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Loading... Confessions of an Ugly Stepsisterpor Gregory Maguire
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adorará Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se gostará deste livro.  mgrimmgossett | Dec 8, 2009 |  This was such a good book. I actually didn't realize which sister was narrating the story until the end. Very engaging and he still manages to come up with a fairy tale ending for the characters who most deserve it! trinibaby9 | Nov 24, 2009 | An entertaining novel, but I did struggle a bit with it. The writing style made it hard to get into, and never did entirely engage me. It also stripped some of the appeal from the Cinderella story, which by tradition is a happily ever after story. This novel did not treat the story in that way. I also did find interesting, though, the kinder treatment of Iris, one of the ugly stepsisters. Overall, the story was worth reading for me, but does not reach the level of truly a great novel. (  ) whiteknight50 | Nov 15, 2009 | An engaging story that is familiar yet told with such fresh perspective that it startles the reader and leaves you questioning all kinds of things long after you've finished the book. Suitable for teens and up (  ) stephippen | Oct 30, 2009 | Here is the story of Iris and her sister Ruth, famed stepsisters of the Cinderella tale. Like Maguire's earlier Wicked, it is a retelling of a famous story from the villain's point of view. Also like Wicked, the heroine of the canon is portrayed as self-serving and cruel, while the villain is merely a social outcast, trying to puzzle her way through the world as best she can. The Cinderella story is nearly unrecognizable for about two thirds of the book, while it discusses Iris's love of painting and Clara (Cinderella)'s bizarre self-imposed seclusion, but in the end there is a prince and a ball and a lost slipper. Despite a general confusion throughout most of the story, I turned the last page feeling at least most of my questions had been answered. I don't know that I will go out of my way to read more Maguire - I grew weary of so much unneccessary use of hundred-dollar words and such impossibly flowery dialogue - but I am glad I read this one. I like fairy tales and all their retellings; hopefully the popularity of Maguire's version will not overshadow others' attempts to show the other side of the story. ( )1  melydia | Oct 28, 2009 |  sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
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| Descrição do livro |
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But this is Cinderella, after all, and tragedy is inevitable. When a wealthy tulip speculator commissions the painter to capture his blindingly lovely daughter, Clara, on canvas, Margarethe jumps at the chance to better their lot. "Give me room to cast my eel spear, and let follow what may," she crows, and the Fisher family abandons the artist for the upper-crust Van den Meers.
When Van den Meer's wife dies during childbirth, the stage is set for Margarethe to take over the household and for Clara to adopt the role of "Cinderling" in order to survive. What follows is a changeling adventure, and of course a ball, a handsome prince, a lost slipper, and what might even be a fairy godmother. In a single magic night, the exquisite and the ugly swirl around in a heated mix:
Everything about this moment hovers, trembles, all their sweet, unreasonable hopes on view before anything has had the chance to go wrong. A stepsister spins on black and white tiles, in glass slippers and a gold gown, and two stepsisters watch with unrelieved admiration. The light pours in, strengthening in its golden hue as the sun sinks and the evening approaches. Clara is as otherworldly as the Donkeywoman, the Girl-Boy. Extreme beauty is an affliction...But beyond these familiar elements, Maguire's second novel becomes something else altogether--a morality play, a psychological study, a feminist manifesto, or perhaps a plain explanation of what it is to be human. Villains turn out to be heroes, and heroes disappoint. The story's narrator wryly observes, "In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings. When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats." --Therese Littleton
(retirado da Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:23 -0400)
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I have just a few thoughts on this book. It was more enjoyable than I expected it to be, and it was less complex than I expected it to be. (That is not to say it didn't get me thinking!) I know the reason for these expectations--a dark, complicated, depressing novel--are due solely to my reading of other Maguire works--Wicked, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men. This trilogy, dubbed The Wicked Years, is nothing if not dark, twisted, and endlessly labyrinthine. I did enjoy reading those books. It is just that after reading them, one expects the author to be ruthless, leaving no chance for a satisfying, traditionally "happy" ending.
There was enough of a twist at the end of Confessions that I was surprised, but overall this retelling of the classic fairy tale remained true to what a fairy tale must be--the pretty girl marries the prince, the mean stepmother is thwarted in the end. However, the themes throughout the book were compelling and thought-provoking: What IS beauty? Does physical beauty always translate to spiritual beauty? Does physical imperfection always translate to an evil heart--jealousy, rage, and scorn? When a work of art is perfect, does the artist regret creating it? (