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Jacki's Reviews > Ella Enchanted
Ella Enchanted
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I felt like the author said to herself: "I'm going to really revamp the Cinderella classic! I'm gonna give the girl a backstory like you wouldn't believe! and it's going to be cute, and funny, and there will be all kinds of mythical creatures in it! It's going to be wholly other-worldly! And she's going to go on this awesome journey that's going to be epic and life changing!"
All that ended halfway through the book: The journey, the special creatures, the seemingly important gifts and details, the developmental steps... all gone. And then the author thought to herself, "Oh wait...this is supposed to be Cinderella. Um..let's see...her father remarries...her stepfamily hates her...turns her into a slave...glass slippers...the prince has a ball...glass slippers...they get married...The end!"
So really the book is two stories. The totally awesome cool story that the author started with...and the cliche, not-at-all-revamped Cinderella story that she ended with.
And for Goodness Sakes! WHAT WAS WITH THE ELVES GIFTS?! She made it seem so damn important that we should know about these gifts and all the way through the novel Ella is hiding them and they're special and they're everything her father ever wanted...
What happens to them?!
We don't know!
She kept them in a bag for the rest of her life!
AND THE NECKLACE?! I thought for sure that was going to be the key to everything! It was special and important when it was introduced. it was an heirloom. It was gnome-made (gnomes are magic). It's stolen from her. She wants it back. She contemplates getting it back...
Then for the next hundred pages, it's never mentioned, but suddenly at the end of the book, *poof* she has it back. All is well. The End.
GAH!
I still enjoyed the book, but good grief, make a tighter story, Lady!
by the way:
Prince Charming
Prince Charmonte
...hmmm....
I don't like that kind of blaring twist on cliches.
All that ended halfway through the book: The journey, the special creatures, the seemingly important gifts and details, the developmental steps... all gone. And then the author thought to herself, "Oh wait...this is supposed to be Cinderella. Um..let's see...her father remarries...her stepfamily hates her...turns her into a slave...glass slippers...the prince has a ball...glass slippers...they get married...The end!"
So really the book is two stories. The totally awesome cool story that the author started with...and the cliche, not-at-all-revamped Cinderella story that she ended with.
And for Goodness Sakes! WHAT WAS WITH THE ELVES GIFTS?! She made it seem so damn important that we should know about these gifts and all the way through the novel Ella is hiding them and they're special and they're everything her father ever wanted...
What happens to them?!
We don't know!
She kept them in a bag for the rest of her life!
AND THE NECKLACE?! I thought for sure that was going to be the key to everything! It was special and important when it was introduced. it was an heirloom. It was gnome-made (gnomes are magic). It's stolen from her. She wants it back. She contemplates getting it back...
Then for the next hundred pages, it's never mentioned, but suddenly at the end of the book, *poof* she has it back. All is well. The End.
GAH!
I still enjoyed the book, but good grief, make a tighter story, Lady!
by the way:
Prince Charming
Prince Charmonte
...hmmm....
I don't like that kind of blaring twist on cliches.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
June 18, 2009
– Shelved
June 18, 2009
–
Finished Reading
August 9, 2011
– Shelved as:
young-adult-fiction
Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)
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message 1:
by
Clarissa
(new)
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 03, 2013 04:32PM
I couldn't agree more. She was going so great and then bam we are dropped into a Cinderella story. I did love the letter chapter. I wanted her to leave again like she did at finishing school. To go off on her own. All in all I liked the story and loved it more than the movie.
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Clarissa wrote: "I couldn't agree more. She was going so great and then bam we are dropped into a Cinderella story. I did love the letter chapter. I wanted her to leave again like she did at finishing school. To go..."Most definitely better than the movie. I couldn't take more than 3 minutes of that thing.
Sounds terrible. The book I just read, Melinda Lo's "Ash", does a much better deal of it... there's only a few changes and in the end Cinderella gets her girl who is also awesome (hope you don't mind the spoiler, sorry! *blushes*)
