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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
I read this because my school librarian told me that she loved this book when she was my age (teen). I read it and I LOVED it, but looking back, it was kinda terrible. Someone mentioned in the comments that the writing style was a lot like Nancy Drew, and I can’t agree more. I liked the plot, but the romance was pretty terrible. I’m going to give it 3.5 stars, but only because I liked reading it.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I’m not exactly sure what makes this a YA novel. It’s a fine story but not the best Holocaust novel I’ve read.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Loved the concept, did not like the execution.
Some people say that Jane Yolen is one of the greatest storytellers of recent years. I couldn't disagree more. She completely lacks a storytelling voice, in my opinion. This story, as with Devil's Arithmetic, feels too contrived. And as for the historical part, it was as if she had a long list of facts and statistics that she was determined to cram in the book. In a way, I think the story may have been better had it been told from Gemma's point of view. Becca, the sisters, and Stan were just vehicles to get the story going, not characters.
I think this is the last Yolen novel I'm going to attempt to read. I'll stick with her picture books.
Some people say that Jane Yolen is one of the greatest storytellers of recent years. I couldn't disagree more. She completely lacks a storytelling voice, in my opinion. This story, as with Devil's Arithmetic, feels too contrived. And as for the historical part, it was as if she had a long list of facts and statistics that she was determined to cram in the book. In a way, I think the story may have been better had it been told from Gemma's point of view. Becca, the sisters, and Stan were just vehicles to get the story going, not characters.
I think this is the last Yolen novel I'm going to attempt to read. I'll stick with her picture books.
An excellent take on the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty (which the Grimm brothers called Briar Rose). A young journalist named Rebecca is following her grandmother Gemma's deathbed wish, that she find the Castle and the Hedge of Thorns that Gemma swore she escaped from. As Becca begins to look for Gemma's past, what she finds is...nothing. Gemma had no official name, no proof of marriage, and left no trace but a few items in a rose-engraved box.
A really moving story at an American's experience in post-war Germany and Poland.
A really moving story at an American's experience in post-war Germany and Poland.
-Right After Reading-
An interesting concept (don’t want to give spoilers), but I didn’t enjoy this one.
2.5 - I *might* recommend if you are looking for a middle-grade novel with serious subject matter. I don't want to ruin this for those interested, so highlight the white text below. This is a sleeping beauty re-telling, but it is not fantasy based in any way.
When Becca's grandmother passes away, all she leaves behind is a box of documents and a rendition of Sleeping Beauty that she told over and over. Becca, a journalist, promises to solve the mystery by finding out her grandmother's past, where "the castle" is, and who "the prince" is.
I didn't really enjoy this book. For one, I picked it up expecting it to be a fluffy middle-grade fairy tale re-telling. But for more reasons, the different plot pieces of the book felt kind of piecemealed together. Their childhood, Becca going to upstate New York to learn more about her grandmother, an overseas trip, etc. I like the idea behind what Yolen is trying to do, SPOILER - put a fairy tale in the place of an experience within a Nazi death camp to help the grandmother cope with the horrific experience. However, it took a really long time for Becca to figure it out, and within the mystery there were not that many moving pieces. She finally gets to Poland... and it's like a mini travelogue. After that they conveniently meet the man who saved her grandma. Ok then. That was tidy and anticlimactic. Then he re-tells his story about the war, Nazis, etc... and its the longest story ever, and it focuses on him, not her grandmother. I guess people are offended by the LGBTQ+ content in this book, which is VERY tame and virtually non-existent. This was written in 1988, but it is currently 2018 folks. (off soap box now) I did find it confusing that our protagonist was 23 years old, and it was written for middle-graders. I think? However, the protagonist's dad makes several not so subtle inappropriate jokes, and it mentions our main character watching a "soft core" movie. Who is this book written for? How confusing! There was a very surface level love story thrown in there, it felt unnecessary. I see what Yolen was doing with Sleeping Beauty, but it just felt like all of the pieces were a little too subtle or randomly woven together.
An interesting concept (don’t want to give spoilers), but I didn’t enjoy this one.
2.5 - I *might* recommend if you are looking for a middle-grade novel with serious subject matter. I don't want to ruin this for those interested, so highlight the white text below. This is a sleeping beauty re-telling, but it is not fantasy based in any way.
When Becca's grandmother passes away, all she leaves behind is a box of documents and a rendition of Sleeping Beauty that she told over and over. Becca, a journalist, promises to solve the mystery by finding out her grandmother's past, where "the castle" is, and who "the prince" is.
I didn't really enjoy this book. For one, I picked it up expecting it to be a fluffy middle-grade fairy tale re-telling. But for more reasons, the different plot pieces of the book felt kind of piecemealed together. Their childhood, Becca going to upstate New York to learn more about her grandmother, an overseas trip, etc. I like the idea behind what Yolen is trying to do, SPOILER - put a fairy tale in the place of an experience within a Nazi death camp to help the grandmother cope with the horrific experience. However, it took a really long time for Becca to figure it out, and within the mystery there were not that many moving pieces. She finally gets to Poland... and it's like a mini travelogue. After that they conveniently meet the man who saved her grandma. Ok then. That was tidy and anticlimactic. Then he re-tells his story about the war, Nazis, etc... and its the longest story ever, and it focuses on him, not her grandmother. I guess people are offended by the LGBTQ+ content in this book, which is VERY tame and virtually non-existent. This was written in 1988, but it is currently 2018 folks. (off soap box now) I did find it confusing that our protagonist was 23 years old, and it was written for middle-graders. I think? However, the protagonist's dad makes several not so subtle inappropriate jokes, and it mentions our main character watching a "soft core" movie. Who is this book written for? How confusing! There was a very surface level love story thrown in there, it felt unnecessary. I see what Yolen was doing with Sleeping Beauty, but it just felt like all of the pieces were a little too subtle or randomly woven together.
I tried very hard to get through this. After about 130 pages I gave up. There were two main problems I had. The first is that the main character's family was incredibly annoying. The second was that the main character's grandmother had a modified version of Sleeping Beauty and this is supposed to be shared with the reader, spliced with the main character learning about her grandmother's history. I found that so little was shared of the fairy tale and in such a disjointed fashion that it was hard to follow. And yet the beginning of the tale was shared too many times. The writing style of this made no sense to me.
This novel uses the folktale of Briar Rose as an allegory for the Holocaust. Technically it's juvenile fiction, but that's never stopped me from reading a book I like.