While plenty of books are wholly original, no one can claim that literature is immune to trends. TWILIGHT set off an entire slew of vampire titles, and dystopians flooded the young adult market for years. In 2015, books featuring protagonists with mental health issues have dominated the YA scene.
In this blog series, Teen Board member Alison S. takes a look at another trend that continues to stay strong in adult and YA literature alike --- fairy tale adaptations. See her first post, below, focusing on Gregory Maguire’s CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER!
Most people know Gregory Maguire’s CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER as “that novel by that guy who also wrote WICKED.” And perhaps there is something prophetic in a novel’s title; if WICKED blossomed into the dazzling ingénue of Maguire’s writing career, CONFESSIONSplays the role of ugly stepsister. There’s nothing sparkling or glorious about protagonist Iris Fisher’s coming-of-age --- only life, served plain, honest, and sincere as the novel’s main character.
We first meet Iris trudging through the streets of 17th-century Holland, comforting her mute older sister Ruth and dodging the reprimands of her sharp-tongued mother Margarethe. After their town’s dam flooded over, an enraged mob slaughtered Iris’ father and sent his widowed family fleeing across the Atlantic Ocean. To Margarethe, Holland is a place of refuge, her family’s last hope of survival; to Iris, her new home might be “the place where magic really happens”.
The novel’s opening chapters don’t exactly disprove Iris’ superstition. By their second day in Holland, Margarethe has already snagged a job cleaning and cooking for self-proclaimed “master” painter Luykas Schoonmaker. Before long, Margarethe has charmed her way into managing the estate of some of Schoonmaker’s wealthiest clients: tulip merchant Cornelius van den Meer, his ailing wife Henrika and their exquisite daughter Clara. (Please tell me you know where this is headed.)
If Maguire had written CONFESSIONS four years earlier (when he wrote WICKED), perhaps it'd share some of his earlier novel's blazing defiance. Maybe Margarethe would’ve risked her family’s lives for principle, and maybe Iris would’ve launched an Elphaba-style revolt against society’s labels. But Maguire didn’t write it four years earlier, Margarethe claws her way into affluence, Iris resigns herself to Holland's demeaning feminine ideal and no one defies proper Dutch etiquette, let alone gravity. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to love about CONFESSIONS; it’s realistic enough to border on mundane, and Maguire’s perceptive, affectionate narrative voice lends surprising poignancy to Iris’ coming-of-age.
But as perceptive and affectionate and poignant as CONFESSIONS might seem, no one will ever call this novel majestic. Immersive? Sure. Technically skilled? Um, it’s Gregory Maguire --- technical skill isn’t exactly something you question. But for all its strengths, CONFESSIONSwill never blossom into the literary darling of its predecessor. From moral compromise to blind resignation in the face of society’s labels, this novel doesn’t shy away from the less-than-majestic underbelly of human nature.
That’s not to say I didn't admire Iris’ struggle to hold her family together or squeal over her slow-burn romance with Schoonmaker’s apprentice, Casper. Love, beauty and hope still exist in Iris’ universe, but only as fleeting moments wrung out of life’s demands like the last drops of water from a wet towel. This novel won’t leave you twirling around in your nightgown or prancing down your hallway in the arms of an imaginary prince. It will never inspire a Broadway musical, and Clara’s face will never adorn a line of polyester Halloween costumes. The polar opposite of escapist fiction, CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER portrays life as it is, not as we wish it could be.
And that’s all the more reason to read it.
Alison S. is a Teen Board member.
