This was the first Gregory Maguire book I read (I have since also read Wicked and Son of a Witch, which I found both underwhelming).For some reason I expected this to be funny, though. It is really a sad story about the stepsisters that try to help Cinderella (here:Clara) whenever they can and even take her side against their mother.
The story begins long before the known fairy tale of Cinderella and goes beyond the "happily ever after" - which turns out not to be so happy after all. See, apparently, nobody lives happily ever after - not Cindarella with her prince (of course, she does get him) and not Iris, who tells most of the story (even though she does get her prince, too).
It took me a while to realize that the very beginning was being narrated by Ruth, rather than Iris. I don't remember if it actually said so or not, but for the most part of the book it was Iris telling the tale, so I just assumed that the introduction was done by her, as well.
You would not expect Ruth to give a detailed account of anything. She doesn't speak coherently but makes sounds and sings throught the book.
Was she pretending?
Was she improving/recovering?
If so, wouldn't that have been the real fairy tale?
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment