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From Publishers Weekly
Maguire has a lock on clever, elaborate retellings of fairy tales, turning them inside out and couching them in tongue-in-cheek baroque prose. After his revisionist takes on Oz's Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked) and Cinderella's ugly stepsisters (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), he now tackles Snow White. The notorious Borgia habit of poisoning rivals inspired him to transplant the classic tale to 16th-century Tuscany, where Vicente de Nevada is an expatriate Spanish widower who lives with his daughter, the fair Bianca. Beholden to sinister Cesare Borgia and Cesare's sister (and perhaps lover) Lucrezia, Vicente is sent on what appears to be a fool's errand, to discover and steal from a Middle East monastery a branch of the Tree of Knowledge complete with three apples. When Bianca is 11, Cesare's attraction to her causes the envious Lucrezia to order a young hunter to murder her and deliver her heart in a casket. Bianca, of course, is spared and taken in by seven dwarfs. But this is not Disney; the dwarfs are boulders, stirred to life by Bianca's arrival ("a clothed, bearded obstinacy became slowly apparent"). Several years pass in surreal, dreamlike fashion, with Bianca tending to the dwarfs, who cavort stiffly and philosophize collectively. When Vicente returns successful, Lucrezia poisons an apple for her rival. Innocent Bianca's fate is gentle, but that of the corrupt Lucrezia, in brilliant Venice, is appropriately grotesque. Fairy tales in their original form are often brutal and disturbing; with his rich, idiosyncratic storytelling, Maguire restores the edge to an oft-told tale and imbues it with a strange, unsettling beauty.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School--A dark and vivid retelling of Snow White transposed to the Italy of the Borgias. Lucrezia is the evil stepmother and five-year-old Bianca de Nevada grows into the role of Snow White. Vicente, a minor landlord beholden to Lucrezia and her brother/lover Cesare, unwillingly leaves his motherless daughter to go on a seemingly futile errand for Cesare. Journeying to Greece to seek out a branch of the holy Tree of Knowledge, Vicente languishes for years in the dungeon of the very monks who possess the relic. While her father is gone, Bianca develops into a lovely young woman, attracting Cesare's attention. Seeing this, Lucrezia orders her killed and sends a young hunter into the woods with the familiar instructions. Adding much historical flavor and returning to the edgy eroticism of the fairy tale, Maguire invests the journeys of the Borgias, Bianca, and Vicente with a compelling urgency. Readers will be intrigued by the new story and yet curious as to how the familiar elements are brought in. Sometimes seven, sometimes eight, the dwarves, slowly awakening to their possibilities, are droll and great fun to listen to. The language has an old-fashioned quality and the point of view shifts frequently, but teens who continue to the end will learn much of medieval Italy and a little of human nature, and have a new respect for the old tale. This is a great addition to the Maguire shelf.--Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
FROM THE arable river lands to the south, the approach to Montefiore appears a sequence of relaxed hills. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
FROM THE arable river lands to the south, the approach to Montefiore appears a sequence of relaxed hills. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly not Maguire's best,
By "raine_cloud" (UD, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mirror Mirror (Hardcover)
Overall, Mirror Mirror is a great book, but I just didn't think it was as good as Maguire's previous works. Unlike Wicked and Confessions, Mirror Mirror just didn't seem to bring anyting new to the table. It didn't have the new and fresh point of view from a well known character like Wicked and Confessions had.I must admit that when I started reading Mirror Mirror, I didn't know anything about the history of Lucrezia Borgia. Before finishing the book, I read up on Lucrezia Borgia a little bit and that did help me to enjoy the book more but I still didn't think it lived up the the expectations that other novels of Maguire's set.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as other Maguire Novels...,
By
This review is from: Mirror Mirror (Hardcover)
I want to start out by saying that I really enjoy Gregory Maguire novels. I think that they are fantastic and very imaginative.But... I found this re-telling of Snow White to be lacking. I enjoyed the new twists that Maguire added. The Borgias were a great addition and his Snow White was very sympathetic. But the story was very short and none of the characters, except for Bianca (Snow White) and Lucrezia Borgia (Wicked Step-Mother) were fleshed out at all. The mirror itself was a problem. Very little detail was given about how it became magical. There was a little bit of an explanation, but nothing substantial. I expected more from this author. In short, I was very disappointed. It seemed like Maguire wrote an outline and someone else actually wrote the book. And not very well.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Strange,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mirror Mirror (Hardcover)
Had a lot of language and references unexplained- Not great but don't regret reading it
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