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2.72 AVERAGE
2.72 AVERAGE
This book was intriguing and had some good twists, Wicked was better but it was interesting enough.
I think there was a reason I found this in a used bookstore.
The things I didn't like about this book don't make it a bad book, I just didn't enjoy it. At all.
I struggled to invest in the characters and the plot, although this fact can be used to demonstrate Maguire's skill as a writer, as we experience the turmoil of the protagonist (Winnie) struggling to invest in her own life and her novel, attempting to work through her problems in fiction and becoming disassociated with reality. The shifts between Maguire's narrative and Winnie's “ novel-within-a-novel” and the snatches of other works Maguire references when Winnie calls on them to give her comfort are, I suspect, supposed to involve us in the mystery of Winnie's trauma whilst having us empathise with her through reading the fragmented text. Mostly I found it frustrating and off-putting, though this may have been the point.
All in all, there's nothing particularity wrong with it, it just wasn't my cup of tea.
I struggled to invest in the characters and the plot, although this fact can be used to demonstrate Maguire's skill as a writer, as we experience the turmoil of the protagonist (Winnie) struggling to invest in her own life and her novel, attempting to work through her problems in fiction and becoming disassociated with reality. The shifts between Maguire's narrative and Winnie's “ novel-within-a-novel” and the snatches of other works Maguire references when Winnie calls on them to give her comfort are, I suspect, supposed to involve us in the mystery of Winnie's trauma whilst having us empathise with her through reading the fragmented text. Mostly I found it frustrating and off-putting, though this may have been the point.
All in all, there's nothing particularity wrong with it, it just wasn't my cup of tea.
every time i thought i was getting into a good part, it got too wordy and i lost interest. the fact that i actually finished this book is a miracle.
This book was a chore to read, and I only finished it because I had brought it on vacation and had no other options. Used to being completely overwhelmed with the deep magic and inimitable creativity, humor, and darkness of Gregory Maguire, this book was a dead fish of a read. I think this would have been a great short story, but it just drags at novel length.
I'm thankful I'd read both Wicked and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (love that one the best!) before reading this. I might not have continued on to his other books. It wasn't so bad -- parts were really quite gripping. His writing is as beautiful as ever and the ghost story-ish beginning really got hold of me at first. But then things got really confusing. I kept at it because I wanted to see what happened, at least it had that much magic to it, but I was never sure what was up. On a side note, I was disturbed at first by his descriptions of prospective adoptive families, considering Mr Maguire is an adoptive dad himself, and it took some time to realize that it was part of a theme running through the book and eventually made sense. It's likely I'm just sensitive to things like that. It's not his best, but I've read it and intend to read the rest of them. If you read this first don't let it be your only one by Gregory Maguire. He's a lovely man and a beautiful writer.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not what I was expecting, and not as good as his other books.
The story was wonderful, Winnie makes an amusingly unreliable narrator, but the blurb on the back of the book is very misleading—hence the 3 stars.
This is not A Christmas Carol retelling ala Wicked or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. It's a story of a woman avoiding grief, and being forced to accept it via supernatural means. Wonderful, but not what I was expecting. So I'm honestly a little disappointed as I read it during Christmas hoping for something more Christmas Carol adjacent.
This is not A Christmas Carol retelling ala Wicked or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. It's a story of a woman avoiding grief, and being forced to accept it via supernatural means. Wonderful, but not what I was expecting. So I'm honestly a little disappointed as I read it during Christmas hoping for something more Christmas Carol adjacent.