From: Janice Del Negro <delnegro>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 16:48:09 -0600 (CST)

Not to put too fine a point on it, but- this is a novel length retelling of the Cinderella tale, not a takeoff, not a parody, not a feminist revision- and, as such, the ending was a foregone conclusion.

That being said, I thought the way Levine handled the ending was quite clever if somewhat predictable, and, speaking for myself, I was not disappointed at all. To take it just a step further, I think the ending will be highly satisfactory for those readers who pick up the book
*looking* for a Cinderella story (ie. a romance with a happy ending) in the first place.

Okay, if she had ridden off on horseback to seek her fortune, *maybe* I would have liked the ending more, but then it would not be a retelling of Cinderella, it would have been a different story altogether.

I think we have to be careful about criticizing a book because it's not the book we think the author should or could have written- we have to stay with *this* particular book, and decide whether or not it does what it
(apparently) sets out to do successfully or not.

It is interesting to note that a number of posters mentioned that they liked this book even though it isn't their kind of book- I think that's pretty telling in itself.

Janice Del Negro BCCB
Received on Tue 10 Feb 1998 04:48:09 PM CST