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Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060987527
Edition: 1st Pbk. Ed
ISBN: 0060987529
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: October 01, 2000
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: October 03, 2000
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
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Editorial Review:
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 black 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
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 afflictionSet 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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Maguire has done it again
His wonderful novels have yet to disappoint. He is so descriptive and clear, I find myself drawn into his worlds completely. I have read 4 or 5 of his novels now and every time I have thoroughly enjoyed his twisted take on a familiar back story. Keep 'em coming!
Rating:  - Same Shtick, Different Fairy Tale
*Two and a Half Stars*
Having already read Gregory Maguire's 'Wicked' I was something less than thrilled when I got roped into reading 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister' for a decidedly informal book discussion group. It wasn't that I found 'Wicked' a bad read, I actually rather enjoyed it, but the blurb on the back of 'Confessions' lead me to think that Mr. Maguire had essentially repeated the same formula with a different fairy tale. (Actually, 'Wicked' was written after 'Confessions' ... Read More
Rating: - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
This book is fantastic. I loved it, and the inside look on the stepsisters. We all know that everyone has feelings, and their own side of things, and this story demonstraits perfectly how even the ugly stepsister dosen't have to be evil, even the beautiful daughter can be a brat, and how things never turn out how you expect. Even the ugly step sister deserves her happy ending.
Rating: - Great book
This is an excellent read. The story is very well told. Part fairy tale, part mystery, part romance, it has a little bit for everyone. The twist in the the epilogue through me for a loop and was completely unexpected.
Rating: - And they lived happily ever after...or did they?
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. ... Read More
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