Customer Reviews

Shadow Spinner

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In Arabian Nights, Shahrazad is background, and the implications of her condition are never considered. In Shadow Spinner, Fletcher has done a marvelous job of fleshing out the legendary storyteller and her situation.

Shadow Spinner starts 989 days after Shahrazad stopped the Sultan's murder of wife after wife by volunteering to marry him, then telling him stories so gripping, with cliffhangers so huge, that each one buys her another day of life. At this point, Shahrazad has given the sultan three sons and is growing desperate - she's running out of tales to tell, for one thing. Enter Marjan, who comes to the harem with her Aunt Chava, to sell things to the women. Marjan worships Shahrazad, and has collected tales all her life; she knows one that Shahrazad doesn't know, and gets caught up in the intrigue of the sultan's harem as well as Shahrazad's own story.

Marjan is a likeable character, and her experiences are great adventure. Still, the true center of the tale is Shahrazad, and the unexpected stength of the book is its villains. Unlike most YA and children's fantasy, the villains of this book are not all bad; Marjan in time comes to understand the reasons behind the actions of the sultan, his mother, and even her own mother, who hurt her badly years before.

This is a fun story on the surface, with a lot of food for thought swimming just underneath. It's a good read especially for young girls, and it should also appeal to adult fans of fantasy or children's lit. A winner.

The main character of this book is Marjan, a thirteen-year-old girl living in the Middle East. The entire land is under a spell of terror because of the rampages of the Sultan. His first wife was unfaithful to him, and the enraged king had her beheaded. Every night from then on, he married a new girl and killed her in the morning. (This background story is also the basic plot of "The Arabian Nights.") This ended when he married the lady Shahrazad who, on their wedding night, told him an interesting story and broke it off right in the middle. He let her live another night to continue her story, and this had been going on for nine hundred and eighty-nine nights. Shahrazad was desperate for new stories.

Marjan is an orphaned girl living with an elderly Jewish couple, whom she calls Uncle Eli and Auntie Chava. She is actually a servant to them, but they treat her more like a niece or granddaughter. Uncle Eli used to be very rich, but he lost his fortune, and the family lives in poverty. Even so, Marjan is perfectly happy, despite the fact that she is crippled. Her foot is stuck turning downwards and twisted in, and she has to walk on the side of her big toe. Marjan's favorite pastime is telling and hearing stories.

One day Auntie Chava has to go to the palace of the Sultan. To help pay the taxes, she is going to sell some of her own jewelry and treasures to the women who live in the Sultan's harem. Marjan is allowed to come with her. They enter the harem, and while Auntie Chava is busy selling her wares to the harem women, Marjan entertains some of the concubines' children with fairy tales. Midway through her story, Marjan discovers that a girl slightly older than her, a girl of noble birth, is listening to the story too. The girl, whose name is Dunyazad, asks Marjan to come with her. She leads Marjan through the twisting passageways of the harem to the chamber of her sister. Marjan receives a shock upon discovering that Dunyazad's sister is none other than Queen Shahrazad. Shahrazad has just given birth to a child and is trying to find a new story which she has not told the Sultan. It has been nine hundred and eighty-nine nights since she first started telling him stories on their wedding night. Marjan manages to tell Shahrazad half of a story which the Queen has not yet told the Sultan, and Shahrazad is delighted and rewards Marjan. Marjan goes home with Auntie Chava as usual.

The next day, one of the harem eunuchs shows up at Uncle Eli's home and tells Eli and Chava that he has been ordered to take Marjan to the harem with him.

Bidding farewell to her only family in the world, Marjan leaves for the harem, wondering what will happen to her next.

This book is a wonderful historical read that will transport the reader back to Persia in the Middle Ages and portray accurately the fear-filled lives of the women shut away behind the harem doors.

My daughter (age 9) wasn't much of a reader until Harry Potter came along. Although we'll be forever grateful to JKRowling for getting her hooked on reading, we've had a difficult time since then finding books that stood up to the comparison (at least in her mind). This is one of the few that have. It is absorbing and suspenseful--we read it aloud, and anyone in the family that is old enough to read was caught at least once sneaking a look ahead (strictly against the rules in our family!). And since I've always been interested in the story of Shahrazad, it was fascinating to see it fleshed out. It had never occurred to me what a heavy burden it would have been for her to save not only her own life but those of hundreds of other women by telling stories night after night.

Anyway--this is a great book, especially for reading aloud. It doesn't have quite the pizzazz or made-for-the-movies aura that Harry Potter has, but in my opinion, that's a good thing. And it finally got my daughter out of re-reading Harry for the umpteenth time and trying some new books.

In a sentence...I am telling everyone I know that this book should win the Newbery for 1998!

Shadow Spinner is a wonderfully written novel that puts a delightful new twist on a familiar, elegant story. The story of a sultan who after one wife betrays him, marries a new wife everyday, and by the next morning the wife is dead. Until finally, Shahrazad, the daughter of one of the sultans advisors, decides to take her turn with the sultan to try to stop all of the killings. She tells the sultan stories each night, but stops for the night at all of the exciting parts so she continues to live. As the number of days draws nearer to 1000, she is begining to run out of stories. A girl from the city named Marjan, comes to the harem and ends up staying to help the sultans wife find new and exciting tales to tell the sultan. They are doing fine with this until the sultan recalls one certain story that the sultan requests that no one has ever heard before, but Marjan has an idea how might know.
A story that people of all ages should be able to read and enjoy!

" Will she come out alive?!" Marjan murmured to herself as she waited outside the sultan's door. Worries about Shahrazad and her story flooded Marjan's mind. She tried to take her mind off her worries but that was impossible! Shahrazad might be dead!

The novel "Shadow Spinner" is about Marjan, a teenage girl that has been transferred from her slave life with her Auntie Chava and Uncle Eli to a life in the harem providing stories for the queen, Shahrazad. The sultan asks Shahrazad for a certain story, which she and Marjan don't know. Marjan has to get the story, but the sultan's mother, the Khatan, is watching her. The only person who knows the story is a mysterious blind storyteller who tells stories in the bazaar or marketplace. It is forbidden for women to leave the harem without permission, but how else can Marjan get the story?

The story "Shadow Spinner" is a well thought out narrative with challenging vocabulary. Fletcher describes her characters and their problems in such a way that the reader can relate to them. The story has a little bit of exposition and then jumps right into the action. It is quite suspenseful and you won't be able to put it down. It is worth reading again and again. It definitely deserves an awesome five out of five stars.

When Sheherazad's sister overhears Marjan telling a story she never heard before, she takes an interest in the girl, brings her to her sister, and soon, it is up the Marjan to find a knew and interesting story to please the sultan. Not only is Sheherazad's life at risk, but the lives of all the young woman of the city. The main character is a strong one, and the fact that she is crippled shows she's even stronger. (What I think is interesting is HOW and WHY Marjan's foot is crippled.) Don't miss this read.

This book is GREAT! My Mom and I are reading it for our Mother Daughter Book Club and so far everyone's loved it.This is a perfect book for girls. It's about a girl,Marjan you must find the end of a story or her ideal, the Queen, will be killed by the Sultan. will Marjan find the end before it's to late? This is a MUST read book.

I just read this, and thought it a tremendous accomplishment for Fletcher (that's my name, too!), whose other works I have also loved. It shows the power of words and intelligence, which women must use in the face of a society that gives them little other power. The principle of teaching lessons in a story within a story has been used by such writers as Thomas More, Mary Shelley, and Charles Dickens, and works well for Marjan (and for Fletcher). I must admit that some of it is not realistic, and the author does little to bring out the setting or culture of the Sultan's city, but Marjan's story is enough to make any reader pause to reflect and move deeper into the world of storytelling.

Shadow Spinner is a great book that can be enjoyed for all age groups. It is the story of a crippled young women named Marjan. One day she is with auntie Chava at the harem selling treasures to some young women who live there. When Marjan is telling a story to some young children in the harem, a lady named Dunyazad over hears her. Dunyazad takes Marjan to her sister the Sultan's wife, Shahrazad. The Sultan's first wife betrayed him and he has been hurt ever since. He feels he can not trust women, so he murders his new wife when ever he gets remarried. Every night Shahrazad tells a story to the Sultan, so she can live the next morning. Shahrazad insists that Marjan comes to live with her so she can be taught new tales. Marjan's real quest begins when she has to sneak out of the harem to find a story teller in the bazaar. She must find the story teller and learn more tales, so Shahrazad has a story to tell the Sultan that night. Each day becomes a struggle to escape to find a new story. Will Marjan be able to continue making escapes to the bazaar and how many more nights can Shahrazad survive? What happens next is very intriguing.