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glassesgirl79 's review for:
The Charmed Wife
by Olga Grushin
"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.