Mirror Mirror

Famous for his work titled Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire has taken multiple fairytales and reinterprets them. This work titled Mirror, Mirror is Maguire's version of Snow White. The story is placed in the very early 1500's Spain with references to the historical context of the Crusades, especially the Pope. With a more concrete background, there comes both pros and cons. This time period is not my favorite or am I very well educated on it, however it is just background so it's not overwhelmingly necessary to know. I do think that I would have had more satisfaction if I was educated on the political culture of the time. No matter, Snow White (called Bianca) travels from childhood to adulthood in 276 pages.

Maguire.

There are multiple gaps of time as Bianca is depicted as a young child, 11, 16, and, possibly, 18. These time gaps are correlated with changes of perspective in characters. I normally, really enjoy the change of perspective (as seen in The Game of Thrones) but in this shorter novel, I did not feel especially connected to anyone of them. It went to the 'evil step-mother' figure, to the 'huntsman', the father, Bianca, and the 'dwarfs'. The novel as a whole was written very ambiguously. There were multiple points were I felt like I had missed a piece of information. Maguire is talented, I would not say otherwise; but this is the second book I've read of his (Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister) and I haven't loved either one. I do intend to read Wicked at some point, but if it follows the same writing style as both of these: I don't have very high expectations.  

He, Maguire, most certainly did take a new perspective on the familiar Snow White, but I finished the novel without caring about Bianca. The story's center, and I don't know that I loved her. She's supposed to be my heroine, and I did not get to know her very well. She was there, and alive (part of the time), but she did not do very much. I mean, if she wasn't sleeping or being dead, she was a child. Most of her story is what happens to her, and not what she does. Maybe this is just the nature of Snow White themed stories, and that is not Maguire's fault. I do appreciate the storyline he added for Bianca's father, and wished that there was more emphasis or follow up with him. Not to mention that THE KISS--the mysterious man who would wake our Bianca--was just stapled in there. I do not feel one way or another about it, however it was better than the other optional male (whom I will not say). 


I love fairytales, and since Snow White was my grandmother's favorite--I have a special attachment to it. One thing I must compliment Maguire on is his description of the evil stepmother figure: she's blonde. That's right ladies in gentlemen, the dark and twisted character is represented with light colors. For whatever reason Maguire choose to do this, I appreciate it. Since western culture associates black and blonde to immediate stereotypes, there is a certain innovation to stray from generics.

Reminded of my grandma, 
Emily

Game of Thrones

I have finally gotten into Game of Thrones this last six months. I had watched the first six episodes of the TV series, and had liked it but did not understand the appeal until this 800 page written version. Written by George R.R. Martin, I can not begin to emphasize how well written this series is. Let me emphasize: I watched only six episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones, and each episode was roughly equivalent to 100 pp. of text. The information that was expressed in the novel made the tv series less informational. 

TV GoT (Game of Thrones) was good, do not get me wrong. Watching the show had allowed me to understand what the premiss of the story was, introduce all the major characters, and give me a feel for the events to come. However, the show did not make as much as chronological sense as the book did. The fact that 100 pages was summed up in 40 minutes of film alone shows that the written word had more information, most of which is inexpressible physically. For example, Catelyn Stark's motivations, and choices are more clear through her thought process. Even the importance of the Winterfell's catchphrase "winter is coming" has more meaning, or at least the meaning was more clear. I think that I could watch the show now and have a more complete sense of what is actually happening.  

Daenerys, the blood of the dragon.

I haven't even mentioned how competent and strong the female characters are. How often do we find a fantasy saga were females are slightly leading males? Of course, who really has power in this book is debatable, but it is undeniable that Arya, Dany, Catelyn, Cersei, and even Sansa are strong. I didn't even like Sansa for the first 700 pages. In her last chapter in the book, her strength finally showed through. I am excited to see how she develops--I find her situation at the end of the book the most interesting.

Last thing: the book ends in a very similar fashion to The Grapes of Wrath. [*hint,hint*]

Nerd, Fan or Bandwagon?
Emily