A review by lucrezi
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
5.0
"Beauty has consequence, but I’m ugly as sin, so I don’t care. Good-bye!"
The first time I read "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" I was fresh off reading the Wicked Years and, though I didn't understand Elphaba's story completely, I was entranced by Gregory Maguire's writing and storytelling. I picked up this novel (along with Lost and Mirror Mirror) and, same as Wicked, didn't quite get it. But I enjoyed it all the same.
I think learning to read academic writing in college has made reading for pleasure much easier, so reading this as an adult makes me realize that the writing, though descriptive, didn't slow down the pace as much as I thought, and actually serves a purpose in making you understand how Iris saw the world.
All the characters were interesting and had lives of their own. Margarethe, the "evil" stepmother, is more than that descriptive. Clara is trapped in a prison of her beauty, and Iris feels trapped by her "ugliness" by comparison - she is the only one who can't see that she has more to offer than her face.
I like that the conflicts among the characters set against the rise and fall of the tulip industry. I like the political machinations that these characters craft.
I didn't like the epilogue. Ending the final chapter the way it did was good, but the epilogue felt abrupt, and it was one of those epilogues that explains the final themes to the reader and I hated that. I felt that the messages weaved in throughout the story were more powerful because they provided different views on beauty and other things of consequence in dialogue and debate with other characters, rather than the epilogue which was in first-person and therefore directed at the audience, an "I think beauty is..." kind of thing.
I still hesitate to give it 4 stars though. The epilogue, though tacky, was short compared to everything else that was wonderful about the story. It's a 5 for me.
The first time I read "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" I was fresh off reading the Wicked Years and, though I didn't understand Elphaba's story completely, I was entranced by Gregory Maguire's writing and storytelling. I picked up this novel (along with Lost and Mirror Mirror) and, same as Wicked, didn't quite get it. But I enjoyed it all the same.
I think learning to read academic writing in college has made reading for pleasure much easier, so reading this as an adult makes me realize that the writing, though descriptive, didn't slow down the pace as much as I thought, and actually serves a purpose in making you understand how Iris saw the world.
All the characters were interesting and had lives of their own. Margarethe, the "evil" stepmother, is more than that descriptive. Clara is trapped in a prison of her beauty, and Iris feels trapped by her "ugliness" by comparison - she is the only one who can't see that she has more to offer than her face.
I like that the conflicts among the characters set against the rise and fall of the tulip industry. I like the political machinations that these characters craft.
I didn't like the epilogue. Ending the final chapter the way it did was good, but the epilogue felt abrupt, and it was one of those epilogues that explains the final themes to the reader and I hated that. I felt that the messages weaved in throughout the story were more powerful because they provided different views on beauty and other things of consequence in dialogue and debate with other characters, rather than the epilogue which was in first-person and therefore directed at the audience, an "I think beauty is..." kind of thing.
I still hesitate to give it 4 stars though. The epilogue, though tacky, was short compared to everything else that was wonderful about the story. It's a 5 for me.