East

Rating:
Summary: "She is Clever, More So than I Gave Her Credit For..."
Review: "East" is Edith Pattou's retold and fleshed-out retelling of the folktale "East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon", a tale that most cultures and countries have incorporated into their mythology throughout history. Motifs such as the animalistic husband, the vengeful sorceress, an interfering mother who gives dangerous advice, the taboo upon seeing the mystery-man's face, the task that only the "true bride" can perform, and the young woman's quest to reclaim her husband can be found in everything from the Greek/Roman "Cupid and Psyche" to France's "Beauty and the Beast." Details change in every version, but the core of the tale is the same each time.

Edith Pattou uses the Norwegian version as her template, which has the prince changed into a polar bear through the designs of an enamoured troll-queen. In order to break the curse the bear must take a human companion, who is forbidden to see his face for an entire year. Of course, the young heroine Rose breaks this rule; she must do this of course, or else the reader would be deprived of the quest to undo her wrong and save her beloved.

Pattou puts her personal slant on the tale by adding in the superstition concerning "birth-direction." Rose's mother Eugenia lives strictly in the belief that the direction in which an infant is brought into the world has a bearing on the personality and fate of that child. She plans to have only seven children, one for each direction (beginning at north-east and ending at north-west), and missing out on the final compass point: north. The reason for this is that north-born children are wild and reckless, liable to go wandering far and wide. But when her east-born daughter (east-borns being the most sturdy and reliable characters) dies, Eugenia bears another child to take her place. But you guessed it, Rose is a north-born child and so struck with wanderlust.

From here come the typical elements of any fairytale: Rose is a free spirit and comes into contact with a strange white bear, who offers the family wealth in exchange for their youngest daughter. With another child deathly ill and the family set for eviction from their home, Rose takes up the bear's offer and is carried to his underground mountain home. Here she keeps company with the bear and his two strange servants, and each night is visited by an unseen bed-fellow that is gone before the morning light. Curiosity gets the best of her, and with the aid of an ill-favoured gift from her mother, she steals a glance at the person beside her...resulting in him being whisked away by the troll-queen. Needless to say, Rose heads off on a rescue mission.

Pattou saves us from a dull, predictable retelling by telling the story through the points of view of several characters. Thus the tale is told in first-person narrative by Rose, the white bear, the troll-queen, Rose's father and Rose's brother Neddy throughout the book, forming a story that must be pieced together from several different lives and viewpoints. Perhaps most interesting of all is Pattou's take on the troll-queen; not just a vicious creature out for power, but someone who genuinely loves the bewitched young man for himself alone. Likewise, her young heroine Rose is a fine example of a strong, realistic protagonist, who has to *work* for her heart's desire.

However, there are some elements that simply don't work. Often the narrative is plodding and inevitably predictable, and the fairytale plot element in which Rose and the troll-queen were forced to test their sincerity by attempting to remove a stain from the young man's shirt was handled awkwardly and confusingly. The fate of the troll-queen and the ice-palace was quite abrupt, and if one reads carefully, the turning point of the story (when Rose looks at the young man's face) doesn't make a lot of sense. The conditions of the bear's curse are that he mustn't let anyone see his human face. And since he and Rose are not married (his nocturnal visits are strictly rated G), then why does he even sleep in the same bed with her in the first place? In the original folktales, the man and woman are wed, and thus have a very good reason to share a bed, but without this rather crucial plot development both the bear's and Rose's actions before and after the event have no reason to them. Pattou's desire to draw out the love-story, with marriage at its end rather than at its middle makes it somewhat unconvincing overall.

Yet despite this, "East" is still a fine example of a well structured and re-interpreted folktale. The old myths and legends of the world are always fascinating, and therefore in the hands of an adept author nothing major can go wrong.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful retelling of a classic....
Review: As a K-6 librarian I am always looking for new authors to recommend to students. I will easily be able to recommend this book. Combining elements of Beauty and the Beast, Norse mythology, and East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Pattou tells an enchanting story of Rose and the Great White Bear. The story is told from several "voices" as not only Rose and the Bear tell the story but also her brother Neddy, the Troll Queen, and Rose's father. A definite "good read."

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful adventure story
Review: There is a Norwegian fairy tale, about a prince who is turned in to a white bear by a witch, when he refuses to marry her. He can turn back into a man by night, but no one should see his face, or else, he'll have to marry the witch. He falls in love with a princess of a northern kingdom, and marries her, but when she falls to her curiosity of seeing his face, he's claimed back by the witch. Then the princess must rescue him.

Edith Pattou took some of the basic elements of this story, and made an altogether different one. The main character, Rose, is a farmer's daughter who loves weaving almost as much as exploring the world. Pattou adds some new important elements, such as the superstition of the girl's mother, who believes that the nature of every person is determined by the orientation of his/her birth. Although Rose is meant to be born facing East, due to some confusion, happens to be born facing North. Thus, although her mother tries to hide it from her, and make her believe that she is an "east girl", she cannot deny her true nature. When the White Bear comes to claim her, in return for the health of one of her sisters, she willingly accepts to go with him. The bear takes Rose to a hidden castle in Fransk (France), where she is allowed to weave as much as she likes, and although lonesome, she becomes fond of the bear. When a Troll Queen claims the bear, in very much the way of the original story, Rose embarks in an epic journey into the deep Arktisk (the Arctic), where the Troll kingdom is, in order to rescue him before the wedding.

The story is reasonably well written in simple language, in first person, alternatively by Rose, who has the longest chapters, the White Bear, who has the shortest, Rose's father, her brother Neddy, and the Troll Queen. The story is convincingly conveyed, as can be seen in the following excerpt:

"The farther north we went, the colder it got. Before then I had thought I knew about cold. But the winters in Njord [Norway] were springlike compared to the bitter, lancing cold of that frozen land. It was like a predatory, hovering beast, bent on sucking every bit of heat and life out of a body".

Although the book is recommended for ages 12 and up, I find the story perfectly appropriate for younger children. It is enjoyable reading that can be enthusiastically recommended to young readers.