean, despite the fact that she has been right next to Peony all day. <br /><br />Cinder rushes home to tell Adri, but Adri already knows. The house is full of med-droids, and Adri is blaming Cinder. It isn’t Cinder’s fault, but that’s never stopped Adri before, and this time, Adri is entirely done. Cinder has become more trouble than she’s worth, so Adri has volunteered her to be a test subject for a letumosis cure – something that cyborgs never return from. Cinder does not go quietly.<br /><br />We alternate throughout the book between Cinder and Prince Kai, and through Prince Kai, we get the world politics, which I won’t get too far into, as they’re less about Cinderella and more about setting up the world and the sequels which are to come. But we do know that the Eastern Empire is in trouble. The emperor is sick with letumosis and has days to live. Kai is going to be emperor very soon unless a cure is found. He’s seventeen, watching his father die, and having to prepare to inherit all the troubles of his empire. Also, he just met a girl he can’t get out of his head.<br /><br />We get a background for the Lunar queen during Kai’s sections as well, and it’s clear that she is a nasty piece of work. We learn that she killed her sister for her throne, forced her stepdaughter to mutilate her own face so she wouldn’t grow to be prettier than the queen, and burned her niece, the rightful heir, to death. Though there are conspiracy theorists who believe the young princess might still be alive.<br /><br />And that was the point where I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Because when you have an orphaned main character and a supposedly killed rightful heir to a throne, there’s usually only one way that ends, and I really didn’t want the novel to go that route, but unfortunately, what I saw coming a mile away was, in fact, the “plot twist” – Cinder is actually the super secret princess in disguise, and she doesn’t even know it!!!<br /><br />And don’t get me wrong, this is still a good novel that I enjoyed. I was just a bit disappointed that Meyer went the cliched orphaned princess route in the end. But let’s just continue.<br /><br />Anyway, the Queen is just a nasty woman, and she wants to be an Earthen empress. She was trying to get the old emperor to agree to marry her, but now that he’s dying, she’ll settle for Kai, whether Kai wants it or not.<br /><br />Back to Cinder, she’s being treated a bit differently from the other cyborg plague test subjects, largely because she is apparently immune to letumosis, which is unheard of. She hears from the healer in charge that the only people ever known to be immune are Lunars, and it’s his suspicion that she is a Lunar refugee with a stolen ID chip implanted in her when she became a cyborg. <br /><br />Cinder really doesn’t want this to be true, especially given that Lunars are hated even more than cyborgs because they have the ability to manipulate a person’s bioelectric energy, essentially brainwashing people into believing whatever they want. Queen Levana can do it; it’s how she controls all the Lunars and why everyone on Earth is afraid of her. <br /><br />So for Cinder to be both a cyborg and Lunar paints basically the worst possible future ever. <br /><br />And it doesn’t help that Kai knows neither of these things, is fixated on her, and keeps trying to convince her to go to the ball with him. If he has a personal guest, then Queen Levana, who is coming to Earth for a “diplomatic” visit, might be staved off.<br /><br />But the healer who knows she’s Lunar and cyborg (and is a super good guy for helping keep these things from Kai), warns her that Levana cannot know she is here. Levana will recognize another Lunar, and things will be bad. <br /><br />Obviously, though, for the sake of story, she has to be noticed, and noticed she is, when dropping off the Prince’s newly fixed android. The droid was purposefully corrupted so that some unknown someone could tap into what Kai was investigating, which happened to be the rumors that the Lunar princess is alive somewhere. <br /><br />Moving along and skipping all the politic stuff to get to the Cinderella stuff, both the emperor and Peony die from the plague, despite Cinder’s blood being used to try and create an antidote. Unbeknownst to Adri, Cinder has been getting paid for the use of her blood into a secret, separate account, and she has been using the money to fix up the car in the junkyard and buy gasoline for it. Her plan is to run on the night of the Festival, escape to Europe and start a new life for herself. <br /><br />But then she intercepts a message meant for Kai from the Lunar surface - a warning. Queen Levana knows the research he’s been doing. He has to be warned, so he can protect himself, and Cinder is the only one who can get the message to him – at the festival.<br /><br />Luckily, she has the gown Peony was going to wear, and silk gloves that were given to her by Kai in case she changed her mind about the ball, and even though both are stained and wrinkled and smudged, they’re all she has, and they’re better than showing up in her mechanics close.<br /><br />She’s also walking on the too-small foot once more because Adri made her give up her new one when she discovered Cinder had bought it without approval. But none of that can be helped.<br /><br />And she’s panicking a bit because her ID chip probably isn’t going to scan her into the ball, and she’s thinking fast to find an excuse that will get her through the gate, but it turns out Kai put her on the list as his personal guest, just in case, so she makes it through the doors. And then she’s announced, which was not part of her plan.<br /><br />Kai is at her side in an instant, thrilled to see her – until he hears what she has to say. But before he can be convinced, Levana is there, exposing Cinder as a Lunar fugitive and a cyborg, and when Cinder’s too small foot is wrenched off, she can’t exactly deny it. And the reaction is just what she expected. Kai is confused and hurt, but it’s Levana who forces him to do what happens next. <br /><br />Housing a Lunar fugitive is grounds for war, and unless Kai agrees to have Cinder executed, the Lunar army will attack. So he has no choice. She’s taken away to the dungeon, and we end this book with the healer, who visits Cinder, reveals that he, also, is a Lunar fugitive, and that she, surprise surprise, is the long lost princess, and that she must escape the dungeon at all costs.<br /><br />We’re setting up a sequel here, so that’s where we end.<br /><br />Though I am disappointed by the predictable plot twist, I did enjoy this story, and the reworking of Cinderella into a futuristic, sci-fi setting. It reminded me a lot of Sharon Shinn’s <i>Jenna Starborn</i>, which does a similar thing with Jane Eyre. But this is a unique reimagining of a classic tale, and that’s hard to do these days. So let’s look at the checklist.<br /><br />Give Cinderella some control of her own destiny? Entirely. Cinder is constantly arguing and making her own choices, putting her foot down, and doing everything in her power to negotiate and control her own life. She doesn’t always succeed, but she sure as hell tries.<br /><br />Enhance the role of the prince? I love Kai because his issues and struggles feel so real. He’s in a dangerous place, and while he knows it, he still is only 17, and that is balanced very well. His lot is entirely unfair and he knows it, but there’s little he can do about it. He’s flawed, but a great character all the same, and I like that he falls for Cinder slowly and for more than just her looks. In the end, he doesn’t reject and imprison her because she’s a cyborg and a Lunar. He doesn’t have a choice, which she recognizes, and he’s more hurt that she didn’t feel she could trust him with the truth, and that was lovely to read.<br /><br />Address the plot transgressions? Let’s see.<br /><br />Why does Cindy’s dad allow her to be treated so horribly? He doesn’t. He’s dead. And he wasn’t her dad in the first place. Rather, he was the first person to identify Cinder as the lost princess, and he was protecting her the only way he could. <br /><br />Why doesn’t Cindy fight her servitude or leave if she’s being treated so badly? She tries, holy hell does she try. But she’s fighting an unfair system every step of the way, and it’s stronger than she is.<br /><br />Why hasn’t the fairy godmother made an appearance before this point, if she’s charged with Cinderella’s happiness and well being? There is no FG as such; rather, Cinder is in charge of her own future, getting to the ball with transportation and gown under her own power. The Healer is the closest to a FG that we get, and once he finds Cinder, he helps as much as he’s able without getting caught himself.<br /><br />Anybody going to question glass slippers? No glass slippers, just a too-small cybernetic foot.<br /><br />Why don’t the slippers disappear along with the rest of the FG’s gifts? See above.<br /><br />Why does the prince need the shoe to identify Cinderella, and is it really reasonable to assume that it will? The foot less identifies Cinder as Cinder and more serves as proof that she’s a cyborg, but I have a feeling it’s going to become more important in the sequel. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait til next month to see.<br /><br />There will be another review posted today because I swear I am getting back on track. I swear!CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-19316912097915513142013-03-08T07:16:00.000-08:002013-03-13T07:16:40.791-07:00Princess of Glass by Jessica Day GeorgeI have gotten so <i>bad</i> at uploading these on time. I'm sorry, really, and I'm gonna try to improve. Life's just been on overload lately. Anyway, here it is, five days late. But enjoy! <br />
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<i>Princess of Glass</i> by Jessica Day George<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: Hoping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program, whereby young princes and princesses travel to each other's countries in the name of better political alliances--and potential marriages. It's got the makings of a fairy tale--until a hapless servant named Eleanor is tricked by a vengeful fairy godmother into competing with Poppy for the eligible prince. Ballgowns, cinders, and enchanted glass slippers fly in this romantic and action-packed happily-ever-after quest from an author with a flair for embroidering tales in her own delightful way.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling<br /><br />So it should come as <a href="http://talesoldastime.blogspot.com/2012/05/sun-and-moon-ice-and-snow-by-jessica.html" target="_blank">no surprise</a> to anyone by now that<a href="http://talesoldastime.blogspot.com/2012/08/princess-of-midnight-ball-by-jessica.html" target="_blank"> I love</a> Jessica Day George. I think I’ve stated before that she can do no wrong in my book? Yeah, she can do no wrong.<br /><br /><i>Princess of Glass</i> is a companion novel to <i>Princess of the Midnight Ball</i>. It’s not strictly necessary to have read that one first, but it does help to know the background info – PotMB was Twelve Dancing Princesses retold. Rose and Galen, our protagonists from that book, have married and are set to become king and queen of Westfalin some day. But the rest of the countries in Ionia are less certain of their future, and tension is pretty high.<br /><br />Remember how all the princes die in TDP? Well, in PotMB, those deaths were accidental rather than deliberate, but it still means that most countries lost at least one heir, and while there is peace, it is tentative, and so the rulers of the Ionian kingdoms come up with a plan – a giant child-swap. Each country will send some of its children to other countries to “foster friendships and connections,” which in this case is obvious code for “giant marital scheme.”<br /><br />The kids all see through this, of course, but they recognize how important it is, particularly the princesses of Westfalin, who are indirectly responsible for the tension currently in Ionia.<br /><br />In this novel, we follow Poppy, kickass middle princess from PotMB, as she travels to Breton (Ionia’s equivalent of England), the country her mother was from. She stays with the Seadown family, her mother’s cousin, though apart from the Seadowns, Poppy is not terribly well received for a few reasons. One, she’s a highly unorthodox princess who knits and plays cards and curses. Two, everyone believes that she’s cursed or a witch or something like that, given the mysterious circumstances surrounding her and her sisters. And three, Poppy has flat out refused to dance. At all.<br /><br />Also present in Breton for the Great Marriage Swap is the Prince from Danelaw, named Christian. And King Rupert of Breton is much more interested in him, because he desires a tie to Danelaw and its navy. He’s very blunt, asking Christian point blank if he has any plan to marry one of his daughters, but given that the girls in question are nine and seven and Christian is seventeen, he declines. And so, King Rupert is determined to marry Christian off to a Bretoner noble woman, because then the tie to the country will still exist.<br /><br />And what George has done here is brilliant. This is a unique but compelling reason behind throwing the balls to marry the prince. King Rupert can’t <i>force</i> Christian to marry a Bretoner girl, but he can sure as hell try, by throwing every eligible girl in the kingdom at him, repeatedly, at three separate balls to take place over the summer. <br /><br />Now, Poppy is our focal character in this, which makes sense; she is, after all, the familiar face, and this is her story. But she is not our Cinderella. No. That distinction belongs to Eleanora, who now goes by the name of Ellen, as Ellen sounds more common. See, Eleanora’s father was a minor nobleman, and they were pretty well to do until he started gambling. He ended up losing all their money, and then he died, and Eleanora was left utterly destitute. He had no fortune left to give her, and she had no other family. The only option available was to go into service.<br /><br />No other family? I hear some of you saying. Then how can she be Cinderella? Where is the stepmother? Where are the stepsisters? Simple: That’s the role that’s been given to Poppy.<br /><br />This is brilliant. Really. Poppy is staying with a family with a girl her age, Marianne. And while they’re not “evil stepsisters” exactly as we know them through Cinderella, they do fill that role in Ellen’s life. They are the girls Ellen is forced to wait on. And while they don’t go out of their way to make her life miserable, they are dismissive of her and short-tempered on more than one occasion.<br /><br />Because Ellen is a horrible servant. And unlike Diane Zahler’s princesses-turned-servants, it’s not because she’s inherently bad at it – in this case, it’s spell, though we don’t find that out until later. But Ellen can’t do anything right. She spills the tea trays and burns the ironing and drops laundry in the coal scuttles, and Poppy and Marianne have little patience for her because they think she is doing those things on purpose.<br /><br />And boom. Instant stepsisters. But what I love so much about this dynamic is how our Cinderella is characterized. Because in this version, she’s not the sweet, innocent child who remains gentle and kind despite what love throws at her. No, Ellen/Eleanora is constantly aware of what she lost. She’s angry about it. She hates it. She hates that being a servant is all she can do with her life now, and she hates that she’s bad at being a servant. She is lonely and miserable and she knows exactly how unfair her life is.<br /><br />Which is how and why the Corley is able to use her. The Corley is the big bad of this novel, and my favorite part? The Corley is the fairy godmother. Gah, I love this author <i>so much</i>!<br /><br />Because she’s the freakin’ fairy godmother! The one who rescues Cinderella and gives her her heart’s desire! Except that in this version, she’s a dark spirit out for revenge, preying on a girl full of bitterness and resentment, planting in her ear the seed of what she “wants.” Because the Corley needs a girl who she assists to marry a prince of the Danelaw for reasons that I won’t try to summarize because they’re complicated and not directly related to Cinderella. Ellen is that girl, and Christian is that prince.<br /><br />And so, as the balls approach, the Corley helps Ellen. She gets her a gown (that copies Poppy’s), and a way to the ball, and then, the Corley pours molten glass onto Ellen’s feet and shapes it into slippers, magical, flexible slippers that will move with Ellen as she dances, but if she fails to return before midnight, the glass will harden and that will be bad. And then, decked out in an enchantment that Ellen thinks is just keeping her unrecognizable but is actually making every young man completely lose his head over her, she heads out to the ball.<br /><br />Back to Poppy, as this is Poppy’s tale, she recognizes an enchantment when she sees one. I mean, after all she’s been through, it’d be hard not to. And at Galen’s request, she carries charms against enchantments on her person at all times, and so she alone (along with Ellen’s eventual actual love interest, Richard) is unaffected by the Corley’s spell. She recognizes Ellen as Ellen, even when no one else does, and she knows something bad is going on. <br /><br />With Richard’s help, and their joint knowledge of protective enchantments, they come up with a way to break through the Corley’s spell — sort of. Poppy knits spelled bracelets and Richard brews a potion, but the potion has to be drunk every day, and Poppy has to convince the enchanted people to wear the things, and it’s far harder with the men than the women, and Christian is the hardest of all.<br /><br />Given that Christian is the focus of the spell, that makes sense. And yet, he fights against it, too, without fully realizing it. He fights against it when “Lady Ella” is out of his sight because, and I know you’ll all be shocked to hear this, he’s fallen in love with Poppy. Which means the enchantment has to work twice as hard on him, and it doesn’t help that Poppy and Ellen look very similar, and she shows up to the first ball in a replica of Poppy’s dress. Christian actually approaches her initially thinking she is Poppy, because he wants to convince Poppy to dance. <br /><br />Now, the balls are spread out over a month in this story, which is nice because it actually gives things a chance to happen realistically. And I love watching Poppy’s progression as she slowly learns the truth about Ellen – that she’s not being a bad servant on purpose, that she can’t control it, and finally, when she goes to confront her after the second ball, that she’s being controlled and manipulated as much as everyone else.<br /><br />What convinces Ellen to tell Poppy the whole story? Why, the fact that her feet have turned to glass. Yeah, she didn’t quite get back in time after that second ball. And so she’s freaking out because the deal is, Christian has to propose to her before the end of the third ball, and if he doesn’t, very very bad things will happen. She went along with the plan initially because she wanted out of this life, and a prince was as good as anyone. But now she’s miserable, and what’s more, she doesn’t love Christian, she loves Richard, and she knows that Christian doesn’t love her, either. She doesn’t want to marry him, doesn’t want to go through with the Corley’s plan. But this isn’t exactly something you can just back out of.<br /><br />It’s Christian who comes up with the plan in a moment where he’s free of the Corley’s curse, more or less. Ellen can’t dance at the final ball — her feet are glass; it’s not going to happen. So they have to trick the Corley by sending someone down in Ellen’s place. Someone who can wear a mask (because the ball is a masquerade) and look very like Ellen. Someone like Poppy.<br /><br />Poppy agrees. She’s not terribly happy about it, but she knows it has to be done. So she goes through the fireplace to the Corley’s lair, acting like Ellen, and she thinks the ruse works. She gets the glass poured on her feet, and she’s decked out like a peacock, and she goes to the ball and dances with Christian, and then just before midnight, he proposes to “Ella,” and they think that maybe it’s worked.<br /><br />Until they are thoroughly disabused of that notion when Poppy is physically pulled by magic from the room and from Christian to the carriage waiting outside. Poppy fights the magic as best she can, and while she’s no match for it, she does fight the shoes off her feet before being snatched away to the Corley’s lair.<br /><br />And she and Ellen are there together because the Corley knew. And the whole entourage of people working to break this enchantment – Lord Seadown, Lady Seadown, Marianne and her beau Dickon, Richard, and Christian — likewise make their way to the Corley’s lair, where the enchantment is much stronger than it has ever been.<br /><br />Christian finds Ellen and Poppy dressed identically, and he has to choose his true love, and they cannot speak. All he has is the slipper to go on. But the first girl, her feet aren’t quit right – they’re made of glass. So it has to be the second. He slips the shoe onto Poppy’s foot, and other things happen simultaneously to defeat the Corley, and it’s happily ever after for all parties involved. <br /><br />I adore Jessica Day George and the way she tells stories. This is the first real adaptation she’s done; her other two fairy tale novels were on lesser known stories, so she stayed pretty close to the original, just fleshing them out. But with Cinderella, she really had her chance to put her own spin on it, and what a marvelous spin it turned out to be. <br /><br />Checklist.<br /><br />Give Cinderella some control of her own destiny? Yes. Eleanora wanted her out, in the beginning. She was desperate for it. The Corley preyed on that, but Ellen did also choose it, and choose to go along with it, and when she decided she wanted out, she made that decision on her own as well, choosing someone other than the prince, choosing to trust people to help. She shaped her own destiny, absolutely.<br /><br />Enhance the role of the prince? I love that Christian, so befuddled by enchantment that he can hardly see or speak straight, is still the one to come up with a possible solution, because what seems so obvious to him has escaped everyone else’s notice – the fact that Ellen and Poppy look so very similar. The poor guy spends all his time under a curse, just about, but he fights it so hard, and he’s a wonderful character. So check.<br /><br />Address the plot transgressions? Let’s see.<br /><br />Why does Cindy’s dad allow her to be treated so horribly? He doesn’t. He’s dead. <br /><br />Why doesn’t Cindy fight her servitude or leave if she’s being treated so badly? Servitude is literally the only option left for her. She’s not even a servant in her old house because that’s even gone. She does not have another choice.<br /><br />Why hasn’t the fairy godmother made an appearance before this point, if she’s charged with Cinderella’s happiness and well being? She’s not actually Ellen’s godmother, she just discovered this lonely, miserable girl and took advantage. FG as bad guy. I love it.<br /><br />Anybody going to question glass slippers? They’re beautiful but horrifying in this version. Molten glass poured over my feet? I don’t care if it’s magical glass — no thank you! And I love that Poppy gets to tell Christian how horribly painful the shoes are. <br /><br />Why don’t the slippers disappear along with the rest of the FG’s gifts? Not specifically explained, but the whole ensemble isn’t magical in that way, really. It’s not a glamour that will fade, precisely.<br /><br />Why does the prince need the shoe to identify Cinderella, and is it really reasonable to assume that it will? This isn’t just a case of having the same size feet. It’s that the shoe was literally molded to a foot, so yeah, only gonna fit her. Also, it was more the feet identifying the girl than the shoe. There were only two, and even in his mind-fuddle, Christian knew the girl he loved didn’t have feet of glass. <br /><br />Strong adaptation all the way around. Love it, absolutely love it.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-48405646388394610852013-03-05T17:53:00.000-08:002013-03-05T17:53:00.260-08:00Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix<i>Just Ella</i> by Margaret Peterson Haddix<br /><br />Target Audience: Middle Grade/YA<br /><br />Summary: You've heard the fairytale: a glass slipper, Prince Charming, happily ever after...<br /><br />Welcome to reality: royal genealogy lessons, needlepoint, acting like "a proper lady," and — worst of all — a prince who is not the least bit interesting, and certainly not charming.<br /><br />As soon-to-be princess Ella deals with her newfound status, she comes to realize she is not "your majesty" material. But breaking off a royal engagement is no easy feat, especially when you're crushing on another boy in the palace.... For Ella to escape, it will take intelligence, determination, and spunk — and no ladylike behavior allowed.<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Continuation<br /><br />The first time I read this book, it was like a lightbulb going on in my head – here was someone putting voice and thought and explanation to all the questions I hadn’t known I’d had about Perrault’s Cinderella. Here was a Cinderella who asked all the questions I wanted her to ask, came to the conclusions I wanted her to come to, and grew in the ways I so want this character to grow. <br /><br />But obviously, she can’t start there. No, Ella Brown in this book starts out as Princess Cynthiana Eleanora, newly transformed princess by virtue of being the prince’s chosen wife. Yes, we start a few weeks after the ball, with our Cinderella blissfully happy in her palace with her prince – well, mostly. Truth is, she is kinda tired of learning what is “proper” behavior for a princess, the endless lessons in deportment and etiquette and propr behavior, and the only thing that really keeps her going is the evenings she is allowed to spend, chaperoned of course, with Prince Charming. <br /><br />It’s the fact that she’s allowed to see him so infrequently and that they’re always being watched that make the evenings so awkward and long. Has to be.<br /><br />As the book progresses, we see Ella start to wonder if all this is really worth winning the prince. But she is so in love with him that she convinces herself it is and pushes on. And then one of her teachers is taken ill, and replaced with his young son, Jed. In Jed, Ella finds something she didn’t know she was missing – a confidant. Jed knows at once that Ella’s cover story – being a princess from a faraway land who got to the ball in secret — isn’t true, using fairly simple reasoning with common knowledge that make me wonder after the intelligence of the people in charge who thought it would be a good story. But then I remember what fairy tale I’m reading, and I’m less surprised.<br /><br />But Jed alludes to some mysterious story that Ella has heard her maids allude to as well, references that make no sense to her, about magic and fairy godmothers, and it is from Jed that she finally hears the rumor that is flying around the kingdom. And it’s the story we all know, fairy godmothers, transforming pumpkins, glass slippers, magical help, all of it. <br /><br />And Ella is outraged by it. Because she is appalled at the notion that the wave of a wand has taken the place of the weeks of work and planning she put into getting to the ball. So she tells Jed the true story.<br /><br />Her father remarried a woman who won his heart by pretending to love his books and scholarly pursuits until they were married, when she revealed her true colors. Then he was killed in the war, caught between sides in an accidental skirmish. Ella became the maid because she had no other choice, and because she couldn’t bear to leave the home she’d shared with her father. <br /><br />Her stepmother and two stepsisters were awful, but she got her own back in small, subtle ways – or at least, she thought she was. But it wasn’t until she heard about the ball and immediately knew she wouldn’t go that she started to realize just how much they had taken away from her. Because they had put her in a place where she honestly felt she didn’t deserve the chance to go, despite her invitation.<br /><br />That’s what lights the fire in her. That’s what drives her to get to that ball at any cost. It’s a small thing, but she needs it if she wants to prove that her stepfamily doesn’t own her. <br /><br />She does all the work herself – she works late into the night altering her mother’s wedding dress to fit. She plots out the course she’ll need to walk to the palace and how long it will take. She overhears the glassblower boasting that he can make anything anyone can name, and takes the opportunity to get shoes the only way she can, by naming glass shoes she can walk in without them breaking. If he wins the bet, she gets to keep the shoes.<br /><br />No fairy godmother, no magic coach. She does it all herself. She makes it to the ball, and she’s sent in to meet the prince, who is captivated by her beauty. But she can only stay til midnight because she has to get home in time to clean the cellar, and as she runs out, she feels one of the shoes start to break, so she leaves it behind. The prince finds her the next day, and whisks her away. That’s the real story. <br /><br />What Ella doesn’t know and doesn’t find out until later is that she was chosen purely because of her beauty. The law of the land is that the Charmings must produce beautiful children, and the ball was arranged because none of the noble girls met the requirements. So the plan was to find a non noble girl and teach her to be a princess.<br /><br />The more Ella learns, the more she starts to realize how trapped she is. She’s not allowed to have any ideas, she’s not allowed to hold opinions, she’s being prepared to be a dressed up doll for the rest of her life. When we add the realization that she doesn’t really love the prince, that in fact, he’s kind of an idiot, not someone with whom she can hold anything resembling a conversation? Well, Ella’s in a bit of a pickle.<br /><br />She foolishly believes that if she just tells Charming she doesn’t want to marry him, that will be that. But it isn’t. Instead, the declaration gets her thrown into the dungeon, Charming and his advisors determined to break her spirit so she’ll agree to the wedding. But this is Ella, and she’s not going to let that happen. She manages to escape the palace, figuring out in the meantime just what she wants her life to look like.<br /><br />The end is, obviously, more complicated than that, but that’s the bit that relates most closely to Cinderella, so that’s as much detail as I’m going to go into.<br /><br />I love this book. It’s a pretty simple idea, sure, but it’s executed really well. Haddix stepped outside her usual genre with this one, and personally, I’m really glad that she did. So, checklist.<br /><br />Give Cinderella some control of her destiny? Try exclusive control. Ella Brown is kickass. She made her way to the ball entirely on her own, she broke free of the prince, she escaped the life that others would have forced her into time and time again. Absolutely check.<br /><br />Enhance the role of the prince? Not exactly, but because of how they handled his character, I’m giving the point anyway. Instead of offering an explanation for why he appears so dumb in the original, Haddix just made him legitimately stupid and thoughtless and completely directed by advisors, and for the story she was writing, that works really well. I like that this Prince Charming really wasn’t very. That was a nice touch.<br /><br />Address the plot transgressions? Let’s see.<br /><br />Why does Cindy’s dad allow her to be treated so horribly? He doesn’t. He’s dead. <br /><br />Why doesn’t Cindy fight her servitude or leave if she’s being treated so badly? She stays out of loyalty to her father’s memory. <br /><br />Why hasn’t the fairy godmother made an appearance before this point, if she’s charged with Cinderella’s happiness and well being? There is no fairy godmother; Ella did it all on her own.<br /><br />Anybody going to question glass slippers? It’s made very clear that the glass slippers are incredibly uncomfortable and not first choice of footwear, but you do what you gotta do.<br /><br />Why don’t the slippers disappear along with the rest of the FG’s gifts? Not magical, therefore no issue.<br /><br />Why does the prince need the shoe to identify Cinderella, and is it really reasonable to assume that it will? Because he’s an idiot. Plain and simple. <br /><br />Top notch adaptation. Loved this book as a kid, and I still love it now.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-38833888230186394442013-03-04T08:51:00.001-08:002013-03-04T08:51:32.023-08:00Cinderella (According to Cassie)Cinderella (According to Cassie)<br /><br />So, basically, there’s this girl, and who am I kidding? Unless you’ve lived under a rock for most of your life or are secretly a wizard (in which case, nicely done accessing the Internet. I’m flattered it’s my blog you’ve turned to. Let’s talk about Hogwarts, as I’ve got some important questions), then you know the story of Cinderella. It’s only the most ubiquitous fairy tale in the entire world. Seriously, you can’t swing a dead cat through the cultures of the world without hitting a Cinderella variant (...sorry, that metaphor got away from me).<br /><br />But honestly, this story is <i>everywhere</i>. Everybody’s got a tale of a young orphaned girl forced into servitude by a stepmother, who goes to a party, falls in love with a prince, loses something of value, and gets the guy in the end. It’s the typical rags-to-riches deal we all want to happen to us.<br /><br />But it makes reading adaptations a slightly sticky endeavor. Because there are just so many! So where do you focus?<br /><br />Well, the most well known is Perrault, with his glass slipper and pumpkin turning into a coach and fairy godmother. I’m not sure why this is the most well known, but we’ll get to that. Because I know this to be the version that will immediately pop to mind for most, it’s the one I’ll focus on in the ‘According to Cassie’ vein, but I’m also going to address some others in there as well.<br /><br />So despite the fact that you all know it, here we go.<br /><br />Basically, there’s this girl and it used to be she had a normal happy life with her mother and father, but then the mother died and the father grew despondent. The time frame is ambiguous, as is the father’s relationship with his daughter after her mother’s death. <br /><br />But after a few years have gone by, the father remarries to an absolutely awful woman with two awful daughters (occasionally, one daughter is less awful, but never less awful enough to actually stand up for her new stepsister). It’s never made clear just why the father marries this woman, but that’s not even the most problematic thing about Dad in this story. Oftentimes, after the marriage, the father dies, which is unfortunate for his daughter, but miles better than the other versions of the story where he <i>doesn’t</i> die and is somehow completely okay with what happens next.<br /><br />And what happens next is that the stepmother, threatened by Ella’s beauty (because she’s not actually named Cinderella, guys, that would be a nickname. You know. Cinder. As in ashes. From a fireplace? Nickname), forces her to become a servant in her own home, waiting on her and her daughters hand and foot, doing all the household work on her own. She’s basically a slave. <br /><br />Now, okay. I know that young girls in fairy tale land don’t typically have a lot of power. But one of the questions I have always had at this point is why doesn’t she fight back? Stepmother says, “You’re a servant now,” what is it that keeps Cinderella from saying, “bitch, I don’t think so.”? There are many possible answers to this question, but the original Perrault doesn’t offer any of them. She just accepts her servitude, no fight given. It’s even worse when her father is still alive because how is that something he allows?<br /><br />Anyway, her work in the household earns her the name of Cinderella, given to her by the nicer stepsister, since it’s kinder than what the other calls her – Cinderwench. Thank God for small blessings, I guess? And this is how life continues for many years.<br /><br />And then the King announces a ball, to be given in honor of the prince’s twenty-first birthday, and all the eligible maidens in the kingdom are invited. I’m going to say that again, in case you missed the implications. The King is so desperate to marry off his son that he is inviting every single solitary female in his kingdom, be she noble, farmgirl, or servant, to come and be considered as the kingdom’s future queen. Yeah, that’s not something that usually happens when looking to marry off a prince, and in the tonnage of issues this fairy tale has going against it, I feel like this one gets lost a bit.<br /><br />Well, the stepsisters are all excited to go to a royal ball, but Cinderella knows she can’t because they’d never let her and she doesn’t have anything to wear. So, on the day of the ball, she gets them ready and out the door, and then she falls down sobbing at the unfairness of it all. <br /><br />And just when she’s at her lowest point, who should appear but her fairy godmother! And why Cinderella’s first question isn’t “Why the hell haven’t you shown up before now???” isn’t addressed. Rather, Cinderella is sobbing too hard to even answer the FG’s question as to what the matter is. All she gets out is “I wish, oh I wish—” to which the FG replies, “You wish you could go to the ball?” And Cindy nods an affirmative.<br /><br />Again, I’m gonna highlight this just in case you missed it: Perrault’s Cinderella has so little agency that she <i>cannot even speak what she wants for her life for herself</i>. She is so helpless that she honestly cannot even get the words out; they have to be supplied for her, just like everything else that’s about to happen. The FG waves her wand and produces a ball gown, glass slippers, a coach to the palace, and people to drive it. Cinderella does <i>nothing</i>. I mean, she suggests using rats as coachmen, but that’s about it. The rest? Just handed to her, presenting us with the message: if you’re sweet and docile and helpless enough, someone will eventually come along and fix your problems for you. But then, it’s Perrault, so we shouldn’t really be surprised.<br /><br />Anyway, she has to promise to be home by midnight, because that’s when the magic will fade, and she does, and she goes to the ball, and every is struck by her loveliness, and the prince (of course) falls in love with her immediately and they dance all night together. So transformed is she by a bath and fancy clothes that she can sit next to her stepsisters and chat with them, and they have no idea who she is!<br /><br />And then the clock strikes quarter to midnight, and off Cindy goes, making it home just as the magic fades. We are told that she has a good time when her stepfamily gets home, making them recount the mysterious maiden in all possible detail, along with telling how much the prince admired her, which, I dunno, doesn’t exactly sound to me like Cinderella is as sweet as she’s supposed to be. <br /><br />Well, this scenario plays out twice more at the last two nights of the ball, but on the final night, Cindy stays so late that she has to run right at midnight, and she loses one of her glass slippers on the steps as she flees. The prince finds it and declares that he will marry the maiden whose foot fits the slipper!<br /><br />. . . Okay. Lets talk about this for a minute. First of all, you’ve danced with this girl all night for three nights in a row and are head over heels in love with her, and yet it’s her foot and not her face or her voice or a series of questions about what you talked of in three nights that you’re going to use to identify her? Really?<br /><br />And secondly, did it never cross your mind, princey boy, that there might be some girl in your entire, massive kingdom, who might just have the same size feet as the mysterious girl you danced with? If this is your grand plan to find the love of your life, I can easily see why your father was having such a hard time finding a bride for you. Because you’re an idiot.<br /><br />See, here’s how this should have gone down. You announce that you’re going to marry the girl you danced with, not the girl who fits the slipper, first off. Then you conduct your house to house search and use the memory of what she looks like and sounds like and what you talked about to find her. And then if you still have doubts that she is who you fell in love with, you say, “Hey, you left something behind on that last night. What was it?” And you will have <i>not</i> announced to the world that you found this glass slipper. <br /><br /><i>Seriously</i>.<br /><br />But our prince is not that sensible, and so this is how the story goes. Somehow, no other girl in the entire kingdom has the same size feet as Cinderella, and so when the steward (yes, steward; no, the prince doesn’t even go out and find his own damn girlfriend) puts it on her foot and it fits, they know that, gasp! They’ve found their mysterious maiden! And no one seems to have a problem with the fact that she’s a servant and a commoner!<br /><br />She also happens to have the second glass slipper on her, which helps.<br /><br />Except, wait a gosh-darn second here. Didn’t the FG tell Cindy that she had to be home by midnight because the magic would fade and her dress and coach and everything would disappear? So how is it that these shoes are still around? <br /><br />You know what? I don’t even care anymore. Shoe fits, Cindy marries Prince, happily ever after, yada yada yada.<br /><br />Thoughts on the original? Whoo boy, I hope you have some time.<br /><br />Perrault’s Cinderella is ridiculous. Hands down, plain and simple, straight up nonsensically ridiculous. I mean, it’s relatively common knowledge that the reason Cindy gets a glass slipper in this version is because of a mistranslation. It was a fur slipper, but the two words in old German got confused, and she ended up with one made of glass instead, and nobody thought that was strange. <br /><br />And in looking at this story, and I mean <i>really</i> looking at it, I’m forced to wonder if that was the only thing that got mistranslated. Because there is so much of this story that just plain does not make sense. But I think what bothers me most is that, out of all the available Cinderella stories in the world, <i>this</i> is the one that we know. This is the one that has stuck.<br /><br />Personally, I prefer the Grimm version, because in that one, Cindy actually <i>does</i> something! She plants a tree at her mother’s grave, and when the ball is announced, she goes to that tree and asks her mothers spirit for a miracle. It’s a small change, maybe, but a substantial one. A magical guardian doesn’t just appear and offer her an out; Cinderella goes and gets it for herself. She decides that this is something she wants, and she acts on it.<br /><br />And she doesn’t just lose her shoe; the prince knows she’s going to run, so he tries to stop her by smearing the steps with pitch, not imagining that she’ll just step out of the stuck shoes and keep running. And Grimm also addresses the issue of other feet fitting the slipper – Stepmama is willing to cut off pieces of her daughters’ feet to make the shoe fit and make them a princess, and it’s the spirit of Cindy’s mother that lets the prince know he’s got the wrong girl. <br /><br />But that’s not the version most people know. That’s not the one we cling to. We fixate on the story of the helpless maiden, who can’t even bring herself to ask for what she wants, and the prince who apparently cares so little about her that he sends a servant to find her rather than go himself. Yeah, that’s a love story for the ages . . .<br /><br />Checklist.<br /><br />Give Cinderella some control of her own destiny. This is a big one for me because I <i>hate</i> damsels in distress. And I hate the message that if you cry about something long enough, someone will come and fix it for you. So, I’d like to see Cinderella have some measure of control, some way in which she is active in her own ending.<br /><br />Enhance the role of the prince. In this original story, he doesn’t honestly do much either. He dances, he falls in love, he finds a shoe, he sends a servant out to get the girl. I’d like to see more from this character. I’d like to know why his father is so desperate to marry him off, I’d like to see him display some manner of intelligence, and I’d like some evidence that he’s actually in love with Cinderella.<br /><br />Address the plot transgressions. Seriously, this story is full of holes, and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. In fact, there are enough of them that I’m going to list them:<br />
<ul>
<li>Why does Cindy’s dad allow her to be treated so horribly? </li>
<li>Why doesn’t Cindy fight her servitude or leave if she’s being treated so badly? </li>
<li>Why hasn’t the fairy godmother made an appearance before this point, if she’s charged with Cinderella’s happiness and well being? </li>
<li>Anybody going to question glass slippers? Don’t know if you know this, but shoes are designed to move with your feet as you walk and run and dance, etc. Also don’t know if you know this, but glass? Doesn’t do those things. It’s actually pretty rigid and unyielding. So, can we talk about the glass slippers?</li>
<li> Why don’t the slippers disappear along with the rest of the FG’s gifts?</li>
<li>Why does the prince need the shoe to identify Cinderella, and is it really reasonable to assume that it will?<br /> </li>
</ul>
Plot holes, guys. Fix ‘em.<br /><br />Anyway, here’s the lineup, and it was difficult narrowing this list down to five. As you can see, I still haven’t quite managed it.<br /><br />Week 1: <i>Just Ella</i> by Margaret Peterson Haddix<br />Week 2:<i> Princess of Glass</i> by Jessica Day George<br />Week 3: <i>Cinder</i> by Marissa Meyer<br />Week 4: TBA (Down to two, depends on if my first choice will actually work for review)<br />Week 5: <i>Ella Enchanted</i> by Gail Carson Levine<br /><br />I appreciate your patience with the wait this month, and I hope to have the first review up by tomorrow.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-37910536888944718962013-02-28T05:58:00.000-08:002013-03-01T05:58:52.284-08:00Jack and the Beanstalk Wrap UpJack and the Beanstalk Wrap-Up<br /><br />So, as discussed at the beginning of the month, Jack and the Beanstalk has never been one of my favorite fairy tales. There were just too many problems with it and I couldn’t stand the end where this boy tricked, cheated, lied, stole, and was rewarded in the end. Maybe that said something about real life, but fairy tales aren’t real life, damn it! If I wanted stories like that, I’d just watch the news!<br /><br />So I always kinda shrugged this story off as a kid, and then I fell in love with <i>Into the Woods</i> – and let me tell you something, I could write you an entire post on <i>Into the Woods</i>, and maybe someday I will (no promises, but maybe). And what I love about <i>Into the Woods</i> is that, in the first act, the stories are all pretty much exactly what they are in real life. They play out just as we know them, interconnected, but in the end, it’s the happily ever afters we expect: Cinderella and Rapunzel get their princes, Little Red is rescued from the wolf, and Jack and his mother are rich off stolen goods.<br /><br />And then we have Act Two. The whole idea behind Act Two is what happens next? What comes after happily ever after, and is it as perfect as we think? And the driving action of Act Two? The new problem that brings with it so many other problems? The Giant’s Wife has come down the beanstalk, looking for Jack and for justice to be served upon the boy who stole her goods and killed her husband.<br /><br />And I watched this musical and thought, Yeah. That’s about right. Maybe not kill him, but shouldn’t he answer for what he did?<br /><br />So since that time (and I was about eight, mind), that’s been my prevailing attitude toward Jack in this story. If I’m going to read about him, I want his wrongs to either not be wrongs as such or to be something he either regrets or has to answer for.<br /><br />And in each of my four novels this month, we’ve gotten that. Two chose the route of giving Jack stronger motivations in going up the beanstalk (<i>Crazy Jack</i> and <i>The World Above</i>), one had Jack regret his actions later in his life (<i>The Thief and the Beanstalk</i>), and one did both (<i>Calamity Jack</i>). <br /><br />In <i>Crazy Jack</i>, the giant’s wife had been stolen, and Jack was trying to set her free. She helped him steal the goods as her way to stick it to the husband she was trying to escape from. Jack was also a bit crazy in this one. I love that this book chose to go the route of insanity/stupidity because it called to mind all those other Jack tales, the Foolish Jack stories that this one isn’t <i>really</i> a part of, but could be.<br /><br />In <i>The World Above,</i> Jack isn’t fighting against the giant, really, but against his father’s usurper, so he’s taking back what rightfully belongs to him. In this story, I love the choice to have Jack originally from the giant’s world, trying to go back and find a place in his rightful home. This Jack was still reckless and impulsive, like Jack from the story, but with a firmer purpose in place.<br /><br />In <i>The Thief and the Beanstalk</i>, though, we go in the other direction. Jack <i>is</i> a thief, he <i>did </i>do wrong, he lied and cheated and betrayed, all of it. And he knows it. He got rich off of horrible deeds, and that fact has haunted him his whole life, but he’s too much of a coward to go up again and put things right. But he has answered for his crimes, in the guilt that has consumed and defined him most of his life.<br /><br />And in <i>Calamity Jack</i>, we get this marvelous combination, where Jack is climbing the beanstalk to try and take down the tyrant running his town and making life miserable, but on the other hand, he is also a stupid, reckless kid getting in trouble just for the hell of it. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. That was a fascinating spin on Jack, and I’m glad it was taken.<br /><br />So we have four very different Jacks here, and four very different takes on the beanstalk and the world that lies at its top, but I enjoyed them all. Rankings:<br /><br /><i>The World Above</i> by Cameron Dokey is my favorite of the month. I love how she explores the world and the way Robin Hood is intertwined so seamlessly. Highly recommended.<br /><br />The other three then fall right behind, all recommended, but I love them for such vastly different reasons it’s hard to rank them further!<br /><br />March’s story will be Cinderella, and truly, I need about five more weeks in the month! There’s a lot to tackle! See you then!CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6734005165944768188.post-37457580454764302152013-02-22T20:35:00.000-08:002013-02-26T20:36:02.490-08:00The World Above by Cameron Dokey<i>The World Above</i> by Cameron Dokey<br /><br />Target Audience: YA/Teen<br /><br />Summary: Gen and her twin brother, Jack, were raised with their mother's tales of life in the World Above. Gen is skeptical, but adventureous Jack believes the stories--and trades the family cow for magical beans. Their mother rejoices, knowing they can finally return to their royal home.When Jack plants the beans and climbs the enchanted stalk, he is captured by the tyrant who now rules the land. Gen sets off to rescue her borther, but danger awaits her in the World Above. For finding Jack may mean losing her heart<br /><br />Type of Adaptation: Retelling in combination with the legend of Robin Hood<br /><br />As you might remember from my review of <i>Winter’s Child</i>, Cameron Dokey went through a short period where her contributions to this series were not as stellar as I had come to expect from her. Granted, it was only a two book slump, <i>Winter’s Child </i>and the one she wrote prior to that, <i>Wild Orchid</i>, falling short of the mark, but still, I was starting to worry. My favorites of hers were her first two, and I was starting to worry that maybe she’d peaked.<br /><br /><i>The World Above</i> was the book that convinced me otherwise, because this remains one of my favorites of hrs. It’s also the book that sold me on combining two different fairy tales into one story because this book blends Jack and the Beanstalk and the legend of Robin Hood absolutely seamlessly. <br /><br />So, first important point that we learn, this isn’t Jack’s story. Well, it is, technically, but he isn’t the storyteller. The storyteller is Jack’s twin sister Gen, and she isn’t surprised that you’ve never heard of her. She tends to get left out of the stories because she was never after an adventure. <br /><br />One prologue in and I’m already in love. Cameron Dokey finds the most wonderful voices for her narrators.<br /><br />But Gen goes on to share the bedtime story that started it all, the tale her mother told them every night before bedtime, of a magical land called the World Above that existed high above the clouds for any who could reach it. And in this land, there was a Duke whose wife died without giving him an heir. The plan had always been to marry a daughter to the son of the Duke of the neighboring estate, so merging the two and sealing their fortunes. But without an heir, it came to be understood that the son, Guy de Trabant, who inherit both dukedoms when the time came.<br /><br />However, most unexpectedly, late in life, the old Duke fell in love and married again. Fearful that this new wife would produce heirs and ruin his chance at two kingdoms, Guy de Trabant hired an assassin to kill the Duke, and he then usurped the throne. His intention was also to kill the duke’s wife, but she had been away from the estate, and was warned to flee. Her situation was doubly dangerous, for not only was her head wanted, but she was pregnant with the Duke’s child, his true heir. So she did the only thing that could guarantee her safety.<br /><br />She obtained a magic bean and threw it through the clouds. A beanstalk grew and down she climbed, to the World Below, taking with her only the clothes on her back and the promise that when the time had come to return, she would be given a sign.<br /><br />Gen and Jack, then, are supposedly the children she bore, true heirs to a kingdom in the World Above. Jack has always believed this without question. Gen has always been more skeptical. After all, it’s just a bedtime story, told to help Jack feel special.<br /><br />Because Gen and Jack are vastly different people. Gen is practical and no-nonsense, the planner of the family. But Jack is a dreamer, his head always in the clouds, leaping before he looks and getting into trouble. And their mother always sides with Jack. Gen never let this bother her, not really, but I felt for her, the only person in this home who doesn’t fully believe in the World Above, who is content to continue life in the World Below.<br /><br />But their life below has become difficult. Drought has pushed their farm to the brink of failure, and it is going to take all of Gen’s careful planning to keep things from going under. And so, she comes up with the plan that necessitates selling their last cow. Jack stubbornly doesn’t want to, but on this matter, their mother sides with Gen. Gen knows she should be the one to take the cow to market, as she would get the best price, but Jack speaks first, and so their mother tells him to go. And instead of bringing home money, as well all know, he brings home beans.<br /><br />And, just like in the tale, the mother weeps. But not for the reason so commonly believed. Not out of anger or despair, but joy, for the beans Jack has brought home are the same magical beans that took her down the beanstalk. This is their sign, and the time has come to go home.<br /><br />Jack is all for throwing the bean, climbing the beanstalk, and going in swords blazing to reclaim their throne. Gen rightly points out that this won’t end well for him, and that they need a plan before anyone does anything. Jack makes fun of Gen’s plans, and that’s when Gen finally loses her cool with both brother and mom, to which I say, right on.<br /><br />I mean, Gen’s our narrator, so when she says she understands she’s not the favorite child, you know that’s true. And she really does have remarkable patience in the beginning. But I was irritated with the way she was treated by her mother and brother just because she wasn’t as gung-ho about climbing a beanstalk to a magical world without a plan in place. So I was really glad to see her stand up for herself.<br /><br />I love the way she went about it, too. Because Jack was talking about going and reclaiming his throne, and his mother was talking about how to get the people to recognize him as their true leader, and Gen rightfully (and like a badass) points out that as she is five minutes older than Jack, technically she would be the true heir, something both mother and son had completely neglected to factor in. <br /><br />Of course, Gen doesn’t actually have any interest in the throne, but she wanted to remind her mother and brother that she’s a part of this family, too, even if she views the world a bit differently. It’s a well done moment, and I liked seeing Gen’s assertiveness. It sets up her character really nicely.<br /><br />Chagrined, Jack and their mother let Gen do her planning, and she comes up with a good one. There were three symbols of the duke’s reign: a goose that laid golden eggs, a sack of gold coins that never ran dry, and a harp that sings truth. If Jack can obtain these items, they can be used to help prove Jack’s lineage. But he isn’t to tell anyone who he really is. And he needs to gather information about what’s going on up in the world.<br /><br />So he grows a beanstalk, and he climbs it. And a day later, he comes back, goose and sack in hand, spinning tales about the World Above and the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. Lovesick he may be, but he also has a story to tell.<br /><br />At the top of the beanstalk, he found the castle of the Duke, just as he expected. But Guy de Trabant was not in residence. Guy de Trabant rules both dukedoms from his own home across the border, and the Duke’s old castle is currently in the hands of the children of the giant Guy hired to guard it. Their names are Shannon and Sean. Sean is a giant like his father. Shannon is not. But she s the most beautiful woman Jack has ever seen. So beautiful, in fact, that Jack told her exactly who he was and what he was trying to accomplish.<br /><br />Jack. You had one job, man. <br /><br />But it turns out it wasn’t a horrible mistake, as Shannon and Sean’s loyalties like not with Guy, but to the people who live on the castle’s land. And the people are not being treated well by Guy. So Shannon and Sean give Jack the goose and the sack, left in the castle, but they cannot give him the harp, for that was taken by Guy to the dukedom on the other side of the forest. It is his most treasured and closely guarded possession.<br /><br />Jack also learns that Guy de Trabant’s rule is in a bit of trouble. He has not ruled well, and the people are restless. Rumors fly about the old Duke’s long lost heirs, though no one knew for certain that they existed. A rebellion is brewing. And to add to Guy’s trouble, the rebellion is being headed by his own son Robert, going by the name of Robin and living with his men in the forest.<br /><br />Armed with this knowledge, Jack and Gen create a new plan. Jack will climb a new beanstalk from a new bean (as they chop each one down once the climber is up, for safety). He and Sean will make their way to Guy’s castle for the public assizes, the only times when Guy lets the harp out of its vault. They will try to come up with a way to steal it, for it will help identify Jack as the rightful heir. Jack has four weeks to make this happen and return to the World Below. If he does not return with the harp, then Gen must throw a bean and climb up to rescue him.<br /><br />Gen ends up having to throw a bean and climb up to rescue him, but you could have guessed that, right? <br /><br />Gen meets up with Shannon to find out what has happened, and learns that Jack and Sean went out to find the harp, but she hasn’t heard from them since, and believes they probably got captured. Both sisters are terrified for their brothers, and need to get to Guy’s palace as quickly as possible, and so they decide to journey through the forest rather than around, a risk because, as mentioned earlier, this is the forest full of the Merry Men. <br /><br />And sure enough, the girls are met by Robin and his Little John, in this novel called Steel. At first, they have a little fun with the lonely travelers, but then Steel sees Gen’s face, and it so happens that she’s the spitting image of her mother. Steel worked for the old Duke, and blames himself for the man’s death, and so he immediately recognizes Gen and lets Robin know exactly who they have with them.<br /><br />Robin’s demeanor changes after that, treating Gen and Shannon with new respect and allowing them to come to the hideout and tell their story and what it is they’re trying to do. Since it fits in rather well with the goal of the rebellion, they join forces.<br /><br />And Robin is a marvelous character here, honestly more interesting to me than the original Robin Hood figure. Robin Hood of legend is just . . . too perfect. He’s the perfect figure of morality, always doing right by the people, standing up for the little guy, and while that’s all great, he’s never really been characterized beyond that in a way that I connected with. I have no real problem with him, I just don’t find him interesting.<br /><br />This Robin, though? Him I find incredibly interesting because where he comes from is so much more interesting. He loves his father, but he hates what his father has become. He hates the way that his father treats his people, he hates that his father won his throne through deceit, and he hates that things ended between them the way that they did. <br /><br />This Robin is fighting for the people, yes, but he’s also doing his best to truly unite them. He lacks the arrogance and cockiness of Robin Hood of legend, I think is the key here for me. He’s not after a throne; he makes that very clear. He’s not after a throne. He just wants to see a just and righteous ruler returned to the throne. <br /><br />Gen impresses him, and vice versa, and I love this introduction between the two of them, because here you have highly practical Gen, who rolled her eyes at her brother for falling in love at first sight, and she meets this man and learns who he is and almost literally has a conversation with herself along the lines of, “Hey. Heart. Listen up. We’re not gonna do that. We’re not gonna go there. Not a good time. Understand?”<br /><br />It works about as well as you’d expect.<br /><br />While they’re trying to figure out a plan to move forward, Sean finds them, and confirms their worst fears – Jack was caught trying to steal the harp, and he’s been thrown into the dungeons, awaiting execution. He has also been recognized as the old Duke’s heir, courtesy of the harp. <br /><br />However, Guy de Trabant has announced a loophole. There is a tournament approaching, and a contest has been added to it. An archery contest. If a challenger can best the Duke’s archer in the competition, then that challenger will determine what happens to Jack. Of course, only one person has ever beaten the Duke’s archer. Yeah, that’d be Robin.<br /><br />I love this. I really do. In the original legend, Robin goes because he can’t resist the challenge. But here, he has a real reason; there’s a man’s life at stake. The contest was specifically designed by his father to draw Robin out. There’s a bounty on his head, but the people love Robin too much for anyone to actually claim it. Robin tells Gen this when he tells her that of course he’s going to go free her brother. Gen asks what the bounty is. And Robin tells her. And that’s when Gen comes up with her plan.<br /><br />See, anyone who turns in Robin wins the right to ask three questions of any person in the presence of the harp, so the questions must be answered truthfully. So here’s how it goes down:<br /><br />The band head to the tournament, disguised. The archery contest closes things off. It comes down to Robin and the Duke’s archer. Robin wins. Gen steps forward, also disguised, and claims the bounty, identifying him as Robert de Trabant. Guy de Trabant declares that as Robin is also wanted by law, he can’t declare Jack’s freedom. Steel, who hasn’t heard the plan and wants to avenge the wrong he feels he did the old Duke, steps forward to kill Guy. Robin stops him. Robin claims a debt of his father for saving his life, and uses it to force him to give Gen her bounty. He does, and the person she chooses to question is Guy himself. After, of course, she reveals herself as the daughter of the old Duke.<br /><br />And then she asks Guy her questions, reaching the part of the plan that no one entirely knows about. She asks if he has achieved his heart’s desire. He says no. She asks if he still loves his son. He says yes. And finally, she asks that if she can suggest a way to give back his son and restore his honor in Robin’s eyes, would he accept the bargain? He says yes.<br /><br />Gen tells him that he has not won his heart’s desire because his throne was taken through bloodshed and deceit, a fact she has rightly guessed has eaten away at him over time. He agonizes over it, guilty and full of regret, but with no way to make amends that he can see. Her bargain, then, is this: marry his son to the old Duke’s heir. Unite the kingdoms the right way, through love. Guy points out that this would be a pretty solution, except that he cannot possibly wed his son to Jack, and that’s when Gen has to point out yet again that, hey, she’s actually the heir, guys. <br /><br />Guy asks Robin if he would accept this plan. He says yes immediately, though because Gen is a bit thick-headed about some things, she doesn’t know if he’s saying yes because he wants to marry her or because it’s the only choice he has. She’s silly. He points this out later. It’s adorable.<br /><br />Anyway, Guy renounces his throne, accepts a magic bean, and goes willingly into exile in the world below. Jack and Gen marry their partners and bring their mother up to her rightful land, and all is well and good in the world once more.<br /><br />Checklist, yes?<br /><br />Define Jack? Yes, but even more importantly, we defined Gen, and I love that they are the two halves of this character. You have the dreamer, but also the planner. The doer, but also the thinker. It’s lovely. <br /><br />Tie in the mysterious man? Not really applicable, the way the story was told. I do have my questions about where those beans came from and how they got to the World Below, but while I do think it’s a point not fully explored, it doesn’t bother me enough to gripe about it.<br /><br />Explore the implications of the giant’s world? I love how fully realized the World Above is. It’s the best of any books we’ve read this month. And I love that it isn’t really a giant’s world. I mean, yeah, a giant happens to live there, but really, it’s just another land up above where magic is real. <br /><br />Make the ending matter? As I said earlier, I adore the way these two tales are woven together. It is seamless and it is masterful. And the ending is the perfect blend of them, plus doing what needed to be done to make the story its own as well. Definitely one of my favorites, and I’m glad this is how we wrapped up the month.CassieGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846117297539617084noreply@blogger.com0