My 3 Monsters: I'm a Sucker for the Back Story

Recent Posts

9.09.2010

I'm a Sucker for the Back Story

I am.  I love to read books that give you the back story of a fairy tale.  Or present the same story from someone else's perspective.  How did each character come to be what they are?  Why do they make the choices they make?  It's fascinating.  That's what I so enjoyed about Wicked (the musical more so, but the Gregory Maguire book, too).  I also loved Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (also by Gregory Maguire) which is an interesting retelling of the traditional Cinderella story.  I just finished reading Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino.  Sure, it was in the Young Adult section and I should be reading books for "grownups" by now.  Sure, it comes from Disney Press which make it seem like it could be cheesy.  But it was thoroughly enjoyable.  It explains how the queen became so obsessed with the magic mirror and the idea of being the "fairest in the land'.  It explains who is speaking to her from the mirror.  It chronicles her descent from a sweet, kind-hearted wife and step mother into a life ruled by vanity, hatred and sorcery.  And it's so believable.  I really understood where she was coming from.  What that says about my personality, I don't know. Yikes.  It was a worthy read, in my book.

Also, before that I got a copy of Mockingjay from our friends Mike and Sarah and read it just as fast as my little eyes would let me.  I LOVED it right up until the end.  Sometimes things don't have to be tied up with a neat little bow.  I kind of wish it would have ended with the action (when you-know-who was supposed to do that thing to the one person but instead did it to another person) and left the rest up to my imagination.  Maybe I would have been disappointed with that, too.  Ends of series must be terribly difficult to write because they're usually so disappointing to read.  I'm just going to pretend I didn't read the last 15 pages or so.

3 comments:

  1. pffft - I doubt I'll ever graduate from reading YA...

    I say it's because I review them on that "other" blog of mine... but I think deep down it's because I just love them so :)

    and yeah... could have skipped that last 15 pages for SURE!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I fealt the same way about the end of Mockingjay!! I was so mad about it that I actually swore off literacy for a full week. Few things actually make me lose my temper in this world, and the end of that book was totally one of them. I had to call Jen and talk it out just to calm down since she was the only other sibling that I knew had already finished the book at that point. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok. Thanks for the head's up - no Mockingjay for me. I HATE to be dissapointed after I've invested part of my life in a book...
    I will however have to try one of the "back books" I've never read one before. (gasp)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving a comment. I try to respond to every one, even if it takes me a little while!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...