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FindingJane
Feb 06, 2016FindingJane rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
In this retelling of Snow White, Ms. Flinn has outdone herself. She digs deep into the past, not just of Celine, the modern replacement for SW, but of Violet Appel, the girl who will become the wicked stepmother. Violet’s obsession with beauty is made crystal clear and the reasons behind it are credible and understandable. America is obsessed with youth and beauty and the mania seems to get worse with each passing year. Bullying by young peers because of freakishness, ugliness or weirdness remains rampant; being average seems to be the only escape. But who truly wishes to be average? The comically ugly and the tragically beautiful, that’s who. Ms. Flinn expertly writes about how hard it can be to live with either condition and how the urge to blend in, stand out or simply escape forms the basis for the dilemmas that Violet and her stepchild face daily as well as the actions they take to change their individual fates. The story winds its way through the years and manages the amazing feat of making us feel sympathy for the needlessly cruel Violet and the innocent Celine. The denouement is surprising, thrilling and exasperating by turns as we wonder who will survive or triumph. What really gripped this reader is how this remains largely a story by and about women. Surely, there’s a section dedicated to the devoted Goose but it’s the interplay among Kendra, Celine and Violet that’s the core of this tale. Great reading AND it passes the Bechdel test. Cheers!