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lolajoan 's review for:
Egg & Spoon
by Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire deserves more respect, I think. Before I read the Wicked series I thought it was a silly, funny romp based on a children's story. But it's actually a detailed political history of a divided land in turmoil, disguised as a biography, disguised as a silly, funny romp based on a children's story.
Egg and Spoon is similarly smart but fun. The conceit is a novel based on Russian folk tales (Baba Yaga, the firebird, the ice dragon) in a prince-and-pauper type story set in Tsarist Russia. Right from the first page you see how clever it's going to be - in the first chapter you meet a character who speaks almost entirely in [what I assume to be] folk tales and proverbs.
It's not a particularly complex tale, nor is it terribly unique - by its very nature, it's a familiar path. But it is beautifully wrought, engaging and moving, and manages to pack in a lot of meditations on love, loss, community, pride, and honouring tradition and myth in an increasingly complex modern world.
I loved every bit of it.
Egg and Spoon is similarly smart but fun. The conceit is a novel based on Russian folk tales (Baba Yaga, the firebird, the ice dragon) in a prince-and-pauper type story set in Tsarist Russia. Right from the first page you see how clever it's going to be - in the first chapter you meet a character who speaks almost entirely in [what I assume to be] folk tales and proverbs.
It's not a particularly complex tale, nor is it terribly unique - by its very nature, it's a familiar path. But it is beautifully wrought, engaging and moving, and manages to pack in a lot of meditations on love, loss, community, pride, and honouring tradition and myth in an increasingly complex modern world.
I loved every bit of it.