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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780060987527
ISBN number: 0060987529
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: October 01, 2000
Publishing house: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: October 03, 2000
Sale Popularity Level: 2252
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Is this new land a place where magics really happen?
From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale.
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....
We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks?
Extreme beauty is an affliction
Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister.
Clara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale?
While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life.
God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes!
Far more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.
Amazon.com:
Gregory Maguire's chilling, wonderful retelling of Cinderella is a study in contrasts. Love and hate, beauty and ugliness, cruelty and charity--each idea is stripped of its ethical trappings, smashed up against its opposite number, and laid bare for our examination. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister begins in 17th-century Holland, where the two Fisher sisters and their mother have fled to escape a hostile England. Maguire's characters are at once more human and more fanciful than their fairy-tale originals. Plain but smart Iris and her sister, Ruth, a hulking simpleton, are dazed and terrified as their mother, Margarethe, urges them into the strange Dutch streets. Within days, purposeful Margarethe has secured the family a place in the home of an aspiring painter, where for a short time, they find happiness.
But this is Cinderella, after all, and tragedy is inevitable. When a wealthy tulip speculator commissions the painter to capture his blindingly lovely daughter, Clara, on canvas, Margarethe jumps at the chance to better their lot. 'Give me room to cast my eel spear, and let follow what may,' she crows, and the Fisher family abandons the artist for the upper-crust Van den Meers.
When Van den Meer's wife dies during childbirth, the stage is set for Margarethe to take over the household and for Clara to adopt the role of 'Cinderling' in order to survive. What follows is a changeling adventure, and of course a ball, a handsome prince, a lost slipper, and what might even be a fairy godmother. In a single magic night, the exquisite and the ugly swirl around in a heated mix: Everything about this moment hovers, trembles, all their sweet, unreasonable hopes on view before anything has had the chance to go wrong. A stepsister spins on grey and white tiles, in glass slippers and a gold gown, and two stepsisters watch with unrelieved admiration. The light pours in, strengthening in its golden hue as the sun sinks and the evening approaches. Clara is as otherworldly as the Donkeywoman, the Girl-Boy. Extreme beauty is an affliction...
But beyond these familiar elements, Maguire's second novel becomes something else altogether--a morality play, a psychological study, a feminist manifesto, or perhaps a plain explanation of what it is to be human. Villains turn out to be heroes, and heroes disappoint. The story's narrator wryly observes, '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.' --Therese Littleton
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
There is little constructive information I can add to the abundance of reviews, other than this: I gave the book only four stars because of a personal bias. What can I say, you can't mess with the classic Cinderella tale. I don't know what I was thinking when I picked up this book! :) The characters in "Confessions" are presented very realistically, with a lot of grey areas in which the reader can decide if they are "good" or "bad". In other words, the book makes you look at what makes people tick. That's good, right? And yet my corny sentimentality leaves me wishing for the fairy tale ending. I'm doing no justice to the author...sorry, Mr. Maguire!
Rated by buyers 
-
This is one of my favorite books! I read Wicked about a year ago and enjoyed it, but found it hard to follow at times (unfortunately, I had to start and stop quite a bit while reading it and after awhile it was hard to remember everything). When I picked up this book, I made sure that I would be able to get through it within a reasonable amount of time. Like Wicked, I expected it to be a prequel and to end right as the traditional Cinderella story picks up. I was gladly mistaken though. If you haven't read Wicked, it is simply a prequel to Galina and the Wicked Witch's younger days. On the contrary, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is more of a twisted re-write of the traditional Cinderella. It paints Cinderella as a stuck up, self centered, young girl who grow up to shed her holier than thou persona and recreates herself as a common maid. As for the ugly stepsisters, it portrays them in a giving, 'charitable' (a theme that comes up more than once in the story), light and you really grow to love them. Margarethe, stepmother, maintains her traditional character in the sense of being ugly both inside and out, however unlike the traditional story she doesn't dote on her daughters and instead casts them as an 'ox' and women of poor features.
It is definitely a book that I would recommend, especially to anyone who wasn't that into Wicked. The characters are much easier to follow and although there is some reference to magical creatures and such I didn't find it as difficult to wade through the innuendo to understand the parallels Maguire was trying to draw.
Definitely a 5 star book!
Rated by buyers -
I'm about 1/4 through the book. It's engaging and witty, as are the other Gregory Maguire books I've read, and I look forward to finishing it.
Rated by buyers -
The book was in good condition upon arrival and I might have an unfair bais because I love Gregory Maguire's writing but I thought it was better than Wicked!
Rated by buyers -
The book came in very good condition before the date promised. I'm very satisfied with my purchase.
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