Mirror Mirror

I liked Wicked, I even liked Son of a Witch. Then I started moving into Gregory Maguire's fairy tales. I liked Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister but Mirror Mirror? Not so much.

First, I'm not a big fan of historical fiction. I like stories written as if they were historical fiction, I just don't like being expected to know any actual history. It's not one of my subjects. So when Mirror Mirror drapes itself around events of 16th century Italy I have no clue what's going on. I know something of the Borgias (in that I recognise the name) but I couldn't tell you what they meant to the politico-social environment of Italy. I would have had to do research to read this book. Maybe I'll pass it on to my husband. He's a history buff.

Second, the fantastical makes a much greater appearance here than it did in Maguire's other works. Mirror Mirror is the story of Snow White so we're expecting to see dwarves and poison apples and maybe a prince. The dwarves were much more mythological than I was expecting. It was sort of interesting but I think they fell flat in that they had no real personality. They were just something that happened and not a part of the story. They were Maguire's deux ex machina when he'd written himself into a corner.

The search for the Apple from the Tree of Knowledge was an unnecessary subplot. Why go to the trouble of setting up Lucrezia as a poisoner when she was going to poison a mystical Apple? Why set up the Apple as mystical if Lucrezia was just going to poison one?

This one was a disappointment. I'm giving it a 2.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire takes the story of Cinderella and tells it from one of the stepsister's point of view. Everyone knows the story of Cinderella so, in a sense, I already knew how the story would end but I found it entertaining to delve into the motivations of the characters. What made the evil stepmother evil? How ugly were the stepsisters? How did Cinderella end up in the ashes.

There's no fairy godmother in this story. No mice and birds to help the girl get to the ball. It's historical fiction, set in Holland, and trying to stay as close to the story as possible. I liked Iris, the ugly stepsister, and I wanted her to end up with her "happily ever after".

The only complaint I have is that it's written in present tense. Novels that do that always confuse me a little. It doesn't have the sense of immediacy that I expect it's supposed to have. In third person present form it doesn't flow very well for me.

I'm giving it a 4.