Just Ella

Rating:
Summary: I never thought about what happened after...
Review: You assume happily ever after, but would it really be to be swept away from your humble life into that of a princess? Haddix asks the question and explores the answer.

I enjoyed this book because it departs from the fairy tale and ask real questions and makes real statments about the meaning of love.

Rating:
Summary: Nice story, but not Cinderella.
Review: If "Just Ella" had simply been a book that was not based on a fairy story, I would have given it a higher rating. However, the author was going for Cinderella and missing by a long shot.

If you're looking for the fairy-godmother/magic version, look somewhere else. "Just Ella" takes the fairy story and distorts it into a bratty girl who isn't happy with what she's been given. Cinderella happens to be my favorite fairy story so I've seen quite a few versions of it, and this is way at the bottom of my list. I like when the storyteller adds something to the story (like an actual personality for Cinderella and the prince in "Ever After" or a realistic view of a prince and a commoner in "The Slipper and the Rose"), but this was simply too much. The author didn't just add a little feminist flavor like "Ever After" , but changes the whole entire story around it so that it becomes totally unrecognisable.

The path to going to the ball in "Just Ella" is unique and well thought out and is the one positive addition to the story. However, the obsession over the royalty changing the story into a fairy story cancels it out.

But what bothered me the most about this story was the language. Ella is completely vulgar and uses extremely modern references. She is supposed to be from the middle-ages and is using terms like "take a piss" and "the crap hole"! This totally ruins any remaining chance of affectiveness.

As I said, if it were not attempting to be Cinderella, it would be a good story. As it is, stick with "Ever After".

Rating:
Summary: Cinderella vs. Cinders-Ella
Review: This book is another version of Cinderella. Instead of Cinderella, it's Cinders-Ella. But even though, they bothe have the same place, most of them, time and things that are important in the story like glass slippers. I say this is a pretty good book. If u like to read shocked endings at the end of books, this is one of those books. I can't even beileve what happens.

Rating:
Summary: Feminist retelling sucks away the magic
Review: I enjoy stories with strong heroines and dislike stories with wimps. I loved the book "Ella Enchanted," which had a strong female heroine who was still funny and friendly, and dollops of magic, both in the writing and the plot. Same with the movie "Ever After."

"Just Ella," however, reeks. Perhaps it's not coincidence that almost ALL of the book reviewers thought it was great.

Rather than a retelling, this tells what happens as soon as Ella is to-be-married to the Prince. Perhaps the book would have been better if the other characters weren't caricatures, and Ella weren't (as "Virginia US" put it) a cocky feminist. I agree: Why can't there be a strong, smart woman who doesn't feel the need to get up on a soapbox every four minutes, and WANTS to be a princess?

Even the "I am woman, hear me roar" attitude might have been tolerable if the other characters weren't so obvious! Charming, being a handsome member of the upper-class, is an airhead. Jed, being of the lower classes and having to work, is of course a wonderful person (And a social activist? Will someone gag me with a glass slipper?)

Madame Bisset is sexist, repressed by sexism, happy about it, and wants to boot everyone else into her mindset--she's ridiculous (she says that women are like flowers, to be viewed in beauty. Riiiight, like everyone in the upper crust at that time thought that). Simply ridiculous. All of them have the depth of construction paper, and it only serves to add to the impression that Ella herself is nothing but a veil of sarcasm.

Apparently Ms. Haddix tried to slide in on the success of "Ella Enchanted" without the most important factor: The fact that Ella of EE loved her prince for who he was, and he loved her for who she was. (Ditto with Danielle in "Ever After"). Instead, she mutilated the character to make her a protest against... well, just about everything in fairy tales that we love so much.

This book is devoid of magic--one gets the feeling that it was written half-heartedly. The heroine is snobby and the supporting characters are stupid. And the ending should be chopped out and rewritten, it was so bad.

As I said at the beginning, watch "Ever After" or read "Ella Enchanted" for magic and beauty and love and a happily-ever-after that you can really believe.

Rating:
Summary: Spicy and charming fairy tale
Review: Just Ella is a "can't-put-it-down" sequel to the Cinderella fairy tale that finally answers some of the questions modern readers want to know. How could Cinderella manage to live happily ever after with a guy she only met once? If Cinderella had a fairy god mother, why didn't Snow White have one, too? Why was Prince Charming so entranced by a commoner? Why would anyone want to wear glass slippers, and how did Cinderella manage to dance in them all night without ending up with shards in her feet? I have a few seventh graders in my classes who will read this book and never forget it. But beware: there is language that will make some readers uncomfortable. Realists who like a spunky young woman for their heroine will love Just Ella

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I read "Ella Enchanted," by Gail Carson Levine and I absolutely loved it. Someone told me that this was s equel to it, so I bought it-only it isn't a sequel at all. IN "Ella Enchanted" Ella is a wonderful character will a determination to break a spell that was cast upon her when she was born. But in "Just ella" this Ella is snobby, almost. You can't really relate to her. I mean, she's the princess and hates it. And Prince Charming-my goodness. In "Ella Enchanted" I fell in love with Prince Char-he was so wonderful. But in this story Prince Charming has no brains, and doesn't care about anyone. He just liked ella because she was beautiful. So....obviously, if you want a good read pick up "Ella Enchanted" instead of this story.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Books Ever Made
Review: Very good You will want to read it again. I read in two days I could not put it down. My advice is read it.

Rating:
Summary: Just Ella
Review: This was a very good book but I wanted to give it 4.5 stars. The storyline is great. It is such a good idea for a book that I had to read it. Plus Margaret Paterson Haddix is one of my favorite authors. This book did leave me hanging but it didn't matter. It was such a good book I was satisfied even if it did leave me hanging. It makes you think about any other fairy tale you ever heard. I would recommend this to anyone. And just for the record, Ella Enchanted wasn't that good of a book! Just Ella was better in my opinion!

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Ella Enchanted, but still a great read
Review: I personally loved this book because it was much more realistic than the normal version of Cinderella. Instead of a corny little "Happily Ever After" like every other story, it showed what happened to Ella after she moved to the palace. She found out that her prince charming was actually a jerk and an idiot who did whatever he was told. Once Ella realized that she had only been proposed to because of her looks, she fled the palace (but not without digging a passageway out). This was an exciting book with a happy ending that made sence.

Rating:
Summary: A waste of time and money....
Review: I can't believe I spent so much money on Just Ella! To me it wasn't good enough. It didn't have enough romance, fairy-taleness, overall, it just wasn't interesting enough. When I think Cinderella, I think fairy tales. Personally, I like the whole happily-ever-after kinda thing. Ella Enchanted was my idea of a good spin of Cinderella. Ella wasn't as 3 dimensional as the Ella in Ella Enchanted. I couldn't "see" and "feel" Ella.

Just Ella was more realistic, but not as interesting. Ella is a peasant, and she wins her prince in wits instead of looks- even though she is pretty. So when she moves into the palace to start Queen training, she discovers that Princie was as interesting and charming as he was when they were dancing. She also found out that the palace wasn't as wonderful as she had imagined. Everyone is rude to her, and treats her as an outsider. Ella also has to live a live, claiming that she is some foreign princess.

So during her training, one of her teachers drops dead, and his son takes over. Obviously, she falls in love with the guy. Then the guy - I forgot his name- decides to run a refugee camp. I found that whole camp thing so corny. Why read about camps when it is always on Cnn? Well, I don't want to read about camps, anyway. So Ella runs after her tutor and they live happily- ever-after, running a refugee camp.