Customer Reviews

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel

5 star:		(134)
4 star:		(90)
3 star:		(52)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Just when you think there have been too many re-imagined versions of well-known fairy tales along comes one that brilliantly reinvents perhaps the archetype of all fairy tales. Maguire, who previously wrote a subversively political tale about the wicked witch of the west, surpasses his debut novel with this compassionate tale of beauty and familial duty. Once again his richly detailed prose captures that feeling of a once upon a time that true fairy tales require and does so without ever appearing artificial. This story of Iris and Ruth, their complex mother Margarethe, and their stepsister Clara of the 'afflicted eternal beauty' is filled with wonderfully shaded characterizations that never fall into that good/evil dichotomy that Grimm and Perault use in telling the original versions. Can kindness reside within ugliness? Is beauty and attractiveness really something to be envious of? Is a mother's apparent tyrannical household an environment that will produce wickedness? Is a nearly mute sibling nothing more than a drudge to babysit? Find the answers to these not so simple questions within Maguire's excellent story and be prepared to be reassess your own prejudices about the 'ugly' and the 'beuatiful.'

When I first read "Wicked", the first adult novel written by Gregory Maguire, I was spellbound. I went out and recommended it to all my friends. So one can imagine my thrill when I went on-line and discovered that the author of my favorite book had written a second. This book was, of course, "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister". I didn't sit down intending to simply read it, I engulfed it, and I was very pleased to find that what Maguire did in "Wicked" was not a one-time only occurance. Needless to say, it's a very enjoyable book. It takes a classic story that everyone knows, and tells the side of the story that people don't know, the side of the so-called 'villan'. Like "Wicked", you get wrapped up in the story and the characters. Unlike "Wicked", it's a light read, no politics, no tremendous notions, just deep thought on basic human concepts. And, despite the familiarity of the story Cinderella, there is little predictability in the novel; every page is a new discovery and a new surprise. All in all, and excellent book with something for everyone, and as such, a great read.

The readers of this book, that is. Gregory McGuire has hit another one out of the park with "Confessions." Following up on "Wicked," the first of McGuire's expanded fairy tales, "Confessions ..." tells the story behind the story of Cinderella.

Childhood fairy tales, true to their intended audiences, tell stories of black and white, good and evil. Once we all grow up, though, we realize that the world is many shades of gray. McGuire's stories reflect that adult knowledge. That is why this story is so fun to read. I voraciously read fairy tales as a child, and McGuire has allowed me to revisit the stories of my childhood while entrancing me as an adult. His are quick reads, which is somewhat disappointing, because the end always comes too soon.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and I will be waiting for my 'prince in shining armor' to write me another grown-up tale!

Now, when I read WICKED, I thought here is an author with a voice and an interesting take on story-telling. I told everyone I knew to read it. Many did and agreed with me that it was special. Like Marion Zimmer Bradley before him (Mists of Avalon), Maguire looks at a popular myth/story and turns the point of view on its head. Now in CONFESSIONS he puts a name and personality on a face long misunderstood, the ugly stepsister. There is something so much more on target in his telling of this story than WICKED that his story here rings even more true. Maybe it's trying to do a little bit less in the book and crafting a solid tight storyline, maybe it's a more personal touch and a true love of his character, maybe it's the lack of some overarching political statement he isn't chasing down (as in WICKED). But CONFESSIONS packs a huge surge of emotion that won't leave you when you finish it. I finished it a week ago, and I'm still mulling it over in my mind. Clara reminds us of all those beautiful people out there who either think the world revolves around them or that it should. Thank you, Mr. Maguire. What's next? I can hardly wait!

Having grown up on and loved various versions of the classic Cinderella story, I was immediately drawn to this book because of the new perspective it offered on the tale -- the mysterious viewpoint of the "ugly stepsister." However, Maguire's excellent take on Cinderella does more than just reveal the heretofore unseen stepsisters and their complex histories and personalities. Framed by the familiar fairy-tale details, "Confessions" is a thoughtful, sometimes gruesome, very beautiful meditation on a host of timeless issues: social class, human psychology, artistic talent, the role of women, family love, and the nature of beauty.

By setting his revised Cinderella tale in the context of seventeenth-century Dutch merchant-class society, Maguire gives his story foundations of history and art, lending rich flavor to his sparingly elegant prose, and giving additional depth to his unusual cast of characters. The stepsisters (smart but plain Iris and her simpleton sister Ruth) and Clara, the lovely and haunted "Cinderling," are especially well drawn, in all their various idiosyncrasies; and the extraordinary love and conflict between them is the most outstanding of the strong threads carrying the story.

In short, Maguire has expertly boiled this classic fairy tale down to its essence, then rewoven it into something fantastic, strange, and unforgettable.

I have to disagree with those reviewers who claim that this book is not as good as Maguire's previous novel, _Wicked_. This novel is just as good as its predecessor, but it's not as philosophical; it's more of a pleasure-read. That's not to say that _Confessions_ doesn't give you anything to think about, but I think the difference here is that the nature of beauty is something that we all think about, and discuss openly and often, whereas wickedness and evil are something we try not to think about, let alone discuss. I think this is the reason that _Wicked_ seems to be so much more powerful than _Confessions_. I found this novel to be tremendously satisfying, and it will be difficult for me to wait until Maguire writes another one.

Just to quickly correct a review written below, there is a character in this novel who is "assumed" to be the lover of the Master, but it turns out that it is just a spiteful lie. He is not gay after all.

That said, I would highly recommend this book. Maguire is an intensely gifted writer (I remember realizing that Wicked is not a book to be read lightly, rather, a book that could be taught to a college class.) This book is a surprisingly fast read... once you get into it, it's hard to put it down. Maguire's style in this story is a gritty, no frills true story of the Cinderella. One actually does not miss the lack of mice, and pumpkins, and fairy godmothers as the real story is so enticing. Plus.. the ending packs a wallop that you don't expect. The historical background involving the tulip trade and the changing society of the Netherlands is interesting, but also integral to the tale. After you read this, you'll have an entirely new perspective on the fairy story on which it is based. I gave it only 4 stars because of a personal bias that I could have used a few more explanations, and the ending seemed rushed, but otehrwise, this is a great tale.

This is a book that turns the story of Cinderella totally upside-down. Part historical fiction, part fantasy, part coming-of-age novel, this book tells the story of Iris, a young girl lacking in good looks, who is forced to leave her home in England when her father is murdered. Her mother, the harsh Margarethe drags her and her simple, dull sister Ruth to Holland where they are to live with their Grandfather. Unfortunately their grandfather has died without their knowledge and they are left homeless and penniless.
Over the course of the novel they become involved with the rich tulip merchant--van de Meere--and his uncommonly beautiful daughter, Clara, who is fated to become Iris's stepsister. Clara is strange and haunted. She never leaves the house and claims to be a changeling child. When Margarethe marries van de Meere, Clara retreats to the ashes; determined not to be seen, while Iris slowly finds the confidence to unveil the treacherous secrets that surround her life.

This book is extremely well written and is way more than a fairy tale. The twist at the end was really unexpected. the last two sentences are really beautiful, too.

"But to be most effective, the faces of children would need to be painted in a blur, the way all children's faces truly are. For they blur as they run; the blur as they grow and change so fast; and they blur to keep us from loving them too deeply, for they protection, and also for ours."

Anyway, I still can't descide whether or not his book was as good as Wicked. They are both amazing in different ways I guess. I did find Confessions took a long time to get to the actual Cinderella part but that's just me. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to see the happy, boring little story of Cinderella that we've all heard so many times, gutted, torn into tiny pieces, and then put back together again to create this masterpiece.

Although CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER is the first Gregory Maguire tale I've read, I am well aware of the praise his other works--WICKED, in particular--have garnered. Before reading it, I knew that CONFESSIONS was a retelling of the Cinderella story, told from the point-of-view of one of the stepsisters, so I *thought* I knew what to expect. What I received when I began the narrative was much more than I expected: a beautifully written, surprisingly poignant, and clever story, one that is not just a fairy tale, but a serious historical novel entertwined with elements of magic.

CONFESSIONS introduces an unlikely heroine, Iris, the plain but intelligent protagonist who flees England with her mother, Margarethe, and her mentally handicapped sister Ruth. Upon arriving in Holland, Margarethe and her daughters search for work, eventually taking up residence in the home of an aspiring young painter. Later, when this painter is commissioned to paint a portrait of a rich tulip-trader's daughter, Margarethe jumps at the opportunity to improve her lot, and it isn't long before she and her two daughters have a place in the lavish home of the tulip-trader, van den Meer.

Van den Meer's only daughter, Clara, is ethereally beautiful, if a little spoiled. When Clara's pregnant mother dies--under "mysterious circumstances"--Margarethe, thinking only of self-preservation, marries Clara's father and begins the life of luxury she feels she's earned.

The rest is a story we're somewhat familiar with: Clara, unable to endure her stepmother, retreats to the kitchen hearth, shovelling ashes and working like a slave day in and day out. Soon an invitation comes for a ball, and our "Cinderella" attends...and the rest is history. But what's interesting is that we see the whole story from the "wicked" stepsister's perspective. Iris is an engaging character, thoroughly human, compulsively likable, and sympathetic. Through Iris's eyes, we see the *true* story: that Ruth idolizes Clara, that Iris herself conspires to assist Clara in attending the ball, that, while both sisters are jealous of Clara's unmatchable beauty, they would never wish any harm on their beloved stepsister. It is their mother, Margarethe, who does all in her power to hurt and anger Clara.

So no, this isn't the Disney-fied version of the tale, by any means. There are no dancing mice singing "Cinderelly, Cinderelly"; there are no fairy godmothers or pumpkin coaches or, even, happily-ever-afters. CONFESSIONS, while on the surface a mere retelling of Cinderella, is much more: a deftly layered novel with complex characters, a study in contrasts (wealth and poverty, beauty and homeliness), a meditation on the human condition: "In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings. When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats," says the narrator in the prologue. Set against the backdrop of 17th-century Holland, CONFESSIONS is an authentic historical novel, and at the same time a whimsical fairy tale. While the plot drags in some areas, the novel is still a creative, effective take on a classic tale...I'm definitely going to go out and read the rest of Maguire's "fairy
tale" novels now!

Reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister was a little like participating in a scavenger hunt. The familiar details of the Cinderella story are hidden--sometimes tucked away, barely recognizable, sometimes out in the open but in different dress--waiting for the reader to discover.

Like Wicked, his other novel, Maguire packs Confessions with layers of meaning. It's a discourse on the nature and value of beauty; the relationships between women and between women and men; the nature of a changeling; and what it means to "jump," as Margarethe refers to self-preservation.

I also liked the way Clara was portrayed. In this version, she's not relegated to the status of servant by her tyrannical stepmother, she chooses it for herself--her own method of jumping. Additionally, while the relationships between the Fisher sisters and Clara are not always sisterly, they're dynamic relationships that reflect the caprices, virtues, and prejudices of real people, not the flat relationships portrayed in most versions of the Cinderella story.

My biggest complaint about the novel is a pretty minor one. I won't ruin the surprise, but I was disappointed in the way Maguire handled the Epilogue. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the novel; it's as it he wrote it simply for the value of a "twist."

Regardless, readers interested in retellings of popular fairy tales, Dutch culture and history, or simply literary fiction will like this novel. Recommended.