Dude, I am a sucker for fairy tales. Fairy tales are either woefully tragic or completely wack-a-doo, which are two things I love (quick aside: if you've never read The Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet, I beg you to go do so right now, and then tell me that wasn't written whilst on the opium). Then there are, of course, those ones that end happily ever after, and these are usually the ones that we love most, except for when we're being lied to by our storytellers. (Did you know that the real Little Mermaid dies? This is totally unrelated to Zel, but she does. All carries on more or less as in the Disney movie, but then the prince finds a girl he loves more, and on the night they are to be married, the Little Mermaid's sisters all come and bring her a knife that they have purchased from the Sea Witch with their hair, and if she will stab the prince in his sleep, the moment his blood touches her feet, they will become fins again and she will be a mermaid again and live for 300 years, or however long it is mermaids live. But she can't do it, because she loves him, so she throws the knife into the sea and dies. Tragic, no?)So. Zel. You could have been a lot worse, and I still would have loved you. No, these are lies. You could have been a little worse, and I still would have loved you. Because you were pretty well awesome, but I have high standards. Zel is a re-telling of Rapunzel, and I'm going to 'fess up right now that I'd heard of this book a few times, but not until I read a review where the reviewer was all, Bla bla bla Zel, short for 'Rapunzel', did I clue in to the name-shortening. I am a dolt.
H'anyways, this woman and her daughter live in a cottage far from town, and one day the girl sees a boy (eeks!), and the woman panics and builds a tower. You know the rest - Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, etc. And I've read versions of this tale that end happily, and versions that don't, and I'm not going to tell you how it ends! If there's one thing I hate, its people being all, '...and this story of a cancer-child ends so happily' or '...this story of a cancer-child ends so sadly' because HOW IS THAT NOT GIVING IT AWAY?!?! I need to be reading the book all, Does he live? Does he die? Otherwise I won't care. So maybe Rapunzel dies. Maybe the young laddie dies. Maybe they have twin girlies and live in a wee cottage with Rapunzel's birth parents (whom she forgives for bartering her away for a handful of lettuce) living upstairs. You may never know.
Napoli's rendition is quite lovely. She gets a little sloppy with information-I-want-you-to-know-but-can't-think-of-a-smooth-way-to-insert, here-have-this-awkward-conversation, but don't we all? It's mostly fairly capable. She pulls some clever tricks to keep us feeling for the mother, without which our sympathy would dry up pretty quick.
Seven caterpillars.
Second Opinions
Oooh - you should check out Black Pearls by Louise Hawes. Very cool retellings with a good Rapunzel version.
ReplyDeleteI like Anderson's ending that he did later, that The Little Mermaid turns into an air child or something like that. I don't like people dying at the end.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I so want to read this book, I've liked others by Napoli. I thought the Little Mermaid died but got to have en eternal soul (which mermaids usually didn't according to Anderson) and her spirit lived on in the sea foam or something. I think I must have read the same version Trish did.
ReplyDeleteI'm a dolt as well! It was probably me that mentioned the shortened name thing because my husband had to tell me the obvious because I didn't realize it on my own. I enjoyed this one and now have Napoli on my radar. Great review as always!
ReplyDeleteWell, for me Andersen's ending was as tragic or anything else. "dissolving" and then having your soul (or whatever) live a life of indentured slavery until you collect enough goodie points to be freed...is not my idea of a "happy ending".
ReplyDeleteMan, I felt so robbed when I read that coming from years of watching the Disney version. I do love teh fairy tales though so I will be looking out for this one. Have you read any of Shannon Hale's books? She's one a lot of YA bloggers recommend.