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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Well...that is certainly an interesting take on sleeping beauty, I will give you that!
The book is extremely well written and the story keeps you gasping, Oh-ing and Ah-ing right to the very end. (Which is a tad wee bit disappointing but still, I think, the best way to end the story so...)
It's definitely worth a read if you love "updated" versions of fairy stories.
And this one is very updated indeed!
Some violence and nasties though so not recommended for the delicate at heart.
The book is extremely well written and the story keeps you gasping, Oh-ing and Ah-ing right to the very end. (Which is a tad wee bit disappointing but still, I think, the best way to end the story so...)
It's definitely worth a read if you love "updated" versions of fairy stories.
And this one is very updated indeed!
Some violence and nasties though so not recommended for the delicate at heart.
This was totally enchanting. I love the TV series Once Upon a Time and I got recommend to read this book based off of that interest. It did not disappoint, I wanted a gripping fantasy that I could get sucked into the world of and I found one! If you've read The Family Tree by the same author then you'll remain to love her writing style here too.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
I remember really loving this book when I discovered it as a teenager in the late 90s, especially the beginning and how it played with fairy tale tropes, but the end gets super dark and it doesn't hold up well. For all that I loved it once I can't recommend it now.
I first read this book about 10 years ago, and, being the first book I read that included descriptions of genitalia and rape, it was definitely memorable. I enjoyed the interweving of various fairy tales and the thoightful solutions to various scenarios. I can't say I'm sorry I read it, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Sheri S. Tepper really hates cement, women having sex outside of romantic relationships, horror writers, and the music the kids are listening to these days.
The plot meanders and the didacticism is utterly graceless. [b:The Gate to Women's Country|104344|The Gate to Women's Country|Sheri S. Tepper|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1171511056s/104344.jpg|879718] and [b:Gibbon's Decline and Fall|168540|Gibbon's Decline and Fall|Sheri S. Tepper|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320509404s/168540.jpg|14341913] were formative books for me, but 15 years later Tepper's work doesn't hold up.
The plot meanders and the didacticism is utterly graceless. [b:The Gate to Women's Country|104344|The Gate to Women's Country|Sheri S. Tepper|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1171511056s/104344.jpg|879718] and [b:Gibbon's Decline and Fall|168540|Gibbon's Decline and Fall|Sheri S. Tepper|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320509404s/168540.jpg|14341913] were formative books for me, but 15 years later Tepper's work doesn't hold up.
Something about Sheri S. Tepper's books is just too bleak and painful for me. [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|2429135|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275608878s/2429135.jpg|1708725] was much more violent, but somehow this one just got under my skin.
I feel like she must have had something really terrible happen to her at some point, or to someone she knew, and there's this sort of grim despair that just permeates everything. (OK, I've only read two of her books, so maybe the others are all just kittens and rainbows, it's possible)
Anyway, I didn't finish this because I didn't want any more of that feeling in my brain.
I feel like she must have had something really terrible happen to her at some point, or to someone she knew, and there's this sort of grim despair that just permeates everything. (OK, I've only read two of her books, so maybe the others are all just kittens and rainbows, it's possible)
Anyway, I didn't finish this because I didn't want any more of that feeling in my brain.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Worst published writing I have ever read. This book getting published gives hope to us all. I wishI could have given it a negative rating.
This book I had very high hopes for. As with a lot of women my age, I grew up on fairy tales. They have always been a part of my life, for better or worse. It seems like Tepper's novel will address "the worse" head-on. When you start reading this book, your internal book critic will scream with joy. "She is going to ask what happens to real women in fairy tale situations! She is going to examine the repercussions of all of that strictly enforced femininity in fairy tales! She is going to write a book about a beloved fairy tale character that sheds new light on the gender and class stratification even in our modern world!" But no. She writes a book that's half gritty fairy tale retelling and half sci-fi time adventure. The fairy tale aspect is actually very interesting, and the initial story is fun to read. It reads like an easily acceptable fantasy with a forbidden-by-class romance element. But then the curse kicks in. And while the travels that Beauty takes are interesting, her trip to her future (which is our future too) things take a turn for the worse, then it just goes all to crap. I get that that's the point, ultimately, but end of times and fairy tales, to my mind at least, are far too antithetical to really work in this way. Also, I feel like Tepper's authorial abuse of Beauty is just gratuitous. Instead of making Beauty into a real person, she punishes her for the negative effects of fairy tales on girls and women. Beauty is abandoned, brutalized, lost, and ultimately helpless to even enact change in the world. Beauty is static in the end. But not in a clever, "oh my gosh this writer gets it!" kind of way. She is just another woman who knows that things are bad and getting worse and is unable to put any good back into the world. I wanted so much from this book, and all of my hopes were disappointed. The first half of the book, and Beauty's fairy heritage do make for good reading for pleasure. Everything else--the brutality, the loss, the helplessness, the homelessness--kicks all that in the shins. Tepper had the chance to write a novel that examines culture and our future critically, and she did try, but ultimately, she failed.