Rating: 
Summary: Confessions an interesting twist
Review: This is an enchanting and dark story. It plays an interesting twist on the whole Cinderella and her ugly stepsisters story. The Cinderella in this story is beautiful but she is sulky, odd, and bratty. The stepsisters are ugly on the outside but very complex girls and not as ugly on the inside. The story is well written and the author does a good job of immersing you into another world. There is also a very interesting storyline about painting portraits and a master artist who enjoys painting the macabre and the bizarre, including the ugly stepsisters and "Cinderella." I would recommend this story and the surprise twist at the end.
Rating: 
Summary: boring, boring, boring
Review: i thought this book would tell an exciting story based on the classic fairytale "cinderella". it did tell a tale but it was soo very slow that i couldn't wait for it to end so i could read something else. maguire does develop the characters and story that precede the magnificent ball in the classic tale. what he fails to do is make you give a damn about any of the characters so the story makes little or no positive impression on you. i was bored from the get go and only finished it because it was a book club book. don't think i have the gumption to read "wicked" despite the positive reviews i've read on amazon.com.
Rating:
Summary: The "True Hollywood Story" of Cinderella
Review: I anticipated reading this book as soon as I read a review in my newspaper's book section. I had to wait a while on the library's wait list, but it was well worth it.A previous reviewer mentioned that those enjoyed "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier would enjoy this book, and I agree. "Girl" was and is one of the best books I've read, and "Confessions" doesn't disappoint for this reader. The characters were well drawn: there is only one true "bad guy," and the author takes care to draw this villian so that you, the reader, can see how the character came to be that way. The ending was a nice, if sad, surprise in a book that someone aptly described as "enigmatic." I found it a very easy read, and finished it in two days.
Rating:
Summary: slow but good
Review: I thought the book was very slow, but I found the detail in it was worth the read. Each character seem to be fully explained. I especially enjoyed the ending. (which I can't explain more on, for obvious reasons). I enjoyed it a lot more than the typical Cinderella story. Its an in depth description of all that happened before the ball, how our Cinderella was created and the bigger roles the stepsisters and mother played in her life.
Rating: 
Summary: Fairy Tale Love!!
Review: I absolutely love the tale of Cinderella and this was so completely wonderful!! I was so sad when I finished it! I think it should have gone on to tell us what exactly happened to our heroines other then the few page summery at the end but I still loved it!!! I didn't want to put this book down (although I had to b/c it is almost 400 pages long).
READ THIS BOOK!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Wicked, but still interesting.
Review: Wicked was definitely the better book. The plot of Confessions dragged until about the last quarter, then everything gelled and the book turned out to be really great, but was not as consistently great as Wicked. Also the ending was a little bit too neat--all the loose ends carefully tied. So, I think it was worth the time, but if you're deciding between the two, go with Wicked.
Rating:
Summary: Very Satisfying!
Review: I picked this book up in Barnes and Noble on a whim. I needed something to read on an airplane and the book's title struck me as funny. But, once I started reading the book, I had a very difficult time putting it down. I am an avid reader, and I love a good story. This is a GOOD story! I very much enjoyed Maguire's use of language and style of writing. Even more so, I enjoyed the plot twists. I can't wait to read the rest of Maguire's works. I am very pleased to add him to my list of favorite authors.
Rating:
Summary: Wicked was better
Review: After practically soaking up "Wicked" through my very pores, I jumped to get "Confessions". I love the retellings of old fairy tales (Card's done a couple worth reading), but, sadly, I've tried to read "Confessions" twice now and I haven't been able to get through it yet. I'd like to know how it ends, but, I guess I don't want to know badly enough to actually read through the whole book. I don't normally need action. Relationship interplay, emotional interaction between involving characters is usually enough, but I was so bored trying to get through this. Iris is an interesting enough character, but I just kept waiting for something to happen. Neither Iris, nor her sister, mother, step-sister, potential love interest, etc, were interesting enough to keep me reading. Ah well, if you haven't read Maguire's works, skip this one and go to "Wicked".
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Summary: Don't expect the Cinderella story you once knew
Review: Gregory Maguire's _Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister_ is proof that once a story happens, hearsay and history make it into something completely different. This Cinderella story is nothing like the story you know and love - almost to the point where the two are entirely separate entities. There is no fairy godmother, there are no glass slippers, and "Cinderella" is not a spirited young girl with big dreams to marry a prince. In fact, Clara is an emotionally corrupted girl, shut away due to her perfect beauty and doomed to an almost developmentally retarded childishness. The two stepsisters are also unexpected. Iris, our narrator, is a truly good person, though she's told she's ugly almost constantly. Ruth is ox-like and mentally retarded. In the original Cinderella tale, the stepsisters were not necessarily ugly in feature but ugly in heart - in _Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister_, they're likable people. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. Maguire sets _Confessions_ in Renaissance Holland, and intigrates real characters in with the fictional ones, giving _Confessions_ a real flair for realism. Cinderella's fanciful tale suddenly becomes absolute fact - certainly the way Maguire intended it. You definitely get the feel of truth about this novel, and that's part of its charm. Not only is it real, but it's a deep study into love and hate, beauty and ugliness, and many other contrasts in search of truth. However, _Confessions_ does not stand up to Maguire's _Wicked_. It is an excellent book in its own right, but next to _Wicked_ it does not have the same strength and vitality. The prose is too roundabout, the otherwise interesting characters almost vapid in such a narrative. _Wicked_ seems to delve far deeper into the story, enhancing it and bringing out another side. _Confessions_ attempts to do the same thing, but instead of getting another character's opinion, you get "the true story" - which, at times, is not as interesting as the fairy tale. Every so often Maguire will surprise you, though, with an unexpected bit or two of wisdom scattered throughout _Confessions_ that makes all of the reading worthwhile. In addition, _Confessions_ comes into the art world with a heavy emphasis on painting and artists (Iris becomes an apprentice to an artist and falls in love with a fellow student) - this romantic world of paint and canvas is brought to life excellently in this novel - though if you want something that is more about the world of art and the passion in it, I recommend _Girl With a Pearl Earring_ and _The Passion of Artemisia_ instead. All in all, _Wicked_ was the better Maguire novel. _Confessions_ is slightly too ambitious, like its predecessor could be at times, but it isn't a bad book by a long shot - it's a -great- read. It just isn't the -greatest.- I also recommend the Disney film based on the book - the two are extremely different, and of course the Disney film doesn't contain any of the book's gritty details. But the costuming is beautiful and surprisingly historically accurate. It's worth a look. But the book is more worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Original Retelling
Review: I read this in two days; it's a page turner. I love fairy tales and this book gets behind the milk-toast Disney version of the Cinderella story down to the more nitty gritty reality most real folk tales are based on. I've decided that this is a very feminist telling of the tale. Clara isn't exactly super feminist heroine material, but she and her sisters are in sharp contrast the the cartoon fairy tale versions of patriarchal womanhood you find in modern renditions of the this fairy tale. This retelling is raw and refreshing. As a woman, I was particularly impressed by the portrait of the relationships between the women in this story, mother to daughter, sister to sister etc. The emphasis placed on how the female characters relate to their positions in society and the way they feel, see the world and interpret their existance is fantastic. These women have voices and struggle with demons. I don't know what some of the reviewers who gave this book bad reviews are thinking, I've read books ten thousand times worse, but unfortunately not that many that were so much better! Confessions is a fun and engaging read. I'll probably give it to a friend for Christmas. It's that kind of book. I really liked it.
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