Rating: 
Summary: OK, sort of
Review: This book, like everyone has said, was really good at the beginning, but gradually deteriorated towards the end. I was really looking forward to see how Napoli would do the ending interestingly, and was really disappointed by its sudden stop, which really left me feeling like there was something missing, that she could have added a lot more to make this better. I think the awful ending more or less ruined this good book, and I really wish that Napoli had tried a little harder to make the ending better. I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you're willing to put up with a horrible ending, because the rest of the book is actually pretty good. It's just too bad that she screwed up the ending so much...
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing, haunting, beautiful
Review: This is my my first Napoli book and I'm definitely going to read more. It's a beautiful, haunting work and the spinner and Saskia are unforgettable. However, I too... was shocked by the ending. Although we see throughout the book that the spinner changes dramatically because people reject him and treat him as worthless and even though we all know the traditional end to the fairy tale, I still was expecting some sort of redemption for the spinner...I found [the book]...extremely creepy throughout and not because of how the spinner looks. The horror of what actually happens to him at the beginning is really disturbing and then the deterioration of his mind and spirit are very unsettling. Thankfully, Saskia's story counterbalances it nicely so it's not all depressing. Apart from the ending, I was very much impressed with the book and the author's ability to expand on a simple tale and flesh it out to the point we'll never look at Rumpelstiltskin the same way again.
Rating: 
Summary: Heart-wrenching and complex
Review: This story brings much insight into the otherwise unsensical fairy tale "Rumplestiltskin". This is not a "retelling" per se, but a "what if" kind of story. "What if" Rumplestilksin was not just a evil little man, "what if" the miller's daughter was forced to marry the king, "what if" there was some other connection between the girl and the gold-spinner besides the obvious one in the original tale? Filled with the "what if's", this book shows that Rumplestilksin is one to be pitied, that so is the miller's daughter to be pitied, for because of her father's pitiful lie, she lives the rest of her life in soulful misery - until the birth of her first child. But that joy also is threatened because of the promise she herself gave to Rumplestiltskin. Saskia up to that point is living only to survive - she has no love for her husband, only a semblence of love for her childhood friend and her father. We find that both Rumplestiltskin and Saskia want to live, though they are both miserable yearning for something that they both lack in their lives - not because of their own shortcomings, however. They are both victims, and it wrenches your heart. A beautiful story with powerful themes - emotionally complex, easy to engage in.
Rating:
Summary: Heart-wrenching and complex
Review: This story brings much insight into the otherwise unsensical fairy tale "Rumplestiltskin". This is not a "retelling" per se, but a "what if" kind of story. "What if" Rumplestilksin was not just a evil little man, "what if" the miller's daughter was forced to marry the king, "what if" there was some other connection between the girl and the gold-spinner besides the obvious one in the original tale? Filled with the "what if's", this book shows that Rumplestilksin is one to be pitied, that so is the miller's daughter to be pitied, for because of her father's pitiful lie, she lives the rest of her life in soulful misery - until the birth of her first child. But that joy also is threatened because of the promise she herself gave to Rumplestiltskin. Saskia up to that point is living only to survive - she has no love for her husband, only a semblence of love for her childhood friend and her father. We find that both Rumplestiltskin and Saskia want to live, though they are both miserable yearning for something that they both lack in their lives - not because of their own shortcomings, however. They are both victims, and it wrenches your heart. A beautiful story with powerful themes - emotionally complex, easy to engage in.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful...yet tear bringing
Review: This story was a tremendously good story yet knowing the story behind Rumpelestiltskin is a sad one. The spinner in the beginning made a dress of gold for his beloved for their wedding day, but at a terrible price. His leg cripples and he becomes lopsided and in turn loses his beloved to a wealthy old miller. Later on he hears news that his beloved is with child and yet he knows and she knows that the child she carries is not the millers but the spinners. On the day that the child will be born the spinner goes to his beloved and gives her the ring he had bought for their engagement, she takes it: he speaks to her about the child and it doesn't end well she gives him a new name one full of hatred and disgust the child is born...but she'll never know who her real father is. Not even at the end. I wish there was a sequal to this story, i wish i knew if the spinner's daughter ever finds out that her real father is the man who asked for her firstborn child... Its a sad story yet a good one and the pace is fast and doesn't linger on one moment for too long. Its a good book but really i thought i would cry.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful and enveloping novel!
Review: This was one of the most wonderful novels that I have read that have been written by Donna Jo Napoli. I love how she can turn around a story so that it makes you think differently about the villian, or the hero. This was a wonderful book, and I would recomend it to anyone that loves a good fairytale!
Rating:
Summary: A great yarn
Review: Unlike the other readers, I did not find the ending of this novel far-fetched. The spinner becomes who he is through a series of life events that leave him bitter and twisted. Napoli makes this incredibly clear, using his body to signify the twisting that takes place in his mind, so that he winds up incapable of loving anyone, not even himself. It's part of the reason that he so deeply wants to hurt the queen. Napoli has presented the spinner in as sympathetic a light as I think was possible. In the original tale of Rumpelstiltskin, the spinner has no redeeming qualities at all--at least here we understand how he became what he is. For the mother who proclaimed that this book should not be read by children. It is not a children's book. It is a book for young adults. I assume that teenagers know where babies come from and that in order to prevent pregnancy, certain steps must be taken. Of course Saskia will try to prevent becoming pregnant--what was it that she promised the spinner? Unfortunately, someone who is apparently incapable of determining the difference between literature appropriate for young children and that appropriate for young adults was allowed to trash the book and its ratings. For what it's worth, this book is highly recommended by me. I have read other works of Professor Napoli's, and I think that her handling of fairy tales is stellar. This book wove a tale so beautiful and haunting that it is obvious who the gifted spinster really is--it is Napoli herself.
Rating: 
Summary: Depressing
Review: When I picked up Spinners, I wanted another fairy tale story. There is nothing of the fairy tale in this book. There was no romance, no happy ending, no magic, only broken lives through the whole thing. I kept thinking, well, it must get better some time, but it never did. Spinners was totally depressing.
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