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Title: Mirror Mirror: A Novel |
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Review of Mirror Mirror: A Novel
The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore.
In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia.
She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest salvation can be found as well ...
A lyrical work of stunning creative vision, Mirror Mirror gives fresh life to the classic story of Snow White -- and has a truth and beauty all its own.
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Comments for Mirror Mirror: A Novel
- Posted on 2008-07-01
Delighted with the story.... the end not so much
I thoroughly enjoyed Gregory Maguire's take on the story of Snow White. I have not read Wicked or Confession of an Ugly Stepsister which I saw were more highly rated.
The story is not fast paced but I found it meandering through just as I perceive a fairytale should. The characters are followed and connected in both surprising and predictable ways. And Maguire's development of the dwarves was fascinating.
I was only disappointed at the end of the tale. The last few chapters seemed under developed, abrupt, lacking in some way. Can't quite put my finger on it.
Overall a good read. The end may suit others just fine.
Score: 3
- Posted on 2008-05-06
Not Maguire's best, which is a shame.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Wicked being two of my favorite books, I was excited to dig in to Mirror Mirror. However, after only about two dozen pages I found myself losing interest because I was profoundly confused about who was telling the story.
In a nutshell, that was the main problem I had with Mirror Mirror: though Maguire's descriptions were as textured as ever, the fragmented narration made it difficult to fully relate to the characters. The characterization in his other books was so layered that I cared about the major and minor characters alike (even in Son of a Witch, which while good was not quite as dazzling as its predecessor). This story focuses on Bianca and her father, Vicente, but I did not feel particularly connected to either of them - they seemed to function more as symbolic placeholders than as actual people. The one real exception to this problem was Lucrezia Borgia: Mirror Mirror was really her tale, and she was by far the most engaging character to me. But her voice is only peppered throughout the narrative; Bianca, Vicente, and the dwarves also speak at different times, and I found the structure too fragile to be effective.
The magical elements in this story did not gel for me, either. The magical elements in Wicked were inherent to the story and Confessions used folk superstition to create an air of the supernatural, but I did not feel I had to totally suspend disbelief to read either one. With Mirror Mirror, though, the branch from the Tree of Knowledge was a hard pill to swallow (what the heck was up with the final chapter?), as was the dwarves' characterization. The dwarves are first described as primitive creatures born of the earth, more mineral than human, yet simply by Bianca speaking to them are they able to speak the languages of men with complete fluency. While I realized that Maguire was asking the reader to explore the idea of imagining something into your own reality, that whole concept seemed out of place in this setting.
I managed to finish this book because I do adore Maguire's descriptive prowess and the sly wit he incorporates into the dialogue, but Mirror Mirror is definitely not his best showing - which is sad, because he had some fantastic ideas to work with. If you're a fist-time Maguire reader, start with Wicked or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2008-02-28
Try to borrow this, rather than buy it!
This is the fourth Maguire novel I've read, and so far it's my least favorite. I agree with the other reviews which say that this is a little slow - the twists and turns are fairly interesting, but there doesn't seem to be much force driving the reader ahead.
Maquire does seem to have done his research on the times, but since I know little about the Borgias, there aren't as many "Ah ha!" moments as there were with "Wicked" or "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister."
Mirror Mirror: A Novel
Score: 3 - Posted on 2008-01-10
I'm bummed, this book was bad!
Ones taste in books is highly subjective. This one was bad in my opinion. I really wanted to like it. It was boring and the plot never came together. It feels like it was written by a completely author than Wicked and Confessions.
The good thing is it is a quick read.
Score: 1
- Posted on 2007-11-22
Hypnotic
Mirror Mirror: A Novel, is as you dear reader probably already knew, a retelling of the wellknown fairytale Snow White in 16th century Italy.
The Good: The story is moderatly interesting, and it has some a few really great characters, namely Lucrezia and the seven dwarfs, as well as the old priest and the cook. Maguire's prose is poetic and beautiful, and the dialogue is masterful- its both smart and sensitive, and tells so much about the story. And because the plot is so intriguing you're pulled along-not so much in wanting to know what happens next, but needing to know what happens.
The Bad: This was undoubtly a very intersting book, yet sometimes it felt that Maguire was confined in his story of Snow White. There seemed to be so many things he wanted to do in his story, yet he couldn't necessarily fit them in, or get them to make sense because as a fractured fairytale, his storytail had to have some sembelance to Snow White. Also, at times there were a bit too many unnecesarily descriptions- Maquire went on and on about certain things without getting to the root of the story. We know he can write well- now can we please get to the root of the story? Likewise, there was no fresh breath of newness or uniqueness in the character Bianca (or the Snow White). Though she was set up as a contrast to Lucrezia, she spent most of her time asleep- we never got to know or care for her. Personally, i think this was a result of all the conflicting plot threads the author had running through the story- this book would have been much better if the prose was more sparse, and if he said less with more words more often. This book definatly could have benefited with staying generally in the perspective of the dwarves and Lucrezia, as they were undoubtly the strongest characters in the book. Likewise, sometimes the symbolism in the story felt convoluted.
The UGLY: Actually, there wasn't much of it. While some of the descriptions boarded on unneccesary, there was still a bit of vile, bitter beauty about them which actually added to the book's charm. Of course, the prudish in all of us will be revolted with many of the incest undertones throughout the book, it did make the villian seem impossibly more human, and way more interesting.
Overall rating: It's worth a read, but you'll either really enjoy and admire this author or you'll toss it across the room---- but for it's many faults, Maguire is still arguably, a genius.
Score: 3