Customer Reviews

Just Ella

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(65)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

More adult and reality-driven than Ella Enchanted, Just Ella is an interesting look at the "happily-ever-after" ending of the original fairy tale. Ella Brown in this story is fleshed out to become a realistic heroine forced to fit into the fragile and uncomfortable glass slippers of a princess. She shows herself to be resourceful and clever; however, for some reason, I never liked her as much as Ella of Frell from Ella Enchanted. Haddix, while very cleverly explaining the matters of the glass slippers and dress (think Ever After for the dress), never develops the characters enough to make them anything more than sketches of potential never fully realized. And I agree with a previous reviewer that the romance seemed a little predictable. (One of two eligible male characters in the book, the other of which is the insipid prince.) An interesting undercurrent in Just Ella was the true meaning of True Love, often mentioned so flippantly in fairy tales.

Just Ella didn't quite satisfy me-- it was neither as charming as Ella Enchanted, nor as psychologically intense as Donna Jo Napoli's retellings. What it did provide was an often ironic, imaginative and creatively rewritten Cinderella that was a definite departure from the usual fairy tale. For another Cinderella retelling, I highly recommend Silver Woven in my Hair, in which magic is inherent, though not implicitly stated. If you liked the court setting, The Crown and Court Duet by Sherwood Smith provides a more realistic (and less mocking) description of court life.

Fairy godmothers, Prince charming, midnight magic, its all a fairy tale. But this book gives this tale a little twist. It tells the story of how Ella realy came to the ball; under her own determination not with magic help. I loved this book and could not put it down! It is a great way to show girl power and how you can take charge of your own destiny. And with Ellas determination and will she finds her true "Prince Charming" on her own.

This book follows closly in the style of Ella Enchanted by Gail Levine, though its creativity and the strength of the main charecter surpass the other. Haddix tells how Ella takes matters into her own hands, without the help of magic, and steers her own fate not once, but twice! Her perserverence and her intellegence make her one of my favorite heroines.

So many fairytales end with a simple "happily ever after" ... but is it ever really so simple?

Just Ella, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, turns the Cinderella story on its ear by exploring the young girl's motivations and examining gender roles that apply, honestly, more to modern times than they did in the medieval setting of the book. Still, young readers (and adults, too!) will enjoy this fractured version, which starts with Ella enduring lessons in etiquette, needlepoint and other princessly duties in the castle of her betrothed, Prince Charming. But, while the prince is, of course, charming and quite handsome to boot, Ella begins to wonder if that's a suitable foundation for lifelong romance.

Of note, this book gives us a Cinderella who does not rely on fairy godmothers, talking mice or convertible pumpkins to make her way to and from the prince's ball. Determined to go despite the scorn of the "step-evils" who plague her life, Ella uses the resources at hand and no small amount of ingenuity to get herself where she wants to be (as explained in a brief but entertaining flashback, in which we learn that glass slippers hurt).

'Just Ella' is terrific! It starts up about right after Cinderella has gone to the castle to marry the prince, and tells how she struggled with that decision and ended up choosing to do what she did. It is great, and easy to read, clear, thoughtfull, and funny. It has lots of irony in it, and the reason I used it was I needed a book with irony in it for a book report, and so I had the book read in less than 3 hours.

I read "Just Ella" a couple months ago and I couldn't put it down. I found it very suspensful and smart. The author uses great wording and has a wonderful plot. The ending was a suprise as well. It was an excellent book and I recommend it to anyone who likes an age-old fairy tale reversed.

It took me a night and a morning to read this book and I thought it was very clever and original. Now, I'm not saying I didn't grow up with the fairy tales about Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and happily ever after, (I enjoyed them as well) but maybe it's the fact that Im a little bit older and get tired of happily ever after (cause it doesn't exist) is what made me like this book.

I disagree with a lot of the reviews. One of them talks about how Ella is not a real character because she disagrees with how things go in the castle. It is quite possible that there were people many many years ago who had more modern views about how the world and its people should behave. (eg. H.G. Wells believed in equal rights for women in the late 1800's, early 1900's) Just because you are raised in a certain era, does not have to mean that you agree with what goes on in that era. The world is full of different opinions and the fact that Ella is more "liberal," is what makes her interesting. I'm sure that there were plenty of unhappy people in the "olden days" because they were oppressed. (Especially where women were concerned.) Another thing is that, nowhere in the book does it say the date, or when this takes place, its sort of an ageless tale. This was a good idea because it gives the author more leeway on language use and so on.

I thought that it was the perfect book for todays young adults, because they so often believe that you will meet a perfect guy, fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after. Disney taught us this, and so did Barbie's. I even believed it at one point. But, this book is for a young woman with more up-to-date views on life and love, not for someone looking for a happy ending fairy tale. (Even though I thought that the ending was perfect.)

It's nice to know that Cinderella finally came to her senses! You see, in this story, Ella (*just* Ella, no Cinder) is living in the palace with her wedding with the prince coming up. For a while she's really happy. But then, as much as she tries, she really can't love the airheaded Prince Charming, and to be honest, life as his fiance is a bore, and it's only going to get worse. But when she tries to call off the wedding, Prince Charming throws her into the dungeon! Quite a predicament, but of course Ella pulls through. If no one is going to save her, she'll just have to save herself--and she does, quite admirably!

I really enjoyed this story. I always thought that the Cinderella story was so trite--Cinderella has a hard life but Prince Charming comes and makes it all better. How sweet. *gag* But, Miss Ella has a brain (yay!) and she actually uses it! A fun, enjoyable, all-around-great book.

Before I write this, I have a few things to say; 1. I did NOT think it was a sequel to Ella Enchanted, a mistake many seem to have made. 2. I am 14, but have been reading adult novels since third grade, so I would appreciate not being stereotyped as a young idealistic believer of fairy tales(and back off the others, too. So they like fiction, big deal, it's their opinion. Don't belittle their understanding or intelligence.) 3. I LOVE books with tough fem chicks most of the time. I dislike books sometimes just because they have wimpy female characters.

That said, I have to say, I didn't like this book very much at all. As many have said, it is amazingly predictable. There was no character developement(besides learning the "truth" about the prince, but by paying attention from the beginning, when she mentions that he wouldn't be interested in her day, you know he's a loser.). Ella started uncomfortable with castle life, and stayed that way. Every chapter ended with her reiterating the question,"Am I really happy?" Sorry Ella, but no, things aren't all roses, and if you had stopped to think before you showed your stepmother up, you wouldn't have to dig out of a "crap hole" as you so nicely put it.
Oh, hey, was it just me, or does the mention of French(or any other real language) in a completely made up world seem strange? If you're coming up with new countries and cultures, come up with a new language. Not so hard, right? Just what I think though, it's not a huge problem.
Speaking of new cultures, the castle life seemed absolutely ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that Anyone is as airheaded as those ladies-in-waiting of hers. Allt eh characters overplayed their parts in my opinion. It seemed very melodramatic, and unrealistic.
Misery. This whole book was about complaining. About castle life, dungeon life, stepdaughter life, runaway life, and refugee life. Perhaps it was wrong of me to wish for a happy ending. The author certainly didn't deliver. This story warranted another chapter to conclude it, or at least an epilogue(set after a wedding maybe???) Instead, she ends up once more thinking about how her life didn't turn out happily ever after, and not even telling the by now thouroughly depressed readers whether or not she's decided to give poor pathetic Jed a chance.
Does anyone know if sliding down banisters was common in classic Cinderella stories? I first ran into it with Ella Enchanted, and seeing the same youthful passion in this book piqued my interest. I wonder where she got the idea. I'm not trying to accuse Peterson Haddix of anything, just curious, because I really don't know anything about it.
I didn't enjoy this book, although I really thought I would, because I'm a huge scifi/fantasy fan. But this book just didn't do anything for me. I finished it of course, because I'm not one to just drop a book, but I was pretty mad at the reader by the end of it and started coming up with my own Cinderella story to help ease the hurt fairy tale section of my mind. Read this, if you're willing to give mediocre peices of writing a chance for the sake of the original story. Otherwise, I'd advise readers to look elsewhere for a good read(Tim Zahn and Robin McKinley are wonderful, and McKinley even does fairy tale rewrites, so you might try her.)

Anyone who actually read all that gets a shiney star sticker and a big bag of fairy dust. ^^

My ten-year-old daughter was given this book as a gift, and since I had never heard of it, I decided to read it myself first just to make sure it was appropriate. I was very glad I did. There are several explicit references to marital sex, along with a passage exploring how women use sex to influence men. Much worse, there is an overt threat that the main character will be given over to be raped by a cretin jailer if she refuses to marry the prince.

And if that weren't enough to make this book off-limits to my ten-year-old(!), it is just very poorly written! All the characterizations are shallow, and the main character Ella is so glib and self-righteous that she fails to garner much sympathy. A mere two other characters are categorized as "good," although they are treated so marginally that it's hard to figure out what leads them to behave the way they do. Everyone else is bad, bad, bad to the core, with little room for humanization.

There's also some odd and incongruous religion-bashing. It doesn't seem to serve the storyline, except to lump people of faith into the "bad" category by suggesting that anyone who accepts the doctrines of the church are ignorant hypocrites.

This book will be going into the recycling bin. I don't even want to pass it on to a thrift shop in case it is purchased by a parent who thinks it's a harmless takeoff of the fairy tale. Bleah.