Thursday, March 25, 2010

Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister

Author: Gregory Maguire
Rating: 4 out of 5 book pages

Gregory Maguire is a great writer. He turns the typical children fairytale books upside down. I've always wondered why writers make the children's stories completely unrealistic. The female character always gets what she wishes and meets her true love. Plus, they never draw her realistically. Are all females tall, big breasts, long legs, long flowy hair, etc? Ugh, I digress.

The book was fabulous. This was a book about Cinderella's story, in the eyes of the older "ugly" stepsister. He shows all the secrets that were behind Cinderella's story. He paints a picture of what the lifestyle was like in Cinderella's time so vividly, that I could imagine exactly what the scene would look like.

It was not always sisters and stepmother against Cinderella. There was more love and loyalty with the sisters than was brought on. Cinderella did not always have a perfect life. Maguire's story tells the true tragedies that she had to go through growing up that lead her to the Prince's arms. The ending of the book had an unusual twist in my eyes. It's always appealing to me to see things from another point of view.

I actually found some YouTube videos about the book. It's not exactly like the book, but what book-turned-movie ever really is? I think Maguire should make a play out of this book next. I thought a real movie may have been made of the book, but I can't find it on Netflix. I'll have to research more.


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