Rating: 
Summary: One Hit Wonder...READ WICKED INSTEAD!
Review: I hate to sound like all the others, but Confessions was no where near the same caliber as Wicked! Now I'm a fast reader, but I had a quite bit of trouble getting through this book. As a matter of fact, the first hundred pages or so, where Maguire was setting up the reader with background information, was grueling for me! Wicked was imaginative and filled with intensity. Wicked made me want to stay up and read more and more! Confessions was boring! I wanted to put it down after every chapter (which most were only 5 pages long!). Instead, I figured I'd get my money's worth (unfortunately I bought this book new) and finish it. I've read the other reviews, and I couldn't agree more...Maguire could have done better. Clara (the obscenely beautiful Ashgirl/Cindergirl/Cinderella) was intriguing for the first 30 (!) mentions of her breathtaking beauty. The cinderling concept, was that even necessary? So Clara was "abducted" and changed into a beautiful girl, does the reader need that much background information? Ruth (the older stepsister) was a big oaf, so we get it already! Maguire leaves this character in the dark and leaves the reader wanting more. Iris (the younger stepsister), the smart one, dwells too much on not being like her mother, her deceased father, the new land, Caspar, the supernatural, we get it already! Maguire could have taken these various attributes of Iris and made a book on each! Instead, he leaves the reader wanting more! The Master, so he'll never paint as well as he did for his "masterpiece"...get over it! Maguire creates these characters for us using his brilliant imagination, but I had the feeling he had a case of the bite-off-more-than-he-could-chew syndrome. I was left wanting more. So, the surprise ending occurred with 3 pages left in the book, was I the only one that saw that coming? Come on! I wanted so much more out of this book. Sadly, my recommendation is the same as all the others....READ WICKED! Truly Wicked was Maguire's "masterpiece." Perhaps Confessions was a reflection upon himself, portraying the Master with only one great piece!
Rating: 
Summary: Thought Provoking: What about those stepsisters?
Review: 17th-century Holland, depicting wonderful Dutch culture and history, is the setting of the mysterious viewpoint of the "ugly stepsisters" and their complex histories and personalities. This beautiful version recognizes why we have compassion and pity for poor Cinders while opening our hearts to her "mean & ugly" stepsisters. The (up to the present time) unseen stepsisters and their extraordinary love and conflict with their "changeling sister" is the most outstanding of the strong threads carrying the story, especially as she (Cinders/Clara) is not relegated to the status of servant by her self-serving stepmother; she chooses it for herself.
Kudos to illustrator Bill Sanderson. The cover and interior art is simply amazing. Once again, a book I initially reached for due to the beautiful, intriguing cover.
Rating: 
Summary: 17 year old reviewer of one of her favorite books
Review: Anyone who gave it little stars did not get it. Don't listen to them who didn't appreciate the story in the full manner that it was meant to be appreciated. If it's not your cup of tea, fine, but it is a unique and amazing book- read it for the experience, take in the words, trust the author that you will be presented with a finely woven story crafted with care. I love historical fiction, fairy tale, and fantasy, and this is a combination of all of those things as well as mystery. This book didn't feel quite like just a book to me, it felt like art, maybe a painting. No doubt much care was put into it and it has the fluidity of art, rather than the rigidity of essays and certain books, while maintaing a unique and structured craftmanship of it own. This is the opposite of fiction and realism, and a wonderful treat, but as with all things you should enter without expectations. Be patient and absorbing, take it as you go.
Rating: 
Summary: That Was...Underwhelming
Review: I'm not sure I understand what everyone saw that was so great about this book. I practically had to school myself to read a chapter every night. The plot moved at a snail's pace, and the constant references to how perfectly perfect the Cinderella character was grated on me after a while. I get it already! She's gorgeous! As for the story itself, I kept waiting for something to happen...but nothing did. Until the end that is, when we get that huge "twist" that no one but me saw coming a mile away. I am usually a fan of fantasy and science fiction, but I found the references to the supernatural in this book to not fit somehow. They didn't really add anything to the plot (except for the obligatory "tension" for our narrator and "depth" for the pretty girl), and took away from whatever action was already going on. The only thing keeping me from giving this book one star is the characters Schoonmaker and Caspar, who are the only ones I enjoyed through the entire book.
Rating:
Summary: Confessions
Review: Confessions... was a beautiful book, and I enjoyed reading it immensely! It didn't live up to the majesty of Wicked (what book could?) but it still occupies a place of honor on my bookshelf. Maguire's portrayal of the ugly step-sister as a kinder, more troubled character than originally implied in the classic Cinderella tale is a satisfying twist, especially since more of the teenage generation can relate more to the ugly step-sister than they can to the beautiful-to-a-fault Clara/Cinderella. (I should know, I AM of the teenage generation.) A tale of class struggles and greed, Confessions... is gorgeously written in such a way that shows that Maguire truly knows who is characters are. It was a great adventure to read, striking close to the heart more times than one would expect of a fairy-tale remake.
Rating:
Summary: Not terrible but not great ; rent it from the library
Review: This book felt a little incomplete because it spends so much time building up this fantastical notion of imps and other worldly creatures and occurences but fails to fulfill them to the degree that they have been hyped. I was a little disappointed that the author didn't go more into the supernatural because I thought that's what would happen, since they were was so much focused on the mysterious.... I like that the author takes a relatively two-dimensional and traditional tale and fleshes it out more, giving it more depth, however ugly or bland it may be. I like the fact that the author gave these characters real lives with real, everyday duties, etc. I'm just disappointed that it took too long to reconcile the background story with the traditional story in addition to the wasted emphasis on fantasy and mystery. On top of that, it ends abruptly with just short epilogue to end it all, as if to make up for the fact that the book spent 3/4 of the time on weird and strange creatures and then hastily goes over an extrememly important part of the myth and the story.
Rating:
Summary: Who needs Prince Charming when you've got a book this good?
Review: Gregory Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister makes for an engaging and even absorbing read. (I started it on a train ride and finished it within two days; it was hard to put this one down!) It is a fascinating remake of the Cinderella story, with some memorable characters and some nifty plot twists--Maguire's gifts are creating interesting people and inverting expectations.
This book does have some drawbacks. The constant discussion of art, particularly at the beginning, may put off some people. (As an Art History major who is the child of an artist, I loved it. On the other hand, my boyfriend, an engineer with little exposure to art, found it excessive.) Also, the middle seems to drag a little, unlike the beginning and the end. (Beginnings seem to be Maguire's strength; they really pull readers into the story.)
In comparison to Maguire's previous novel, Wicked, Stepsister shows some maturation of his style. For example, the deeper themes (here concerned with looking) are integrated more smoothly with the overall plot, and the ending is less rushed.
Mr. Maguire is fast becoming a delightful writer, if he can keep up his creative energy to subvert more of our ideas about what is actually happening inside the tales we know and love.
Rating:
Summary: I liked this book.
Review: The story line was interesting, the inclusion of art was something that drew me right in, but one thing irritated me about this book. When making people speak, the author would leave out personal pronouns! Also I found his writing style a little choppy. But as I said earlier, the story line is wonderful, I would have liked it to be longer.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: I just finished this book about a minute ago, and I'm practically speechless. All I can say is....wow. Wow wow WOW! The writing in this book is exquisite and multilayered. This new Cinderella tale is an astonishingly creative departure from the traditional one. I absolutely could not put this book down. The characters were intruiging, as was the plot. I'm just....I can't even express how amazing this book is. It's something that must be EXPERIENCED to comprehend.
Rating:
Summary: Why so glum, Cinderella?
Review: Maguire's retelling of the Cinderella tale is not without interest or insights. Despite the stilted dialogue, the characters become human. But the novel lacks humor and spirit. The story the author presents ultimately becomes as drained of spirit as its setting Holland is drained of seawater. It's a depressive interpretation. Cinderella's tale becomes one of scandal, but without tabloid titillation -- only a matter-of-fact sombreness. *SPOILER* What point is there in having the Prince deflower the Cinderella character at the ball? Just more proof to show what "rats" we mortals be? As for the book's ending twist, though it's unexpected and initially jawdropping, it's hard to swallow when you think about it.
|
