I’ve never read one of Gregory Maguire’s books before. I tried to read Wicked and Mirror, Mirror, I think, but I never successfully got through either of them. I picked up Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister at the library the other day while I was waiting for the sequel to Twilight to wing it’s way to my doorstep after I’d finished the first book in a rush. I knew that if I didn’t return Twilight to the library I would just keep reading my favorite parts over again until I went crazy.
On the whole, I don’t read a lot of fiction. The fiction I do read tends to be genre fiction–fantasy mostly. As a former journalist, I’ve always been something of a nonfiction junkie. It was interesting for me to read a book that while fantastical in nature was grounded in our of the earliest stories around. Every girl grows up knowing the story of Cinderella.
Confessions is like the Cinderella story on steroids and infused with reality. I loved that Maguire was able to make the stepsister sympathetic in nature. Too often we want to believe that their is good and evil and no difference between the two. Of course Cinderella is a being of pure goodness beat down by her evil relatives. For her to be the one who was high-born and to have her fall and rise is a novel twist. I loved the way you bought felt for and hated Cinderella at equal turns.
I can’t wait for more of Maguire’s novels. They’re not my every day fare but they are a nice treat between the mysteries and intrigue of fantasy.
