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Opere di Rachel Louise Lawrence

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I wanted to read the original tale, at least insofar as I could through the lens of a translation. That's done with.

It's not a great story. I wasn't expecting much, all things considered, but it's not a great story. I have yet to see any particular adaptation, from Disney to "Penelope" to the various other films, TV series, and webcomics, do a necessarily superior adaptation of it, either. To do a decent adaptation that's a decent story to enjoy, you'd have to warp the base premise to the point where you're really not doing an adaptation anymore, but like... a loosely inspired by tale.

At least half of the book is told via characters telling other people backstory. That's bad enough, particularly since it's not one of those "All right, I'll spin you the tale... [and now we are in the 'present' of the flashback]" but literally one character saying "And then I did this, and she did this, and so on." What's worse is the copious flattering and over-elaboration of how much x loved y and how amazing z is. It's very courtly and something you'd expect of a story meant to be read by rich French people in the 18th century, but that doesn't really make it good reading in the present. It's dry, at best, and downright droll and boring otherwise. In fact this story should probably stand as the example for why sitting someone in a chair while a character exposits a whole history of backstory is a bad idea. Because it is SO incredibly boring.

The lessons and morals are toxic. The characters are flimsy and, to be quite honest, almost nonexistent amongst the ridiculous amount of backstory. For all that his backstory takes up probably 1/3 of the story, the Prince has neither name nor personality. Although the latter is true for pretty much every character, except for like, Beauty, who has almost every positive personality trait in existence, with a smidgen of selfishness in the mix.

It's sad because the story could be lauded for how much it centers the story around women. For all that Beauty's sisters are so Evil and Jealous and oh they hate their Good sister, there's bushels of reigning Queens, Fairy society seems filled with powerful and no men, save as sperm donors and usually they come from outside Fairy society, and it's women who move every aspect of the plot. Two women, in fact, made the entire story happen, with one principal mastermind for most of what happens.

The poor servants still get the crap end of the deal, as usual. It makes sense, given, you know, early 18th century France. They're not turned into furniture like the Disney version, but their fate here is probably worse. There are a number of versions where no one outside the Prince is impacted by the curse, and he's served by spirits, and that's... a lot better than what happens here.

All in all it's just... so boring. Its principal moral is that women should be obedient. Or see past appearances. At least in regard to men. Not in regard to other women. Nope. I'm not even making that up for sarcasm. That's literally part of the story.

I'd recommend a better version of the story, but nothing comes to mind. Tamora Pierce has some good fantasy starring lots of women, and even features romance at times, if that's what you're into. Madeline Miller's "Song of Achilles" and "Circe" are both fantasy and deal with prophecy, difficult romances (and even doomed ones), and curses. Those are both excellent reads. E. Jade Lomax's "Leagues and Legends" series deals with familiar fairy tales, romance, and lots of magic. Skip this.
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AnonR | 1 altra recensione | Aug 5, 2023 |

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