Gayle Forman

First sentence: Let me tell you a story. Actually, it's two stories, one you will recognize and one you won't. One is about me and you. The other is about the boy. But it's also about me. And about you. I know. I'm not making sense. I'm 107 years old. It goes with the territory. Forgive me my meanderings.

Premise/plot: Alex, aka "the boy," has an opportunity--or "opportunity" to change direction in his life--as appointed by the court. He'll be doing time--community service--at Shady Glen Retirement Home. He's reluctant, as you might expect, in part because everything that could be going wrong in his life has gone wrong and is continuing to go wrong. Nothing is going his way. As he's doing his service, he forms a bond with a resident, the 107 year old narrator, Josey (aka Josef???) who hasn't spoken in years (in fact those that work there thought he was unable to speak.) He tells the boy his life story--primarily focusing on the second world war. Meanwhile, there's things happening at Shady Glen and he's becoming friendly with others as well.

My thoughts: Definitely an almost. The premise seems like it would be an absolutely perfectly perfect fit for the kind of book that I would love. I love intergenerational stories. I love stories with a strong focus on friendship...and stories with a strong focus on storytelling. Yet I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. This might be ALL on me. Reading is subjective. This might be a little well everyone (and their dog) is saying that this is the best book of the year so therefore I can get contrary at times when a book doesn't live up to the hype. Or it could be merely the timing of when I read it.

The narration did not always seem cohesive to me. I found myself slightly confused at times. Never knowing if I'd dropped the plot and spaced out for a few pages or if the book was written in a disorienting way. I also thought the narration wasn't constant; that is a horrible way to describe it. But if the narrator is stuck in his room AND/or he's stuck at Shady Glen 24/7, then I think he knew too much and the focus was too wide for it to be truly his perspective. I would have almost preferred third person omniscient. It was also weird for me--personally--that the narration continued after the character's death. I also thought the "big reveal" of the crime was a little clunky in that wouldn't Shady Glen have known ahead of time????

This one just didn't sit "as right" with me as I wanted it to. Again, I thought it would be a book that I absolutely loved and I ended up in a very meh place.

--This one is being called
timely
timeless
book we all need
perfect
life-affirming
mind-expanding
heart-wrenching… (plus d'informations)

In a Nutshell: Short story. Interesting concept. Above average writing. Started well. Ended a bit flat. Loved the idea though.

All of us know the three villainesses of the fairy tale world: the evil queen from Snow White, the wicked witch from Rapunzel, and the devious stepmother from Cinderella. However, do we know why they behaved the way they did? What happens when these three “wickeds” meet up and decide that they want vengeance for the way their names have been sullied? Don’t they deserve a happily-ever-after?

The concept of the book is fabulous. While it fits into the modern trend of retelling a story from the antagonist’s point of view, thus modifying our opinion about them through their version of events, the reasons provided for each woman’s behaviour covers quite relevant themes. As the three characters are given names in this story-- Elsinora, Gwendolyn, and Marguerite, it takes a while to remember who is who, but going with the flow works fine.

The ending comes as a surprise. In a way, it takes life a full circle and the three vamps realise that revenge might not be the solution to their woes.

While the story is quick and easy-going, the writing/editing brings it down. The narrative perspective didn’t make sense. There’s a mysterious “we” who are narrating the story to us, but after their identity is revealed at the end, the earlier narration doesn’t make sense, as they wouldn’t have known of many of the events that occurred earlier. Moreover, after the identity reveal, the “we” also refer to themselves by their names, thus mixing up the first person and third person. There are a couple of continuity errors as well. A round of edits would have improved the impact of the story.

Overall, a decent story that provides a somewhat-feminist retelling from the pov of three despised women from the fairy tale world. A good enough read, not a must-read.

3.25 stars.

This story is a part of the Faraway Collection and is available to Amazon Prime members.

(I don’t plan on reading the rest of this collection. I read this story only because my daughter badgered me to. She wanted to vent about the ending. Sheesh! For what it’s worth, she rated it 4 stars.)



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