Gregory Maguire - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Pros: Unique story line, some surprises
Cons: predictable in spots

Margarethe Fisher struggles off the dock, her two unfortunate daughters in tow, to be greeted by a strange and unfriendly Dutch town in seventeenth-century Holland. She has recently escaped from England after the murder of her husband. Her observant ...

Pros: Exercises your mind by challenging assumptions from an old fairy tale.
Cons: Disturbing parts with a master painter and the Stepmother.

Speculation! Markets rising quickly. Markets crashing!
Futures changing hands 10 times a day? Wall Street
2000? Or the Holland Tulip futures market, 1636?
It's true. Early in Holland's 17th century, tulips
were a...

Pros: believable retelling of a well-known fairy tale
Cons: not as powerful as Wicked

Having fallen in love with Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, I was desperate to read whatever else I could get my hands on that he had written. An Amazon gift certificate windfall resulted in ...

Pros: A twisted tale that will challenge your assumptions.
Cons: Not quite as good as the first.

True Cinderella
Poor sisters are victims too
Preach on Brother M.

Ok, so maybe this is a silly attempt at an opening, a haiku to praise a novel. But I choose to write the poem to illustrate a point. It's an unexpected trope...

Pros: A fascinating twist on an old story.
Cons: Bland writing.

You'd think that with a cool title like Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, you'd get a much cooler story than what you actually get.

But to be fair, Gregory Macguire's story isn't boring. It's just not as charming or fascinating as...

Pros: A wonderfully creative take on a classic fairy tale.
Cons: Great, but not earthshattering...

True Cinderella
Poor sisters are victims too
Preach on Brother M.

Ok, so maybe this is a silly attempt at an opening, a haiku to praise a novel. But I choose to write the poem to illustrate a point. It's an unexpected trope...

Pros: Well-written, Wonderfully Developed Characters, Well-Paced Plot
Cons: None

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister caught my eye, miraculously, at a bookstore in the Cincinatti airport on my way home from Thanksgiving in PA. I had a final research paper in which I had to analyze three Cinderella-like stories and apply some...

Pros: Fabulous story, completely turns the fairytale upside down
Cons: None

_Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister_ is a brilliant retelling of the story of Cinderella that questions everything we originally believed in the story. The heroine is not even Cinderella, but the stepsister, Iris Fisher. In it, Iris is not really the...

Pros: Characterization, period detail.
Cons: Strangely paced.

The Fisher family has just fled from England to Holland, and with no money and no family there, they must quickly find a place. The domineering Margarethe is determined that her daughters, clever Iris and slow(mentally) Ruth. First finding temporary ...

Pros: Intricate story, interesting, well-formed characters, treatment of issues appropriate to the time period
Cons: The portrayal of the stepmother (Margarethe), no fairy godmother :)

It is often said that one can't improve on perfection; that once you tamper with something that works, you are more apt to ruin it than add anything worthwhile. As I see it, this isn't entirely true, and often the perfect examples come as stories. As a...

Pros: Well written
Cons: but somewhat boring at times

The setting for this story takes place in the 17th century in Holland. The main story characters are Margarethe an evil,conspiring widow, her two daughters Iris and Ruth Fisher who are step-sisters, and the Master, who is an artist. Iris is a very...

Pros: Realistic, explains a lot that other versions of Cinderella didn't, good story.
Cons: **Spoiler in the review** Maybe doesn't explain as much as I wanted it to.

First of all, why are there three different categories in Epinions for the same book? Oh well, now on to the review! Story: Essentially Cinderella but explains what Disney didn't. We first meet the step-family when they have just emigrated to good ...

Pros: an excellent, entertaining twist on a classic fairytale
Cons: none

The story of Cinderella has been beaten to death by authors and screenwriters alike. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister offers a fresh and bold look at this oft-told story. The novel is set in 17th century Haarlem, Holland, at a time when the Protestant...

Pros: Character development, story development, adaptation to Cinderella
Cons: can be slow at times but give it a chance

Having read McGuire's "Wicked" I felt compelled to read "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister". Forget the traditional tale of Cinderella, her evil stepmother and her fairy godmother. This is a tale of human life, tragic and beautiful at the same time....

Pros: Perfectly complete and enthralling
Cons: Not appropriate for those who hate good books

Following in the steps of his first novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Maguire continues to plumb his promising literary vein with this retelling of the classic Cinderella story. He dissects our preoccupation with...