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rbreade's review against another edition
The epigraph is from Howard Nemerov's poem, "Vermeer." The frame consists of the titular sister, Iris's, recollection as an old woman of her life, and of Clara's, the cinder-girl of fairytale. The frame is is told in the past tense and first person, and the story itself in the present tense and with some use of omniscience, though for much of the novel Maguire keeps the point of view in third person, close to Iris.
rachel_wallace's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
ameliabedeliagoesonline's review against another edition
5.0
This is a story that has stuck with me. “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” is a dark re-imagining of a Cinderella story. The most resonant parts of the book for me were the themes of vanity, self-loathing, trauma, and longing. It is well written and thoughtful.
hokielin's review against another edition
3.0
Good, solid book. Not overly thrilling or interesting and twisty like Wicked was but still a fun read.
leslie_turner0121's review against another edition
3.0
Great rendition of the flip side of a story we all know and love.
meghan_moore's review against another edition
4.0
It was a little slow to get started, but after a bit it went so fast. Great book.
susannavs's review against another edition
3.0
Hm. A different retelling. Enjoyable in some ways. Better than Wicked though.
chelse34's review against another edition
2.0
This was my first Maguire book, and I listened to it because it was the only format I could find available.
I love fairy tale retellings, but this one just didn't do it for me. He tells it from the step sister perspective, and they don't even meet Clara (the Cinderella character) until about halfway through. There were lots of little details and things that didn't necessarily relate to the main Cinderella story. Just wasn't my favorite.
I love fairy tale retellings, but this one just didn't do it for me. He tells it from the step sister perspective, and they don't even meet Clara (the Cinderella character) until about halfway through. There were lots of little details and things that didn't necessarily relate to the main Cinderella story. Just wasn't my favorite.
sarah_reading_party's review against another edition
Could not read. Abandoned about 1/3 of the way in…so boring, so tedious
eastofthesunwestofthemoon's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked the first third of the book. Then it started getting tedious and steadily less and less engaging. Sometimes a fairy tale is better off as it was than belabored with a lengthy and rather depressing in-depth story line. It's reasonably well-written, but in the end it's just not the sort of book I enjoy.