Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister

This post originally published February 26, 2011.

Author: Gregory Maguire
Published: 1999
Publisher: HarperCollins
368 pages (hardcover)
 
This is a fairy tale retelling of the story of Cinderella. I love fairy tale retellings, and this one has a very interesting twist to it, because it is not told from the viewpoint of the title character, Cinderella, but rather, from one of the ugly stepsisters! Also, I’ve heard good things about this author, mainly because of another book of his (Wicked – which I’ve never read).

In this story, the ugly stepsisters are Iris, a plain Jane, and Ruth, a mentally challenged and physically unattractive girl. They, along with their mother Margarethe, run away from England for a reason that is not fully explained until the end of the novel, and head to Holland where they are hoping that Margarathe’s grandfather will take them in. Unfortunately, it turns out the grandfather has died years ago. With nowhere to go, Margarethe begs the people of the village to take her in. Eventually, she convinces a painter, Schoonmaker, to let them stay in his house in exchange for doing housekeeping and chores. As time passes, it looks as if Margarethe may marry Schoonmaker, but she is always aiming to go higher. Instead, she finds work for herself as the housekeeper in a somewhat wealthy merchant’s house, taking Iris and Ruth with her.

It is at this merchant’s house where Iris and Ruth meet Clara, who becomes their stepsister when Margarethe marries the merchant. Iris and Ruth, being rather unattractive themselves, are simply in awe at Clara’s beauty. However, Clara is a spoiled child, and never leaves the house, putting some doubt in the ugly sisters’ heads about whether beauty is worth it.

The plot is actually made to be much more complicated than the very straightforward traditional fairy tale, and I really love the plot. I was actually really impressed with it and I liked the idea of putting it in the “real world” (i.e. England, Holland) and not some made up place. The theme of beauty figures prominently in the story, and I really liked how the story uses painting and art to help emphasis the concept.

All the characters become fleshed out, with back stories, and because this book doesn’t have any magic in it, the characters also feel more like real people. I was surprised and also intrigued that Iris and Ruth are portrayed as kind hearted individuals in this book, despite the ugly stepsisters traditionally being the mean bullies. Cinderella was portrayed as opposite of the kind hearted girl in the original, and instead, is stubborn, spoiled and a bit arrogant. Margarethe is, well, same as in the fairy tale — just plain wicked! There are also new characters introduced; as mentioned, Schoonmaker the painter, as well as his apprentice Casper (who became my favourite character in this book, despite being a secondary character, heh).

Overall, I was impressed with this novel! I really enjoyed reading it, though I was a bit slow getting through it due to school and whatnot … plus, though I liked it, I didn’t feel the “addictiveness” that some books make me feel, where you just have to find out what happens so you sit and go through a zillion pages in one sitting. However, despite that, I was still really into the story and I’d definitely read more books by this author!

My Rating: 4/5