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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this original take on Cinderella. I'm a big fan of fairy tale reimaginings but in a growing genre Grushin still manages to be utterly original and very modern. Her Cinderella is 13 and a half years into her marriage with Price Charming but life is not all she imagined. With two children anda distant husband, she takes matters into her own hands and turns to a witch to solve her problems. But her solution isn't a love potion, she wants the Prince dead. Her visit to the witch behind a quest to right her wrongs but as Cinderella journeys through a land of magic and misery she begins to realise that nothing and no-one is quite what it seems. What is her real life?
Grushin weaves a story that creates a complex tapestry of folklore, magical realism and post-modernism in which neither reader or characters can trust what they see. The timelines resolve slowly and worlds shift and morph into new forms allowing Grushin to fully utilise her impressive ability with language and style. It's clever, it's modern, is funny and the subplot revolving around Cinder's fairytale mice is brilliant.
Grushin weaves a story that creates a complex tapestry of folklore, magical realism and post-modernism in which neither reader or characters can trust what they see. The timelines resolve slowly and worlds shift and morph into new forms allowing Grushin to fully utilise her impressive ability with language and style. It's clever, it's modern, is funny and the subplot revolving around Cinder's fairytale mice is brilliant.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"The Charmed Wife" is an interesting novel that deconstructs the well known Cinderella fairy tale and portrays the princess as a tired housewife who is on the brink of ending her marriage after thirteen years. Although the early days of her marriage to the prince was happily ever after, as the years have passed and children are born, Cinderella feels that her life has become routine. In an act of desperation, Cinderella travels to the forest to seek assistance from a witch. Although the witch is experienced in providing love potions for disgruntled housewives, she is shocked when Cinderella instead asks for her husband to be dead.
Throughout the course of the novel, the witch asks Cinderella to provide reasons for wanting her husband dead, while she shares some of the experiences which lead to her love to disappear, she is still holding back. While still pondering whether to complete the spell to kill her husband, her and the witch are joined by her fairy godmother. Eventually, both the witch and the fairy godmother are questioning the true motives for Cinderella wanting her husband dead.
The novel is presented in two parts with the first part being Cinderella’s life leading up to her marriage to her husband, Prince Roland as well as her time living in the palace. Within the first part of the novel, Cinderella decides to seek council from a witch while the second part focuses on the consequences of the choice she made in part one of the novel. Within the storyline was fascinating, I was annoyed by Cinderella’ aloofness and self centered behavior throughout the course of the novel. Cinderella is a written as a character who felt that after having such a hard upbringing of having to clean up after others, she deserved to be taken care of.
I was very intrigued by the authors's use of fairytale characters to create interesting characters as well as an immersive backstory. Having said this, I was completely thrown off by the plot twist created by the author. By the end of the novel, the concept of happily ever after is a thing of the past and Cinderella embraces the idea that she can create her own destiny and not rely on others.
Throughout the course of the novel, the witch asks Cinderella to provide reasons for wanting her husband dead, while she shares some of the experiences which lead to her love to disappear, she is still holding back. While still pondering whether to complete the spell to kill her husband, her and the witch are joined by her fairy godmother. Eventually, both the witch and the fairy godmother are questioning the true motives for Cinderella wanting her husband dead.
The novel is presented in two parts with the first part being Cinderella’s life leading up to her marriage to her husband, Prince Roland as well as her time living in the palace. Within the first part of the novel, Cinderella decides to seek council from a witch while the second part focuses on the consequences of the choice she made in part one of the novel. Within the storyline was fascinating, I was annoyed by Cinderella’ aloofness and self centered behavior throughout the course of the novel. Cinderella is a written as a character who felt that after having such a hard upbringing of having to clean up after others, she deserved to be taken care of.
I was very intrigued by the authors's use of fairytale characters to create interesting characters as well as an immersive backstory. Having said this, I was completely thrown off by the plot twist created by the author. By the end of the novel, the concept of happily ever after is a thing of the past and Cinderella embraces the idea that she can create her own destiny and not rely on others.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug use, Fatphobia, Alcohol
Thirteen and a half years after her happily ever after to Prince Roland, Cinderella is drowning in palace chintz, boredom, depression and can barely remember her two children. Roland is no longer the man she thought she'd married. Cinderella sneaks out of the palace with the final few ingredients requested by a witch who will brew her a potion. But Cinderella is no longer interested in regaining the love that was lost, as it was perhaps never there in the first place ...
This book is heady and trippy in a way that can make it hard to read - it's got that strange Gormenghast/Lewis Carroll quality that means that you can't quite tell where or when in time it is - elements of the now seep in with the core fairy tale that you'd expect and it makes everything confusing and the lines of the story blur together.
I think that can be quite off-putting for some people. For me, it works, but if it was a longer novel I definitely would have run out of patience. Instead, the whole story feels like a splintered mirror, with fragments scattered everywhere, and the protagonist is drifting along, trying to repair it into the resemblance of what things once were, and what she once was.
There are so many elements of the kind of literature that I like that this novel draws on too, and I loved spotting them. First off, this isn't just Cinderella's story. As she removes herself from the Prince and the palace, we see fragments of others' fairy tales that cross over with her own - some are those Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Perrault or Brothers Grimm tales that we know well, and just as gruesome. Others are the same, but with an Angela Carter-style modern twist, from the Twelve Dancing Princesses, to Bluebeard.
All of these tales of women - written and designed to punish, to put in place - have been twisted slightly to show them in more modern situations, or with more brutal outcomes. Each woman has her own fairy tale, and each woman has her own real-life pain. It's that strange way of talking about nonsensical situations as though they are commonplace that I find really compelling. But all of this misery was broken up by the comic rise and fall of a fantastic mouse empire.
We're not here to like Cinderella, but we are here to understand her pain, her depression, her anxiety, her fears as her own mind and own tale become unravelled in a book that reads like a fairy tale Bell Jar. I loved the nearly seamless integration of Shrek-style fairy potions to more real-life ones.
Separation and divorce is never a fairy tale, as this story aptly shows.
4.5 stars from me - and a lot more to think about an unpick in this dark and clever story.
I received an eARC of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is heady and trippy in a way that can make it hard to read - it's got that strange Gormenghast/Lewis Carroll quality that means that you can't quite tell where or when in time it is - elements of the now seep in with the core fairy tale that you'd expect and it makes everything confusing and the lines of the story blur together.
I think that can be quite off-putting for some people. For me, it works, but if it was a longer novel I definitely would have run out of patience. Instead, the whole story feels like a splintered mirror, with fragments scattered everywhere, and the protagonist is drifting along, trying to repair it into the resemblance of what things once were, and what she once was.
There are so many elements of the kind of literature that I like that this novel draws on too, and I loved spotting them. First off, this isn't just Cinderella's story. As she removes herself from the Prince and the palace, we see fragments of others' fairy tales that cross over with her own - some are those Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Perrault or Brothers Grimm tales that we know well, and just as gruesome. Others are the same, but with an Angela Carter-style modern twist, from the Twelve Dancing Princesses, to Bluebeard.
All of these tales of women - written and designed to punish, to put in place - have been twisted slightly to show them in more modern situations, or with more brutal outcomes. Each woman has her own fairy tale, and each woman has her own real-life pain. It's that strange way of talking about nonsensical situations as though they are commonplace that I find really compelling. But all of this misery was broken up by the comic rise and fall of a fantastic mouse empire.
We're not here to like Cinderella, but we are here to understand her pain, her depression, her anxiety, her fears as her own mind and own tale become unravelled in a book that reads like a fairy tale Bell Jar. I loved the nearly seamless integration of Shrek-style fairy potions to more real-life ones.
Separation and divorce is never a fairy tale, as this story aptly shows.
4.5 stars from me - and a lot more to think about an unpick in this dark and clever story.
I received an eARC of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-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
I will admit that in the beginning, it was hard for me to get into this book. Until about 2/3 of the way through, I thought it was going to be a solid 3 star rating. I thought it was going to be more subversive, but even though Cinderella was a much different character than the one we all know, at its core it still felt like a general Grimm fairy tale. However, when the contemporary aspect started coming forward, I was thoroughly impressed by how it blended with the fairy tail beginning. At some point at the 3/4 mark, I realized that it had straight up become a modern story without me even realizing it. Even though I was told ahead of time that this was a modern retelling, it still made me raise my eyebrows and go "oh!" pleasantly out loud. And then looking back, I couldn't even find an exact point where the story had morphed. It was just fed to me little by little and felt so natural. It was a transition uniquely handled that I haven't experienced before. Looking back on it after knowing the contemporary story made me love and appreciate the fairy tale portion.
I also did love the themes of her mental illness, both in the fantasy story and the contemporary. Even after sitting with it, it's hard to tell what parts were her mental illness and what was "reality." As one who has been battling mental illness for most of my life, it felt very genuine the way that was told.
On top of it all, it had the perfect amount of surrealism for me as well.
If this was a standard Cinderella retelling, I wouldn't have loved it nearly as much. This one is such a unique take, and in some ways, unexpected.
I also did love the themes of her mental illness, both in the fantasy story and the contemporary. Even after sitting with it, it's hard to tell what parts were her mental illness and what was "reality." As one who has been battling mental illness for most of my life, it felt very genuine the way that was told.
On top of it all, it had the perfect amount of surrealism for me as well.
If this was a standard Cinderella retelling, I wouldn't have loved it nearly as much. This one is such a unique take, and in some ways, unexpected.
First of all, I would like to thank Times Reads for providing me a review copy of the book.
Disclaimers: All my reviews are my thoughts of the book and according to my personal preferences. Eventhough I had received a review copy, it does not affect my review and honest thoughts for the book.
2.95/5
Disclaimers: All my reviews are my thoughts of the book and according to my personal preferences. Eventhough I had received a review copy, it does not affect my review and honest thoughts for the book.
2.95/5
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-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
The Charmed Wife picks up thirteen years after Cinderella married Prince Charming but they haven’t exactly lived happily ever after. In fact the opening scene has Cinderella stealing away in the night with a lock of her husband’s hair to visit a witch. And Cinderella isn’t after a potion to win back the prince, she wants him dead! What follows is a cleverly plotted story that moves between the present and the past, between fantasy and reality. It’s an exploration of marriage, motherhood and identity through the lens of the well-known fairy tale character but clearly applicable to the modern day woman. I loved the beginning, got a little confused in the middle but once I realised what was going on I settled in happily, and enjoyed the remainder of the book. It’s an unusual mix - singing teapots combined with therapists and custody battles - but if you are after something a little different this thought provoking fairytale fits the bill. And pay attention to the mice - they’ve got quite the story of their own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship