Author: Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
Pub: 2012; Simon Pulse
Pages: 358
Genre: Young Adult; Fairy Tale; Fantasy
Oh what to even make of this book. I’m really going to be brutal here, I think, because I enjoyed this book about as much as I enjoy getting a splinter. It wasn’t painful to read, but man was I annoyed most of the time. I perserved because I just knew it would be better to eventually be done with it. I couldn’t just set it aside because I still had some small ounce of hope that it would redeem itself.
Truthfully, the PRIMARY reason why I gave this book a go was because it had Picoult’s name attached to it. I’m a sucker for her books. Can’t help it. We’ll move on. BUT that wasn’t the ONLY reason. The concept was unique and TOTALLY up my highway.
Check it out: Delilah is this nerdy shy girl who spends most of her time reading. (Already a winner of a protagonist for me!) She stumbles upon this fairy tale book (#winning) and adores it, reading it over and over again. Alternatively, we (as in, me, the audience) get to read the fairy tale as well….but the kicker is when the book (the book in the story) closes, the characters continue to live. Um, hello, a la Six Characters in Search of an Author by Pirandello which is MY ALL TIME FREAKIN’ FAVORITE PIECE OF LITERATURE/PLAY EVAH.
Prince Oliver, the protagonist in the fairy tale is bummed. He is so sick and tired of living the same story over and over again. Plus, the stupid princess actually thinks that they’re in love. Yup, she’s so dumb she just can’t figure out that it’s a story. Oliver is dying to get out of the story and into a new setting but he can’t seem to get anyone to notice him from the outside. But he’s relentless and…
One day, Delilah hears Oliver.
And the story moves back and forth from Oliver in the fairy tale trying to get out and Delilah in the Real World trying not to look crazy.
The writing though, oh the writing. I don’t want to harsh anyone’s dream of being a writer, and had this been turned in for a school assignment, it definitely would have gotten an “A” but to publish it a book and call it a bestseller? Well, perhaps that’s why Jodi Picoult’s name is the larger name on the book…because I don’t know if it would sell quite as well without it.
On the plus side. It’s a quick read. Like a day. And there were purty pictures. That helped.
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev is sort of a play with characters that come to life and can't escape. Your post reminded me of it... (It was DNF for me but I think a certain audience would love it.)
ReplyDelete