Booking Through Thursday: Something Nearby
Reach out a hand, and grab the book that is closest to you. Turn to page 231, or pick a page at random if the book isn't that long. Locate the first sentence of the last paragraph on that page.
- Type the sentence here:
The goose girl had refused to be forced, and Enna had brought help and freed her. - Does the sentence make sense out of context?
Um...no, not really. The quote is from The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale. If you are familiar with the original fairy tale, then the darker tone implied by the subject of the quote may make sense. While the Goose Girl is one of my favorite fairy tales, it is one of the more grim and gruesome ones of the genre (probably why it has yet to be Disney-ified, thank goodness). Perhaps as testimony to how oblivious children can be (or perhaps just me), it never occurred to me how disturbing the tale is until I reread it a few years ago...the boy who is obsessed with the goose girl's hair and constantly trying to yank off strands, the dead horse's head nailed to the overpass that speaks lamentingly to her everyday when she passes by...you get the idea. - Does reading the sentence make you want to read the rest of the book? Why or why not?
Yes it does. This is where the author has added on to the original fairy tale and I am quite intrigued to read further to find out how she tweaked it. This is part of the fun and, sometimes, frustration of reading retellings of favorite stories. However, I am quite enjoying the retelling thus far as I like the way Hale writes and the way she has embellished details onto the general frame of the tale.
And on that note,
posted by Marie at 12:45 PM
2 Comments:
I'd forgotten that I'd even read that fairy tale, and then reading your post it was dislodged from a pile of decades and I went back to Grimm's and read it again. I had it on story-tape when I was little and I remember crying over it often and it still brought a lump to my throat reading it this morning.
I do love the way you read so widely and variously. As usual I am impressed, inspired and encouraged.
I am a fan of retellings of (and continuations on) old stories, but I agree that they have their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Nice examination, it makes me want to read more.
Best,
Cate
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