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Mirror Mirror
“Entertaining…profound….A novel for adults that unearths our buried fascination with the primal fears and truths fairy tales contain.” —Christian Science Monitor
The acclaimed author who re-imagined a darker, more dangerous Land of Oz in his New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years, offers a brilliant reinvention of the timeless Snow White fairy tale. Setting the story amid the cultural, political and artistic whirlwind of Renaissance Italy—and casting the notorious Lucrezia Borgia as the Evil Queen—Mirror Mirror will enthrall a wide array of book lovers ranging from adult fans of Harry Potter to readers of the sophisticated stories of Angela Carter.
The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore.
In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia.
She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest salvation can be found as well ...
A lyrical work of stunning creative vision, Mirror Mirror gives fresh life to the classic story of Snow White -- and has a truth and beauty all its own.
The acclaimed author who re-imagined a darker, more dangerous Land of Oz in his New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years, offers a brilliant reinvention of the timeless Snow White fairy tale. Setting the story amid the cultural, political and artistic whirlwind of Renaissance Italy—and casting the notorious Lucrezia Borgia as the Evil Queen—Mirror Mirror will enthrall a wide array of book lovers ranging from adult fans of Harry Potter to readers of the sophisticated stories of Angela Carter.
The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore.
In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia.
She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest salvation can be found as well ...
A lyrical work of stunning creative vision, Mirror Mirror gives fresh life to the classic story of Snow White -- and has a truth and beauty all its own.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 14, 2003
506 people are currently reading
22763 people want to read
About the author
Gregory Maguire
108 books8,998 followersGregory Maguire is an American author, whose novels are revisionist retellings of children's stories (such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Wicked). He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979-1985. In 1987 he co-founded Children's Literature New England (a non-profit educational charity).
Maguire has served as artist-in-residence at the Blue Mountain Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Hambidge Center. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,864 reviews
May 8, 2008
This book would have entertained me better if it had been on fire.
I rarely ever put a book down before I have finished it, no matter how bad it is... but I not only put this book down, I gave it away. The cafe I was reading it at had a collection bin of books to send to the needy in Africa. After forcing myself to read it for several days, I walked right over and tossed it in. Sorry to whoever receives the book, perhaps it will be better than reading nothing, though I doubt it.
Overall the book was a slow-read with undeveloped characters. I felt myself wishing it would all just end. I suggest any one looking to read this book study up on their Roman history and the Borgia family. You'll need it for this, and if you don't know it you might feel a little lost.
In all fairness though I didn't like "Wicked". Everyone else on earth seemed to have loved it, so I truly felt like maybe I missed something. So onward I went in the Maguire books. Sometimes we all make bad decisions.
I rarely ever put a book down before I have finished it, no matter how bad it is... but I not only put this book down, I gave it away. The cafe I was reading it at had a collection bin of books to send to the needy in Africa. After forcing myself to read it for several days, I walked right over and tossed it in. Sorry to whoever receives the book, perhaps it will be better than reading nothing, though I doubt it.
Overall the book was a slow-read with undeveloped characters. I felt myself wishing it would all just end. I suggest any one looking to read this book study up on their Roman history and the Borgia family. You'll need it for this, and if you don't know it you might feel a little lost.
In all fairness though I didn't like "Wicked". Everyone else on earth seemed to have loved it, so I truly felt like maybe I missed something. So onward I went in the Maguire books. Sometimes we all make bad decisions.
January 11, 2008
I'm a little surprised to see so many dismal/mediocre reviews of this story here. I found myself to be just as fixated by this story as I was by Wicked (I can't say that about another of his popular novels, The Ugly Stepsister).
I appreciated the position Gregory took in this re-telling of Snow White. I found the inclusion of an actual historical family (the Borgias) intriguing, although I'm not going to research them. I absolutely adored his description of the "dwarves" and I think that's where Maguire's storytelling capabilities are best shown: his ability to give description to the obviously indescribable. I almost covet his imagination and creativity and would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Wicked.
I appreciated the position Gregory took in this re-telling of Snow White. I found the inclusion of an actual historical family (the Borgias) intriguing, although I'm not going to research them. I absolutely adored his description of the "dwarves" and I think that's where Maguire's storytelling capabilities are best shown: his ability to give description to the obviously indescribable. I almost covet his imagination and creativity and would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Wicked.
September 10, 2007
Okay, well. Shana and I were at the Used Book Sale at St. Agnes yesterday and she chided me for buying this when I said I'd probably dislike it.
I said I would because I'm not sure anything Maguire does will compare with the freshness, the intrigue and the delight I found in Wicked. Or the quiet painterly tension in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which I liked almost as much.
The gimmick, of course, is getting old. In Mirror, he takes Snow White into the viper's nest of the Borgia family in 16th century Italy and, well, it sort of falls flat. None of the characters get enough page time to really develop at all, not the way Elphaba did. You don't get into their minds and see the classic flat fairy tale twisted on its edge.
What's the point in retelling a fairy tale if the retelling is as one-dimensional as the original story?
His graceful way with words is still there, of course, as is his ability to draw away from one scene and fall seamlessly but intentionally into another, stitching the two side by side in the right way. But perhaps the story of Snow White doesn't carry as much weight as the complex Wizard of Oz (which, of course, draws on a far meatier starting point in L. Frank Baum than the usual flat fairy tales) or the quiet injustice of Cinderella (made SO palpable you barely remember the original story's destination).
But I was still disappointed. I still expected Maguire to pull through, no matter how many oddly-angled dwarf chapters I read or how artlessly he tried to make the cunning and terrifying Lucrezia Borgia into the flat vain Wicked Witch. Not to mention how utterly boring Bianca de Nevada was.
Pity. I guess I'll still read Lost and finish out the Maguire oevre.
I said I would because I'm not sure anything Maguire does will compare with the freshness, the intrigue and the delight I found in Wicked. Or the quiet painterly tension in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which I liked almost as much.
The gimmick, of course, is getting old. In Mirror, he takes Snow White into the viper's nest of the Borgia family in 16th century Italy and, well, it sort of falls flat. None of the characters get enough page time to really develop at all, not the way Elphaba did. You don't get into their minds and see the classic flat fairy tale twisted on its edge.
What's the point in retelling a fairy tale if the retelling is as one-dimensional as the original story?
His graceful way with words is still there, of course, as is his ability to draw away from one scene and fall seamlessly but intentionally into another, stitching the two side by side in the right way. But perhaps the story of Snow White doesn't carry as much weight as the complex Wizard of Oz (which, of course, draws on a far meatier starting point in L. Frank Baum than the usual flat fairy tales) or the quiet injustice of Cinderella (made SO palpable you barely remember the original story's destination).
But I was still disappointed. I still expected Maguire to pull through, no matter how many oddly-angled dwarf chapters I read or how artlessly he tried to make the cunning and terrifying Lucrezia Borgia into the flat vain Wicked Witch. Not to mention how utterly boring Bianca de Nevada was.
Pity. I guess I'll still read Lost and finish out the Maguire oevre.
January 13, 2009
I really hated this book. It was like Snow White on acid. Very fragmented and choppy. Even the book cover was creepy. I love retold fairy tales, but I thought this one was a bit of a stretch, and just...weird. I couldn't tell where it was try to go; was it a horror story, a murder mystery, a complete mistake? All in all, it was trying too hard to be too edgy, in my humble opinion. Mirror Mirror didn't recapture the magic that all of Maguire's other novels held. I was really disappointed.
In fact, did I even finish reading this? I don't even remember. Bad sign.
Sorry, Gregory Maguire. That's a strike.
In fact, did I even finish reading this? I don't even remember. Bad sign.
Sorry, Gregory Maguire. That's a strike.
March 26, 2007
This is by far the least appealing and satisfying of the Maguire fairy tales I've read. I'm not really sure where to begin! I was all set to devour this retelling of Snow White, set within a beautiful Italian landscape and with the wicked "stepmother" cast as an untraditional outcast of royalty. (Maguire does possess a gift for understanding the prevalence of politics these stories imply.) However, the rest was slow going. Unfortunately, I will have to re-read it to give more specific reasons for disliking it. (Yes, it's that unremarkable.) All I remember was persevering to the end because of my stubborn insistence of finishing things I start, and then regretting it.
April 15, 2008
"The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say."
"What child does not feel itself perched at the center of creation?... Small children know the truth that their own existense has caused the world to bloom into being."
"Speaking uses us up, speeds us up. Without prayer, that act of confession for merely existing, one might live forever and not know it."
"Faith is a floor. If you don't work at making it for yourself, you have nothing to walk on."
"Silence can be tactical. Even God used silence as a strategy."
"The way a man slakes his thirst and a woman slakes her thirst are not identical, for they thirst for different things."
"She sat amidst us, more or less naked as a human baby, looking, but it was we older brothers - older than trees, older than wind, older than choice - who were born in her presence."
"[He] put his mouth to hers and apologized."
"Out of our need we patronize our artists, we flirt with our poets, we petition our architects: give us your lusty colorful world. Signal to us a state of being more richly steeped in purpose and satisfaction than our own.
Thanks to our artists, we pretend well, living under canopies of painted clouds and painted gods, in halls of marble floors across which the sung masses paint hope in deep impasti of echo. We make of the hollow world a fuller, messier, prettier place, but all our inventions can't create the one thing we require: to deserve any fond attention we might accidentally receive, to receive any fond attention we don't in the course of things deserve. We are never enough to ourselves because we can never be enough to another. Any one of us walks into any room and reminds its occupant that we are not the one they most want to see. We are never the one. We are never enough."
"...puzzled curiosity. A raging patience. An articulate simplicity. A womanliness. Or perhaps it was that she seemed like one who didn't worry about what it meant never to be enough. The absence of such a care on her brow filled her with an unearthly beauty that I could neither achieve nor abide."
"What child does not feel itself perched at the center of creation?... Small children know the truth that their own existense has caused the world to bloom into being."
"Speaking uses us up, speeds us up. Without prayer, that act of confession for merely existing, one might live forever and not know it."
"Faith is a floor. If you don't work at making it for yourself, you have nothing to walk on."
"Silence can be tactical. Even God used silence as a strategy."
"The way a man slakes his thirst and a woman slakes her thirst are not identical, for they thirst for different things."
"She sat amidst us, more or less naked as a human baby, looking, but it was we older brothers - older than trees, older than wind, older than choice - who were born in her presence."
"[He] put his mouth to hers and apologized."
"Out of our need we patronize our artists, we flirt with our poets, we petition our architects: give us your lusty colorful world. Signal to us a state of being more richly steeped in purpose and satisfaction than our own.
Thanks to our artists, we pretend well, living under canopies of painted clouds and painted gods, in halls of marble floors across which the sung masses paint hope in deep impasti of echo. We make of the hollow world a fuller, messier, prettier place, but all our inventions can't create the one thing we require: to deserve any fond attention we might accidentally receive, to receive any fond attention we don't in the course of things deserve. We are never enough to ourselves because we can never be enough to another. Any one of us walks into any room and reminds its occupant that we are not the one they most want to see. We are never the one. We are never enough."
"...puzzled curiosity. A raging patience. An articulate simplicity. A womanliness. Or perhaps it was that she seemed like one who didn't worry about what it meant never to be enough. The absence of such a care on her brow filled her with an unearthly beauty that I could neither achieve nor abide."
August 26, 2012
At first I was a little surprised by all the negative reviews of this book. I think it's one of his best. In fact, I ended up liking it better than Wicked. The first time I read the book, I didn't really "get it." The second time though, I was floored. It strikes me as a psychological and metaphorical novel. Whereas Wicked and it's sequels are pretty much straight-up exciting storytelling rife with action and politics, Mirror Mirror has extended sections that in first reading are confusing. But in those chapters, Maquire delves into the netherworlds of the psyche and one never quite knows what is real and what is not. I didn't find Blanca boring. Granted, she is not the fully-fleshed character that Elphaba is, but she is representative of innocence on the brink of womanhood. The dwarves are intriguing in how they morph and communicate. It is a land and time of mystery that Blanca inhabits, but one tainted by the world of the Borgias. Of all his books, this is the one that warrants multiple readings.
March 17, 2009
This book was sort of like a double retelling -- one of Snow White, and one of the Italian Borgias family. I really liked the use of historical events and people as the backdrop of this fairy tale, particularly the use of Lucrezia Borgia as the "evil stepmother." It made me wish I knew more about the family's actual history because I think I would have enjoyed it more. But as much as I liked that aspect, the rootedness of the story in history and politics made some of the more fantastical elements (dwarves that "evolved" out of rocks, the magic mirror, Snow White's multiple-year sleeping episodes on more than one occasion) feel a little out of place. Essentially, I wanted the fantastical elements to be as clearly defined as the historical and political elements, but they sort of weirdly just floated in and out. I also felt like Gregory Maguire laid a lot of groundwork in the first half of the book with the intricacy I've come to appreciate about his writing, but the second half felt rushed, as though he suddenly remembered he was writing a Snow White retelling and had to get all the elements in there. And I couldn't find a way to justify the way the narrative went beyond head-hopping to switch between third and first person with no apparent rhyme or reason (I'm sure he had one because he must have explained it to his editor SOMEHOW, but I didn't invest myself in discovering it). Still, he breathed a lot of newness into an old story without totally mangling it, and that's the measure of a truly good retelling in my book.
February 20, 2015
Stuff I Read - Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire Review
I was surprised how much I liked this book. I probably shouldn't have been, because I liked Wiked, but in some ways I was disappointed with Wicked as well, with how it dealt with the Dorothy aspects of the story, and I am much more a fan of the Oz books than I am with anything Snow White related. Of course, that's possibly why I liked this one more, because I was less invested in the setting. Also, I'm a sucker for historical fantasies and this is a good one, visiting Provincial Italy during the squabbles of the Borgias and the Medicis and all the rest. It's a compelling read, tragic and full of flawed characters.
The one character that really isn't flawed, of course, is Bianca. She makes an excellent Snow White, being basically a child, trapped by that innocence and ignorance. She is, in many ways, the mirror of Lucrezia, who becomes more the main character of the story. At the very least, the story is more about Lucrezia's life and her arc. She is the woman who falls in love with her brother. She is the woman who is sold off into marriage not once but three times. She is the one who cannot find happiness because she is never allowed the power to hold it. That she becomes a creature trying desperately to destroy Bianca is her own lashing out at the image in the mirror, at her own past and her own history, trying to kill it because of the harm it did to her.
The story is also filled with some great fantasy. The dwarves are the clearest illustration of this, a sort of living earth that separate and gain individualism only through interactions with the human world. They are not quite the colorful and vibrant characters from the movie, but there is an element of that there. They are products of mainly Bianca's mind, and she gives them consistency until they are able to enter into the human world fully. But it is a fool's errand, as are so many of the things in the story. Vicente's quest for the apples, Cesare's for support, Lucrezia's for Bianca's death, and the dwarves quest for the mirror. Each are for things that they think they need, and each end poorly because they are looking in the wrong place.
I liked the religious aspect of this all, too, the way that it's used, the hypocrisy of it, from the Pope using Lucretia to imply that he had incestuous dealings with her to the apples offering nothing of the positive knowledge they should have given to the monks imprisonment of Vicente for so long. It all worked, and worked well with the characters and story. This was not a happy story, was in many ways about the passing of magic into the mundane. But it was a good story, one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and in the end one that will probably stick with me for a time. That said, I'm giving it a 9.25/10.
I was surprised how much I liked this book. I probably shouldn't have been, because I liked Wiked, but in some ways I was disappointed with Wicked as well, with how it dealt with the Dorothy aspects of the story, and I am much more a fan of the Oz books than I am with anything Snow White related. Of course, that's possibly why I liked this one more, because I was less invested in the setting. Also, I'm a sucker for historical fantasies and this is a good one, visiting Provincial Italy during the squabbles of the Borgias and the Medicis and all the rest. It's a compelling read, tragic and full of flawed characters.
The one character that really isn't flawed, of course, is Bianca. She makes an excellent Snow White, being basically a child, trapped by that innocence and ignorance. She is, in many ways, the mirror of Lucrezia, who becomes more the main character of the story. At the very least, the story is more about Lucrezia's life and her arc. She is the woman who falls in love with her brother. She is the woman who is sold off into marriage not once but three times. She is the one who cannot find happiness because she is never allowed the power to hold it. That she becomes a creature trying desperately to destroy Bianca is her own lashing out at the image in the mirror, at her own past and her own history, trying to kill it because of the harm it did to her.
The story is also filled with some great fantasy. The dwarves are the clearest illustration of this, a sort of living earth that separate and gain individualism only through interactions with the human world. They are not quite the colorful and vibrant characters from the movie, but there is an element of that there. They are products of mainly Bianca's mind, and she gives them consistency until they are able to enter into the human world fully. But it is a fool's errand, as are so many of the things in the story. Vicente's quest for the apples, Cesare's for support, Lucrezia's for Bianca's death, and the dwarves quest for the mirror. Each are for things that they think they need, and each end poorly because they are looking in the wrong place.
I liked the religious aspect of this all, too, the way that it's used, the hypocrisy of it, from the Pope using Lucretia to imply that he had incestuous dealings with her to the apples offering nothing of the positive knowledge they should have given to the monks imprisonment of Vicente for so long. It all worked, and worked well with the characters and story. This was not a happy story, was in many ways about the passing of magic into the mundane. But it was a good story, one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and in the end one that will probably stick with me for a time. That said, I'm giving it a 9.25/10.
August 29, 2015
I read Gregory Maguire’s Wicked and absolutely loved it. I adore the idea of taking a common story and putting a twist on it. I was excited about this new book, so I reserved it at the library before it had even been published.
I was sorely disappointed and that is being kind. I felt like I missed something important in the story telling process that would explain what was happening. The basic plot of the story is easy enough to follow.
Bianca de Nevada’s name literally translates into White from Snow (Nevada being a snowy region). Bianca is the daughter of a landowner, Vicente, whose mother died during childbirth. She lives with the cook, Primavera who acts as her nanny and Fra Ludovico, a priest. While draining a lake for irrigation purposes, they find a mirror laying at the bottom and put it up on a wall in their home.
One day a campaign comes through and the Borgia siblings, Cesare and Lucrezia pay Bianca and her father a visit. The Borgia’s are historical people, known for their wicked ways. Cesare sends Vicente out on a quest to find the lost limb of the Tree of Knowledge.
The quest spans a decade and while Vicente is gone, Lucrezia drops in from time to time under the pretense of making sure Bianca is safe. She doesn’t like the girl, but is never malicious toward her until her brother, Cesare comes along and is aroused by Bianca’s beauty. Lucrezia is jealous of the attention Cesare gives to her and is bent on killing her.
She employs Primavera’s grandson, a hunter, to take her out into the forest and kill her, bringing back her heart. The hunter takes her out to the forest and tells her to run away, which she does.
This is the part where I get a little sketchy because somehow Bianca falls into a deep sleep that spans several years. While she is sleeping, dwarves look after her. The dwarves are not those that appear in the Disney cartoon, they are completely separate and odd creatures. They are not really aware of themselves as unique individuals until Bianca comes to them. They are stone shape-shifters, obviously not human. There’s nothing really interesting or endearing about the dwarves.
When Bianca wakes up, there is an odd scene where her menstrual fluid comes out in one big spurt, as if it was being held back all those years. I’m still not exactly sure what that is supposed to symbolize.
Bianca is quick to “befriend” the dwarves, although that isn’t really the correct terminology because they are not her friends. They name themselves for her with names like Heartless, Gimpy and MuteMuteMute. They speak of an eighth, their brother. He has followed Vicente on his journey. The goal was to get their mirror back. Yes, of course, the mirror that was found at the bottom of the lake belongs to the dwarves. They created it in order to study humans so that they, themselves, might become more human.
Vicente comes back from his journey with the limb. The limb contained three apples. One was left in another place for safe keeping. When he comes back, he learns his daughter is dead and Primavera has lost her tongue. Although it never states why, it is evident that Lucrezia had it cut out so Primavera wouldn’t speak the truth she knew about Bianca. Lucrezia takes one of the apples and offers a slice to the stone dwarf that is following Vicente. The creature eats the slice and then takes the rest of the apple when it is offered to him by Lucrezia.
The dwarf then leaves and returns to his brothers. They all eat from the apple. It seems to make them more human. It makes them age and change like a human would.
Lucrezia learns that Bianca is still alive from the gooseboy who saw her in the forest. The gooseboy is supposedly Lucrezia’s son, but that is another detail I missed the explanation for. Lucrezia becomes mad and tries several different ways to kill Bianca. She finally takes the last of the apples she was given and puts poison on one side of it. She gets Bianca to eat the apple by tasting from the non-poisoned side first.
Bianca goes into another deep sleep lasting for years. The dwarves recapture their mirror and take the glass out to place over her coffin. Vicente stumbles upon her and just sits there for years before wandering off and dying. The gooseboy stumbles upon her and takes the glass off her coffin and asks to kiss her. The hunter, Primavera’s grandson, comes back and stops the gooseboy and takes the pleasure for himself, awaking Bianca.
Meanwhile Lucrezia wants to be happy and will stop at nothing for it. She is obsessed with the apple and feels that if she could have only had more of it, she would be happy. She remembers the third apple Vicente spoke of and sets off to find it. When she gets there, she finds a man who is using the apple himself. He has it in place of his heart.
The end – that’s it. The whole sordid tale doesn’t make much sense to me. The story is too hard to follow and no one seems to be motivated to act the way they’re acting. Things just happen for no good reason. Nothing is really explained very well.
As mentioned before, this is a disappointment compared with Wicked. No magical world was created for me filled with wonder and emotion, friendships and excitement. Just a hard-to-follow story that is trying desperately to be exactly like, yet hardly familiar to the story of Snow White.
I was sorely disappointed and that is being kind. I felt like I missed something important in the story telling process that would explain what was happening. The basic plot of the story is easy enough to follow.
Bianca de Nevada’s name literally translates into White from Snow (Nevada being a snowy region). Bianca is the daughter of a landowner, Vicente, whose mother died during childbirth. She lives with the cook, Primavera who acts as her nanny and Fra Ludovico, a priest. While draining a lake for irrigation purposes, they find a mirror laying at the bottom and put it up on a wall in their home.
One day a campaign comes through and the Borgia siblings, Cesare and Lucrezia pay Bianca and her father a visit. The Borgia’s are historical people, known for their wicked ways. Cesare sends Vicente out on a quest to find the lost limb of the Tree of Knowledge.
The quest spans a decade and while Vicente is gone, Lucrezia drops in from time to time under the pretense of making sure Bianca is safe. She doesn’t like the girl, but is never malicious toward her until her brother, Cesare comes along and is aroused by Bianca’s beauty. Lucrezia is jealous of the attention Cesare gives to her and is bent on killing her.
She employs Primavera’s grandson, a hunter, to take her out into the forest and kill her, bringing back her heart. The hunter takes her out to the forest and tells her to run away, which she does.
This is the part where I get a little sketchy because somehow Bianca falls into a deep sleep that spans several years. While she is sleeping, dwarves look after her. The dwarves are not those that appear in the Disney cartoon, they are completely separate and odd creatures. They are not really aware of themselves as unique individuals until Bianca comes to them. They are stone shape-shifters, obviously not human. There’s nothing really interesting or endearing about the dwarves.
When Bianca wakes up, there is an odd scene where her menstrual fluid comes out in one big spurt, as if it was being held back all those years. I’m still not exactly sure what that is supposed to symbolize.
Bianca is quick to “befriend” the dwarves, although that isn’t really the correct terminology because they are not her friends. They name themselves for her with names like Heartless, Gimpy and MuteMuteMute. They speak of an eighth, their brother. He has followed Vicente on his journey. The goal was to get their mirror back. Yes, of course, the mirror that was found at the bottom of the lake belongs to the dwarves. They created it in order to study humans so that they, themselves, might become more human.
Vicente comes back from his journey with the limb. The limb contained three apples. One was left in another place for safe keeping. When he comes back, he learns his daughter is dead and Primavera has lost her tongue. Although it never states why, it is evident that Lucrezia had it cut out so Primavera wouldn’t speak the truth she knew about Bianca. Lucrezia takes one of the apples and offers a slice to the stone dwarf that is following Vicente. The creature eats the slice and then takes the rest of the apple when it is offered to him by Lucrezia.
The dwarf then leaves and returns to his brothers. They all eat from the apple. It seems to make them more human. It makes them age and change like a human would.
Lucrezia learns that Bianca is still alive from the gooseboy who saw her in the forest. The gooseboy is supposedly Lucrezia’s son, but that is another detail I missed the explanation for. Lucrezia becomes mad and tries several different ways to kill Bianca. She finally takes the last of the apples she was given and puts poison on one side of it. She gets Bianca to eat the apple by tasting from the non-poisoned side first.
Bianca goes into another deep sleep lasting for years. The dwarves recapture their mirror and take the glass out to place over her coffin. Vicente stumbles upon her and just sits there for years before wandering off and dying. The gooseboy stumbles upon her and takes the glass off her coffin and asks to kiss her. The hunter, Primavera’s grandson, comes back and stops the gooseboy and takes the pleasure for himself, awaking Bianca.
Meanwhile Lucrezia wants to be happy and will stop at nothing for it. She is obsessed with the apple and feels that if she could have only had more of it, she would be happy. She remembers the third apple Vicente spoke of and sets off to find it. When she gets there, she finds a man who is using the apple himself. He has it in place of his heart.
The end – that’s it. The whole sordid tale doesn’t make much sense to me. The story is too hard to follow and no one seems to be motivated to act the way they’re acting. Things just happen for no good reason. Nothing is really explained very well.
As mentioned before, this is a disappointment compared with Wicked. No magical world was created for me filled with wonder and emotion, friendships and excitement. Just a hard-to-follow story that is trying desperately to be exactly like, yet hardly familiar to the story of Snow White.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2008
Erin Gort
Ms. Houseman
H World Lit
5 May 2008
Gregory Maguire
Mirror Mirror
New York: Harper Collins, 2004
280 pp. $16.00
978-0-06-098865-4
The novel “Mirror Mirror” was an immense letdown after reading “Wicked” and “Son of a Witch.” Gregory Maguire is noted for recreating or retelling previously created tales of fantasy. “Mirror Mirror” is the reinvented story of Snow White. Placed in the fantasy tale are Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, the famous children of Pope. They plan the demise of Bianca De Nevada, the innocent and pure Snow White. The novel has difficult Italian vocabulary and requires history of Rome and the Borgia family. Maguire constantly changes the scene and character throughout the novel, leaving characters dull and undeveloped. These flaws in the writing cause the reader to be left bored and confused.
The requisite fairytale ingredients are present - magic mirror, dwarves, beautiful girl, evil authority figure, and random unicorn. But even with these, one is left disappointed by the fact that Maguire seems to devote more attention to the context and history of the story than to the story itself. Maguire clearly did a great amount of research for this book, and that should be applauded. Even so, the book left the reader longing for more fantasy and less history. Maguire interspersed his text with a great deal of Italian words and when you add that to his eclectic vocabulary. Stumbling over the pronunciation of half of the words was surely not helping the story flow, but unfortunately, the story already seemed incredibly disjointed and murky. Maguire’s usual love of the complex characters does not appear in this in this story, instead they were just unfathomable and flat. Many of the characters had great history behind them, but not enough detail and intrigue to enchant the novel.
The most one-dimensional character is the main character Bianca. She never is fully developed as an intriguing character because she spends most of the book asleep or suspended in time. As a symbol of innocence and purity, though, she is the center of the novel around which everything else revolves. She is forbidden to live her home on the farm. When talking with Cesare Borgia they discuss her view of the world outside of her view. She says, "I seldom leave the farm -- only once or twice to the village at the ford of the river a few miles on, and then only with my father. Years ago. This is world enough for me, up here. I play with the birds. I climb the apple trees. I used to try to make friends with the servant girls, but since my father left, they have gone away too. Primavera feeds me, and when he remembers, Fra Ludovico sees that I keep to my devotions. I've learned a few letters and I can write my name, some modest sentences. I can swim; the gooseboy taught me how. I milk the cows when the farmer is too drunk to come up the hill to do it. I collect the eggs and help pull beans from their runners and tomatoes from their vines. I help Primavera move the potted lemon trees into the limonaia for the winter. In the summer I pick oleander, lavender bells, and fennel for the shrine in the chapel wall. I watch the moon in its swelling and subsiding" (Maguire 86). Bianca is a dull and uninteresting character with nothing to intrigue the reader or leave them wanting more. She falls flat of Snow White, whose classic story at least kept the girl mysterious and captivating to the reader. What's the point in retelling a fairy tale if the retelling is as one-dimensional as the original story?
Gregory Maguire does not live up to the praise and glory of “Wicked.” He left the reader utterly confused and bored. He simply goes too far into the background history and context of the characters that he deprives “Mirror Mirror” of a stimulating storyline for the reader. By using Italian terminology and foreign history Maguire damages his hopes of having another bestseller. He leaves the characters without a life that attention-grabbing and unique, boring the reader and leaving the book unsatisfying.
Ms. Houseman
H World Lit
5 May 2008
Gregory Maguire
Mirror Mirror
New York: Harper Collins, 2004
280 pp. $16.00
978-0-06-098865-4
The novel “Mirror Mirror” was an immense letdown after reading “Wicked” and “Son of a Witch.” Gregory Maguire is noted for recreating or retelling previously created tales of fantasy. “Mirror Mirror” is the reinvented story of Snow White. Placed in the fantasy tale are Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, the famous children of Pope. They plan the demise of Bianca De Nevada, the innocent and pure Snow White. The novel has difficult Italian vocabulary and requires history of Rome and the Borgia family. Maguire constantly changes the scene and character throughout the novel, leaving characters dull and undeveloped. These flaws in the writing cause the reader to be left bored and confused.
The requisite fairytale ingredients are present - magic mirror, dwarves, beautiful girl, evil authority figure, and random unicorn. But even with these, one is left disappointed by the fact that Maguire seems to devote more attention to the context and history of the story than to the story itself. Maguire clearly did a great amount of research for this book, and that should be applauded. Even so, the book left the reader longing for more fantasy and less history. Maguire interspersed his text with a great deal of Italian words and when you add that to his eclectic vocabulary. Stumbling over the pronunciation of half of the words was surely not helping the story flow, but unfortunately, the story already seemed incredibly disjointed and murky. Maguire’s usual love of the complex characters does not appear in this in this story, instead they were just unfathomable and flat. Many of the characters had great history behind them, but not enough detail and intrigue to enchant the novel.
The most one-dimensional character is the main character Bianca. She never is fully developed as an intriguing character because she spends most of the book asleep or suspended in time. As a symbol of innocence and purity, though, she is the center of the novel around which everything else revolves. She is forbidden to live her home on the farm. When talking with Cesare Borgia they discuss her view of the world outside of her view. She says, "I seldom leave the farm -- only once or twice to the village at the ford of the river a few miles on, and then only with my father. Years ago. This is world enough for me, up here. I play with the birds. I climb the apple trees. I used to try to make friends with the servant girls, but since my father left, they have gone away too. Primavera feeds me, and when he remembers, Fra Ludovico sees that I keep to my devotions. I've learned a few letters and I can write my name, some modest sentences. I can swim; the gooseboy taught me how. I milk the cows when the farmer is too drunk to come up the hill to do it. I collect the eggs and help pull beans from their runners and tomatoes from their vines. I help Primavera move the potted lemon trees into the limonaia for the winter. In the summer I pick oleander, lavender bells, and fennel for the shrine in the chapel wall. I watch the moon in its swelling and subsiding" (Maguire 86). Bianca is a dull and uninteresting character with nothing to intrigue the reader or leave them wanting more. She falls flat of Snow White, whose classic story at least kept the girl mysterious and captivating to the reader. What's the point in retelling a fairy tale if the retelling is as one-dimensional as the original story?
Gregory Maguire does not live up to the praise and glory of “Wicked.” He left the reader utterly confused and bored. He simply goes too far into the background history and context of the characters that he deprives “Mirror Mirror” of a stimulating storyline for the reader. By using Italian terminology and foreign history Maguire damages his hopes of having another bestseller. He leaves the characters without a life that attention-grabbing and unique, boring the reader and leaving the book unsatisfying.
October 14, 2011
"Out of all the novels by Gregory Maguire, this one is my favorite one. True Wicked was more popular, there was something about this novel that touched my imagination in a way that I cannot really explain. I can say that the novel itself is a mix of both fairy tale and historical events. Also, I can tell you that the tale takes place in Tuscany, Italy which in my opinion is a fine setting for such a book.
I have to say that giving Snow White a more exotic and foreign name of Bianca de Nevada was quite smart on Maguire's behalf. It made me truly believe that ""Snow White"" truly is the fairest maiden in the land and in all respects she is as it attains to this novel. The novel starts out with Bianca at seven years old with her father Don Vicente. They come into pocession of a mirror that was made by dwarves but was found by Bianca in a pond which was used to temper the mirror. An eighth dwarf remains with her asking for the mirror back.
The wicked queen is in the form of Cesare Borgia and his sister the lovely and vain Lucrezia - who are decadent children of a wicked pope. Lucrezia serves as the wicked queen and grows jealous of Bianca's beauty as she ages into grace. On an attempt by Lucrenza to kill Bianca through a woodsman, Bianca escapes and runs into the seven dwarfs - who are looking for the eight dwarf and the mirror Bianca found years ago.
Because of this new twist and plot, this novel was quite an entertaining read and probably the quickest read I had from Gregory Maguire. I was very impressed and loved how everything just went into place with all of his writing. The majestic setting of old Italy also added to the imagination as it gave the ""Snow White"" story more depth. Personally, I think this would make an excellent follow-up to Wicked to truly understand Gregory Maguire and I recommend it as a tryout to anyone and a guaranteed read for those who love Maguire's magical writing style before he published his later writings."
I have to say that giving Snow White a more exotic and foreign name of Bianca de Nevada was quite smart on Maguire's behalf. It made me truly believe that ""Snow White"" truly is the fairest maiden in the land and in all respects she is as it attains to this novel. The novel starts out with Bianca at seven years old with her father Don Vicente. They come into pocession of a mirror that was made by dwarves but was found by Bianca in a pond which was used to temper the mirror. An eighth dwarf remains with her asking for the mirror back.
The wicked queen is in the form of Cesare Borgia and his sister the lovely and vain Lucrezia - who are decadent children of a wicked pope. Lucrezia serves as the wicked queen and grows jealous of Bianca's beauty as she ages into grace. On an attempt by Lucrenza to kill Bianca through a woodsman, Bianca escapes and runs into the seven dwarfs - who are looking for the eight dwarf and the mirror Bianca found years ago.
Because of this new twist and plot, this novel was quite an entertaining read and probably the quickest read I had from Gregory Maguire. I was very impressed and loved how everything just went into place with all of his writing. The majestic setting of old Italy also added to the imagination as it gave the ""Snow White"" story more depth. Personally, I think this would make an excellent follow-up to Wicked to truly understand Gregory Maguire and I recommend it as a tryout to anyone and a guaranteed read for those who love Maguire's magical writing style before he published his later writings."
July 7, 2011
I didn't manage to read it all, there are still 50 pages waiting for me but I don't think I'll ever get back to it. It was tiring and really not what I expected. The ideas behind the story might have been good but the story itself was dissapointing! I was forcing myself to read through for a few days now but I realized I was just wasting my time.
March 19, 2017
Beautifully written story. Barely a resemblance to the fairytale version we all know (The Disney one). I can't understand why all the low ratings. Is it because the story is too beautiful? Is it because it's too poetic? Is it because too many people don't like human on unicorn sexual encounters? Easy 5 star.
June 1, 2010
You know, I liked Wicked a LOT, but I had this weird feeling after reading it that I wasn't too interested in Maguire's other work because the endless "alterna-tales" shtick seemed tiresome ... which doesn't make a lot of sense now that I think about it, because I never sat around and thought things like "oh Dorothy Sayers, if she's just going to keep writing books about Peter Wimsey solving murders, then why even bother?" But regardless, I was reluctant.
I ended up loving this. He's not a perfect writer, but he's crafted this rich, rich story that feels like a completely legitimate foundation for Snow White. In his version, the events are taking place in renaissance Italy, and Lucrezia Borgia takes the role of wicked stepmother, although she more like a wicked guardian. And I just loved her by the end ... she is wicked, but so captivating. And maybe the best part was the treatment of the deer killed by the huntsman to provide evidence of the heart.
I ended up loving this. He's not a perfect writer, but he's crafted this rich, rich story that feels like a completely legitimate foundation for Snow White. In his version, the events are taking place in renaissance Italy, and Lucrezia Borgia takes the role of wicked stepmother, although she more like a wicked guardian. And I just loved her by the end ... she is wicked, but so captivating. And maybe the best part was the treatment of the deer killed by the huntsman to provide evidence of the heart.
February 3, 2017
One of the better fairy-tale retellings, Mirror mirror keeps this perfect balance between whimsical and utterly disturbing.
Maguire's style is definitely present in this novel and though I sometimes had trouble with understanding who was talking in which chapter and what the hell those dwarf/rock/goblin/things were on about, I flew through this book and would love to re-read it once upon a time.
Maguire's style is definitely present in this novel and though I sometimes had trouble with understanding who was talking in which chapter and what the hell those dwarf/rock/goblin/things were on about, I flew through this book and would love to re-read it once upon a time.
February 17, 2024
Im glad i was able to finish this . Not what i thought it would be.
July 27, 2021
CW: Sex talk
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Have you ever wanted the mental image of a strapping young man cumming harder than ever before to a unicorn? Neither did I!
Are you looking for an adaptation of Snow White where the evil queen rapes Snow? Neither was I!
Do you enjoy books where the main character breasts boobily? I don't either!
Have you wanted to think about literally every character's genitals? I certainly did not!
Have you ever wanted to come to the gut-wrenching conclusion the author was not abusing a substance while writing, and somehow that makes it worse? I had honestly never thought of it before!
Do you find sexualizing 11-16 year olds permissible? *Gets bat* Neither do I!
Have you ever wanted to picture a dumpy widowed nurse-maid making love to a squid? I mean, who doesn't love the tentacle?
Do you like books with slow beginnings where nothing really happens? Don't we all?
This book has everything you've never wanted to even think of...That we know of so far!
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Have you ever wanted the mental image of a strapping young man cumming harder than ever before to a unicorn? Neither did I!
Are you looking for an adaptation of Snow White where the evil queen rapes Snow? Neither was I!
Do you enjoy books where the main character breasts boobily? I don't either!
Have you wanted to think about literally every character's genitals? I certainly did not!
Have you ever wanted to come to the gut-wrenching conclusion the author was not abusing a substance while writing, and somehow that makes it worse? I had honestly never thought of it before!
Do you find sexualizing 11-16 year olds permissible? *Gets bat* Neither do I!
Have you ever wanted to picture a dumpy widowed nurse-maid making love to a squid? I mean, who doesn't love the tentacle?
Do you like books with slow beginnings where nothing really happens? Don't we all?
This book has everything you've never wanted to even think of...That we know of so far!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2009
I loved this book. I find Gregory Maguire's style of writing and use of language different, very compelling. It reminded me of "Wicked," in that the beginning was kind of difficult due to the unusual type of narration. When I got used to that, I got gradually drawn into the tale and couldn't put it down. I loved the inclusion of short poems at the beginning of each chapter, some had the feel of ancient chants. And the woodcut illustrations are lovely, they really complement the text. For a tale with so much enchantment, it's surprising how much you feel for the characters, both human and magical.
January 1, 2009
I thought that this was a very disappointing book. After reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which I loved, and Wicked, which I liked, I expected Mirror, Mirror to be a fun read at the very least. It was not. I love the idea of playing with fairy tales; but in my view, Maguire did not succeed in transforming Snow White into a compelling contemporary re-telling.
Read
February 12, 2020DNF. Wasn’t for me. I wasn’t enjoying the audio.
April 12, 2018
The master of fairy-tale retellings is back at it again, and instead of exploring the world of Oz like he did in Wicked, he is exploring the slightly more grounded world of Renaissance-era Italy. I say slightly, of course, because anyone who has had the pleasure of reading a Gregory Maguire story knows that things will still remain whimsical and magical, even when placed in a historical setting like this one. The end result is what feels like a pleasant mix of historical fiction and magical realism.
Mirror Mirror is, of course, a retelling of Snow White. This time around Snow White is a young girl named Bianca de Nevada who lives with her father Don Vicente in their quiet mansion in Tuscany. Things don't go so well, however, when a certain infamous and aristocratic family by the name of Borgia come along. More specifically, a young woman named Lucrezia Borgia and her brother, Cesare, the same Cesare Machiavelli wrote about. Indeed, Machiavelli is mentioned several times in this book. Somehow I must have slept through most of my Renaissance and Italian history courses in college because I've realized that I knew almost nothing about the Borgias going into this tale. Suffice it to say, they seemed to have been a rather corrupt and despicable lot, as even a cursory google search seems to indicate. And in Mirror Mirror this is no exception.
Bianca (Snow White) herself is actually a little on the boring side in this book - though I think that perhaps this was an intentional act on Maguire's part, seeing that the bulk of the drama in this tale comes from the wicked Borgias and the tragic story of Bianca's father, sentenced by Cesare to scour the earth for a secret relic from the Tree of Knowledge. I'll also mention that the dwarves are well-written and Maguire gives them his own spin that is far more mysterious than any Disney depiction (not that I have anything against Disney, of course).
Maguire has easily written his strongest villain ever here in the form of Lucrezia Borgia. I'm a huge fan of villains in literature (who isn't?) but usually I prefer to have my villains explained. I like them to have things about them that make us empathize, that leave us torn. Just like real life, I like them to have complexity and leave us wondering just how bad they actually are.
Lucrezia - who takes on the role of Bianca's evil stepmother here - is complex alright, though not in the way I mentioned above. She is vindictive, shallow, deceitful, crude, lecherous, unpleasant, haughty, and just downright cold and vile. Maguire gives us nothing to like about her here, but I loved her character anyway, which is a testament to his ability to write a good old-fashioned villainess. She's just so ridiculously bad you can't help but be enthralled by her. She steals the show on every page she appears on. She is completely insufferable and incredible at the same time. She makes evil female characters from other books I've read pale in comparison with her utter corruption. She seduces and has sexual relations with her father, her brother, and even her own son. It's ridiculous just how bad and morally corrupt she is. She's just a great villainess, and I loved her character and hated her at the same time.
Maguire has always had a knack to take these old fairy-tales and give them a dark and adult side while still leaving them just as magical as the originals. He's a great writer, though his narrative style can make his books a little hard to dive right into. His books seem to be a bit polarizing at times, so I guess not everyone likes their fairy tales with adult themes, ambiguous morals, and sex. Which is completely fine, not everyone has to like a book of course. But I wholeheartedly recommend Mirror Mirror. The rolling Tuscany hills and valleys, the sweetly innocent Bianca, the curious dwarves, the tempestuous Lucrezia - all of these things captured my imagination time and time again. And in my opinion, that's the point of any good book. To capture your imagination and leave you with a yearning for the indescribable, for the magic that exists outside of our day-to-day lives. Mirror Mirror does this wonderfully.
Mirror Mirror is, of course, a retelling of Snow White. This time around Snow White is a young girl named Bianca de Nevada who lives with her father Don Vicente in their quiet mansion in Tuscany. Things don't go so well, however, when a certain infamous and aristocratic family by the name of Borgia come along. More specifically, a young woman named Lucrezia Borgia and her brother, Cesare, the same Cesare Machiavelli wrote about. Indeed, Machiavelli is mentioned several times in this book. Somehow I must have slept through most of my Renaissance and Italian history courses in college because I've realized that I knew almost nothing about the Borgias going into this tale. Suffice it to say, they seemed to have been a rather corrupt and despicable lot, as even a cursory google search seems to indicate. And in Mirror Mirror this is no exception.
Bianca (Snow White) herself is actually a little on the boring side in this book - though I think that perhaps this was an intentional act on Maguire's part, seeing that the bulk of the drama in this tale comes from the wicked Borgias and the tragic story of Bianca's father, sentenced by Cesare to scour the earth for a secret relic from the Tree of Knowledge. I'll also mention that the dwarves are well-written and Maguire gives them his own spin that is far more mysterious than any Disney depiction (not that I have anything against Disney, of course).
Maguire has easily written his strongest villain ever here in the form of Lucrezia Borgia. I'm a huge fan of villains in literature (who isn't?) but usually I prefer to have my villains explained. I like them to have things about them that make us empathize, that leave us torn. Just like real life, I like them to have complexity and leave us wondering just how bad they actually are.
Lucrezia - who takes on the role of Bianca's evil stepmother here - is complex alright, though not in the way I mentioned above. She is vindictive, shallow, deceitful, crude, lecherous, unpleasant, haughty, and just downright cold and vile. Maguire gives us nothing to like about her here, but I loved her character anyway, which is a testament to his ability to write a good old-fashioned villainess. She's just so ridiculously bad you can't help but be enthralled by her. She steals the show on every page she appears on. She is completely insufferable and incredible at the same time. She makes evil female characters from other books I've read pale in comparison with her utter corruption. She seduces and has sexual relations with her father, her brother, and even her own son. It's ridiculous just how bad and morally corrupt she is. She's just a great villainess, and I loved her character and hated her at the same time.
Maguire has always had a knack to take these old fairy-tales and give them a dark and adult side while still leaving them just as magical as the originals. He's a great writer, though his narrative style can make his books a little hard to dive right into. His books seem to be a bit polarizing at times, so I guess not everyone likes their fairy tales with adult themes, ambiguous morals, and sex. Which is completely fine, not everyone has to like a book of course. But I wholeheartedly recommend Mirror Mirror. The rolling Tuscany hills and valleys, the sweetly innocent Bianca, the curious dwarves, the tempestuous Lucrezia - all of these things captured my imagination time and time again. And in my opinion, that's the point of any good book. To capture your imagination and leave you with a yearning for the indescribable, for the magic that exists outside of our day-to-day lives. Mirror Mirror does this wonderfully.
November 29, 2016
On a spectrum of fairy-tale retellings Mirror Mirror landed firmly as historical fiction inspired by a fairy tale*. The blending of the Borgias with Snow White seemed a tantalizing combination; unfortunately, the two never merged into a story that felt fully realized. At times it bordered on outright manipulation as if I should appreciate the story simply because the author was brilliant enough to think it up.
Frankly, I nearly abandoned the book after Bianca awoke and experienced her first menstruation - several years' worth, all at once - in graphic detail. Written by a man that was hard for me to stomach. Besides the fact I don't quite understand why it was at all relevant or important to the story.
So why three stars?
Three reasons - one star for each: the dwarfs ; the mirror ; the tree of knowledge . Those three elements were the only reason I kept reading; they're the only parts of the story that came close to capturing my attention.
3 stars
*Please don't interpret this label to mean I don't enjoy these types of retellings; see Bitter Greens and The Golem and the Jinni. I just prefer the more rare end of the spectrum: a fairy tale in a historical setting that feels like an actual fairy tale. Deathless being a near-perfect example.
Side note to self: I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be blown away by Maguire's work the way others seem to be. To date I've read three novels and two short stories. Other than Ugly Stepsister I've been consistently underwhelmed.
Frankly, I nearly abandoned the book after Bianca awoke and experienced her first menstruation - several years' worth, all at once - in graphic detail. Written by a man that was hard for me to stomach. Besides the fact I don't quite understand why it was at all relevant or important to the story.
So why three stars?
Three reasons - one star for each: the dwarfs ; the mirror ; the tree of knowledge . Those three elements were the only reason I kept reading; they're the only parts of the story that came close to capturing my attention.
3 stars
*Please don't interpret this label to mean I don't enjoy these types of retellings; see Bitter Greens and The Golem and the Jinni. I just prefer the more rare end of the spectrum: a fairy tale in a historical setting that feels like an actual fairy tale. Deathless being a near-perfect example.
Side note to self: I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be blown away by Maguire's work the way others seem to be. To date I've read three novels and two short stories. Other than Ugly Stepsister I've been consistently underwhelmed.
May 27, 2014
I am giving this a higher rsting than any of my friends in part because I listened to this novel. In listening to it, I better understood how this retelling of Snow White reflects the fables compiled by the Brothers Grimm, giving far more detail than is easy to read physically. If I'd read this, I would have either given up or skipped or slid through portions.
Despite some Borgia fatigue (from cable television, BBC,and historical fiction), this fabulistic treatment does little to portray with the clan any redeeming qualities, which provides great sympathty for the coming Protestant Reformation. Maguire's understanding and background in fables, myths, and the fantasy world comes alive in his slow development of the protagonists, and why they are so entangled with the antagonists. Likewise, the perpheriary characters create wonderful foils to bith sides' indivudual and collective foibles and redeeming qualities. I particularly enjoyed the deeper pieces of dwarf and Snow White-beyond-Disney details that enhanced the story. Though tied a bit neatly, it was an entertaining listen during my airport (Denver) and cemetery (Graceland) wanderings.
*Rounded up from 3.5 stars.
Despite some Borgia fatigue (from cable television, BBC,and historical fiction), this fabulistic treatment does little to portray with the clan any redeeming qualities, which provides great sympathty for the coming Protestant Reformation. Maguire's understanding and background in fables, myths, and the fantasy world comes alive in his slow development of the protagonists, and why they are so entangled with the antagonists. Likewise, the perpheriary characters create wonderful foils to bith sides' indivudual and collective foibles and redeeming qualities. I particularly enjoyed the deeper pieces of dwarf and Snow White-beyond-Disney details that enhanced the story. Though tied a bit neatly, it was an entertaining listen during my airport (Denver) and cemetery (Graceland) wanderings.
*Rounded up from 3.5 stars.
September 28, 2020
This book was very bad. It was so incredibly boring. I’ve always wanted to read Wicked, but after reading this I’m hesitant to pick up another one of Maguire’s books. I don’t really even know why I wasted my time finishing this when I wanted to give it up 50 pages in—chalk it up to my stubbornness. Also, he had a character casually mention that she had sex with a squid, with no reason or explanation, and that was very weird and random and gross to me. I just can’t begin to understand what the point of writing this was.
August 24, 2018
I found this book to be boring. I only finished it because I kept hoping something interesting would happen. Nope.
Read
August 6, 2020I'm sorry once again guys, this book was too slow for me and I am not enjoying it very much. I will try to read it again, but I don't think I'll be able to!!!!😱😢
I couldn't take the storyline....it didn't make much sense......also the writing seemed a little too mature for a little girl...
but I still think the author is a wonderful person!!!!❤️😁
I couldn't take the storyline....it didn't make much sense......also the writing seemed a little too mature for a little girl...
but I still think the author is a wonderful person!!!!❤️😁
February 25, 2008
Yikes... I read this aloud with my boyfriend after piling on compliments about how much I love McGuire's other novels. A few bedtimes and two long plane rides later and we both hated this book...
Part of the problem was in the fact that I did make this a read aloud. McGuire interspersed his text with a lot of Italian words and when you add that to his sometimes eclectic vocabulary, I was tripping over sentences left and right. Stumbling over the pronunciation of half of the words was surely not helping the story flow, but unfortunately, the story already seemed incredibly disjointed and murky. I sometimes love the complexity of McGuire’s characters, but in this story they were just unfathomable. I couldn’t really understand the motivation behind many of the character’s actions and when the dwarves entered the scene they only compounded the problem. While their dialog was occasionally hilarious, we generally were left scratching our heads trying to figure out what the hell they were trying to say.
Not a pleasure read. Maybe I am missing some key background or historical information, but mostly this book was just frustrating and confusing.
Part of the problem was in the fact that I did make this a read aloud. McGuire interspersed his text with a lot of Italian words and when you add that to his sometimes eclectic vocabulary, I was tripping over sentences left and right. Stumbling over the pronunciation of half of the words was surely not helping the story flow, but unfortunately, the story already seemed incredibly disjointed and murky. I sometimes love the complexity of McGuire’s characters, but in this story they were just unfathomable. I couldn’t really understand the motivation behind many of the character’s actions and when the dwarves entered the scene they only compounded the problem. While their dialog was occasionally hilarious, we generally were left scratching our heads trying to figure out what the hell they were trying to say.
Not a pleasure read. Maybe I am missing some key background or historical information, but mostly this book was just frustrating and confusing.
January 16, 2008
I believe that this just may be my favorite Gregory Maguire book to date. My reading this book just so happened to coincide with a history channel series having to do with medieval Italian History, which made the fact that this book was thoroughly sprinkled with this subject matter even more delicious that it would have otherwise.
I literally could not out this book down and finished it in about 12 hours with few breaks. When I finished the book I gave myself about 48 hours and then read it again more slowly taking the time to relish every word. Again, Mr. Maguire’s ability to put a new spin on a classic tale, making it his own with out taking away from the original in any way, boggles the mind.
I highly recommend this book.
I literally could not out this book down and finished it in about 12 hours with few breaks. When I finished the book I gave myself about 48 hours and then read it again more slowly taking the time to relish every word. Again, Mr. Maguire’s ability to put a new spin on a classic tale, making it his own with out taking away from the original in any way, boggles the mind.
I highly recommend this book.
November 19, 2016
I liked this book for the most part, but I felt the ending could have been a lot better. The author's writing was too confusing to understand what actually happened in the end, i.e. did she die or not? I also lost interest in all that backstory about the antagonist that he tagged on at the end. My interest was in Bianca, aka Snowwhite and how the story ended for her specifically, not how many times her jealous enemy had affairs and gave birth after Bianca supposedly died. I felt it was unnecessary to prolong the story with those meaningless details. But up until the end I did enjoy it.
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