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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Maguire has a lock on clever, elaborate retellings of fairy tales, turning them inside out and couching them in tongue-in-cheek baroque prose. After his revisionist takes on Oz's Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked) and Cinderella's ugly stepsisters (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), he now tackles Snow White. The notorious Borgia habit of poisoning rivals inspired him to transplant the classic tale to 16th-century Tuscany, where Vicente de Nevada is an expatriate Spanish widower who lives with his daughter, the fair Bianca. Beholden to sinister Cesare Borgia and Cesare's sister (and perhaps lover) Lucrezia, Vicente is sent on what appears to be a fool's errand, to discover and steal from a Middle East monastery a branch of the Tree of Knowledge complete with three apples. When Bianca is 11, Cesare's attraction to her causes the envious Lucrezia to order a young hunter to murder her and deliver her heart in a casket. Bianca, of course, is spared and taken in by seven dwarfs. But this is not Disney; the dwarfs are boulders, stirred to life by Bianca's arrival ("a clothed, bearded obstinacy became slowly apparent"). Several years pass in surreal, dreamlike fashion, with Bianca tending to the dwarfs, who cavort stiffly and philosophize collectively. When Vicente returns successful, Lucrezia poisons an apple for her rival. Innocent Bianca's fate is gentle, but that of the corrupt Lucrezia, in brilliant Venice, is appropriately grotesque. Fairy tales in their original form are often brutal and disturbing; with his rich, idiosyncratic storytelling, Maguire restores the edge to an oft-told tale and imbues it with a strange, unsettling beauty.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School--A dark and vivid retelling of Snow White transposed to the Italy of the Borgias. Lucrezia is the evil stepmother and five-year-old Bianca de Nevada grows into the role of Snow White. Vicente, a minor landlord beholden to Lucrezia and her brother/lover Cesare, unwillingly leaves his motherless daughter to go on a seemingly futile errand for Cesare. Journeying to Greece to seek out a branch of the holy Tree of Knowledge, Vicente languishes for years in the dungeon of the very monks who possess the relic. While her father is gone, Bianca develops into a lovely young woman, attracting Cesare's attention. Seeing this, Lucrezia orders her killed and sends a young hunter into the woods with the familiar instructions. Adding much historical flavor and returning to the edgy eroticism of the fairy tale, Maguire invests the journeys of the Borgias, Bianca, and Vicente with a compelling urgency. Readers will be intrigued by the new story and yet curious as to how the familiar elements are brought in. Sometimes seven, sometimes eight, the dwarves, slowly awakening to their possibilities, are droll and great fun to listen to. The language has an old-fashioned quality and the point of view shifts frequently, but teens who continue to the end will learn much of medieval Italy and a little of human nature, and have a new respect for the old tale. This is a great addition to the Maguire shelf.--Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
Maguire has a lock on clever, elaborate retellings of fairy tales, turning them inside out and couching them in tongue-in-cheek baroque prose. After his revisionist takes on Oz's Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked) and Cinderella's ugly stepsisters (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), he now tackles Snow White. The notorious Borgia habit of poisoning rivals inspired him to transplant the classic tale to 16th-century Tuscany, where Vicente de Nevada is an expatriate Spanish widower who lives with his daughter, the fair Bianca. Beholden to sinister Cesare Borgia and Cesare's sister (and perhaps lover) Lucrezia, Vicente is sent on what appears to be a fool's errand, to discover and steal from a Middle East monastery a branch of the Tree of Knowledge complete with three apples. When Bianca is 11, Cesare's attraction to her causes the envious Lucrezia to order a young hunter to murder her and deliver her heart in a casket. Bianca, of course, is spared and taken in by seven dwarfs. But this is not Disney; the dwarfs are boulders, stirred to life by Bianca's arrival ("a clothed, bearded obstinacy became slowly apparent"). Several years pass in surreal, dreamlike fashion, with Bianca tending to the dwarfs, who cavort stiffly and philosophize collectively. When Vicente returns successful, Lucrezia poisons an apple for her rival. Innocent Bianca's fate is gentle, but that of the corrupt Lucrezia, in brilliant Venice, is appropriately grotesque. Fairy tales in their original form are often brutal and disturbing; with his rich, idiosyncratic storytelling, Maguire restores the edge to an oft-told tale and imbues it with a strange, unsettling beauty.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School--A dark and vivid retelling of Snow White transposed to the Italy of the Borgias. Lucrezia is the evil stepmother and five-year-old Bianca de Nevada grows into the role of Snow White. Vicente, a minor landlord beholden to Lucrezia and her brother/lover Cesare, unwillingly leaves his motherless daughter to go on a seemingly futile errand for Cesare. Journeying to Greece to seek out a branch of the holy Tree of Knowledge, Vicente languishes for years in the dungeon of the very monks who possess the relic. While her father is gone, Bianca develops into a lovely young woman, attracting Cesare's attention. Seeing this, Lucrezia orders her killed and sends a young hunter into the woods with the familiar instructions. Adding much historical flavor and returning to the edgy eroticism of the fairy tale, Maguire invests the journeys of the Borgias, Bianca, and Vicente with a compelling urgency. Readers will be intrigued by the new story and yet curious as to how the familiar elements are brought in. Sometimes seven, sometimes eight, the dwarves, slowly awakening to their possibilities, are droll and great fun to listen to. The language has an old-fashioned quality and the point of view shifts frequently, but teens who continue to the end will learn much of medieval Italy and a little of human nature, and have a new respect for the old tale. This is a great addition to the Maguire shelf.--Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
FROM THE arable river lands to the south, the approach to Montefiore appears a sequence of relaxed hills. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
María Inés, stone beast, stone dog Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fra Ludovico, Lucrezia Borgia, Bianca de Nevada, Vicente de Nevada, Don Vicente, Prince Dschem, Tree of Knowledge, Cesare Borgia, Donna Lucrezia, Lago Verde, Donna Borgia, Agion Oros, Duc de Valentinois, Maria Inés, Papal States, Fra Tomasso, Duchessa de Ferrara, Pope Alexander, Francesco Gonzaga, Niccoló Machiavelli, Doge of Venice New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
FROM THE arable river lands to the south, the approach to Montefiore appears a sequence of relaxed hills. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
María Inés, stone beast, stone dog Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fra Ludovico, Lucrezia Borgia, Bianca de Nevada, Vicente de Nevada, Don Vicente, Prince Dschem, Tree of Knowledge, Cesare Borgia, Donna Lucrezia, Lago Verde, Donna Borgia, Agion Oros, Duc de Valentinois, Maria Inés, Papal States, Fra Tomasso, Duchessa de Ferrara, Pope Alexander, Francesco Gonzaga, Niccoló Machiavelli, Doge of Venice New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5
books:
4
books
cite this book:
- Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel by Gregory Maguire in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Snow White by Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm in Back Matter
- Orlando Furioso (Oxford World's Classics) by Ludovico Ariosto in Back Matter
- Snow White (Handled Book and CD) by School Specialty Publishing in Back Matter
- Orlando Furioso: A Romantic Epic: Part 1 (Penguin Classics) (Pt. 1) by Ludovico Ariosto in Back Matter
- Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre by Jack Zipes on page 105, and Back Matter
- Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti in Front Matter
- The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest by Terri Windling on page 260
- Son of a Witch: A Novel (The Wicked Years) by Gregory Maguire in Front Matter
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
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46% buy the item featured on this page: Mirror Mirror: A Novel $12.48 |
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16% buy Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) $7.99 |
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15% buy Son of a Witch: Volume Two in the Wicked Years $7.99 |
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13% buy Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel $10.88 |
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