Describe Books In Favor Of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
| Original Title: | Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister |
| ISBN: | 0060987529 (ISBN13: 9780060987527) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Netherlands |
Gregory Maguire
Paperback | Pages: 372 pages Rating: 3.53 | 56103 Users | 3594 Reviews
Identify Regarding Books Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
| Title | : | Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister |
| Author | : | Gregory Maguire |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 372 pages |
| Published | : | October 3rd 2000 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published October 6th 1999) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fairy Tales. Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Retellings. Adult Fiction |
Explanation Toward Books Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
We have all heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty ... and what curses accompanied Cinderella's looks? Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household -- and the treacherous truth of her former life.Rating Regarding Books Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Ratings: 3.53 From 56103 Users | 3594 ReviewsNotice Regarding Books Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Audio reread #103A Cinderella retelling in the perspective of an ugly stepsister, from the author of Wicked. Hmm. Okay, this book is just "not quite." Which I need to put in the proper scale -- the set-up is brilliant, as Maguire's generally are, and the follow-through is good, and the denouement is fine. But I didn't want fine. I wanted this book to walk up to me and knock me on my ass with a right hook to the gut. Instead it came up, dazzled me with some fancy footwork, and then asked me for a sedate waltz.
I remember when I read this book for the first time. I bought it the day after it came out, because I was already obsessed with Gregory Maguire despite the fact that he had only written one other adult book at that point. I started the novel in the morning, the day I had to take my parents to the airport in Kalamazoo. We left that evening because their flight was an early morning one. I read and read in the car, getting fairly far. When we got to the hotel and had to go to bed, I COULD NOT
I read this for one of my F2F book clubs and after having read "Mirror, Mirror" a number of years ago, I was not looking forward to it. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really enjoyed this retelling of the Cinderella story. Iris and Ruth Fisher are the daughters of Margarethe. Ruth is a large, hulking girl who doesn't talk and Iris, although plain, is cunning and resourceful. The 3 of them have left England, after their husband and father died, to save their lives. They travel to
I love fairy tale retellings...especially the ones that try to be the "True" version. Set in 17th century Holland during the Tulip craze this version of Cinderella is by far my favorite. The central character is not Cinderella (who is a spoiled brat) but Iris, the youngest of the two step-sisters. Margarethe returns to her homeland, Holland,with her two daughters - plain Iris and simple Ruth, afer her husband is murdered in England. She becomes the housekeeper for a painter. The traditional
Maguire's ability to come up with an interesting story is far better than his ability to tell the story. His writing is often a bit too labored, his symbolism too transparent, and his literary devices a bit clunky.Like 'Wicked', 'Confessions' offers the reader a variation on a well-known story. Also like 'Wicked', 'Confessions' is not really all that much to write home about. A somewhat creative variation, but one in which many of the characters are incredibly hard to like, and the story just
This was an easy read and an interesting take on the "Cinderella" story, but it wasn't amazing. It felt like it gave a very long build-up to a climax that was vague and unexciting and a denouement that was pretty disappointing. Only as an epilogue do we discover what happened to Iris, the main character of the book, and even then, it is brief and without many details.Many of the ideas introduced into the storyline also felt as though they were left hanging at the end of the book. Clara, the
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