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Post by DiannaB on Jul 5, 2006 16:48:29 GMT -5
I'm reading Fairest by Levine and it is quite fun! I'm not sure if it's Newbery caliber, but I'm enjoying it and wonder if anyone else has read it yet?
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Post by DiannaB on Jul 11, 2006 16:13:32 GMT -5
I've finished 'Fairest' now, and it was so much fun. I don't know how 'deep' the book is, but can't a good book be just fun and not so 'deep'? It is well written, you know of course, which fairytale it is, but not everything is soooo obvious. The story twisted and curved and filled in lots of fun bits. The whole not being beautiful right away was a new concept for this fairytale for me, so that didn't seem to fit, but then I wouldn't want it all to be obvious either. I can't wait to hear what some of the others will think. Comments? Anyone?
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Post by heather on Jul 22, 2006 9:24:55 GMT -5
I finished 'Fairest' last week and it was fun, but it wasn't outstanding. I really enjoy reading fairy tale variants, they are in fact one of my favorite things to read, but this one didn't feel special. It reminded me at several points of Gregory Maguire's 'Mirror Mirror' which only made me want to stop reading 'Fairest' and pick up 'Mirror Mirror', a bad sign for any book. I do agree with Dianna (thanks for the loan) that there were enough interesting twists in this old tale to keep me reading. Some parts seemed predictable - for example the 'illusing' and where that would take her with a queen who couldn't sing.
I had a hard time caring for Aza because she was SO self-conscious about her looks. Which I suppose isn't unusual for a teenager, but there was just something about her character that was displeasing to me. Maybe I am heartless, but I just didn't care about her that much. For that matter, I didn't like the queen (stepmother). Of course I was not supposed to like her. So what I mean is I don't think she was a good evil queen (stepmother).
I am reluctant to blame this one on the author. I am interested to know what others think.
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martha
Junior Member
Posts: 19
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Post by martha on Sept 7, 2006 20:55:16 GMT -5
I liked this book better than Belle at Midnight, although (like Belle) I thought it took a while to get started. I liked Aza, for the most part, but did get tired after a while of her constant obsessing about how ugly she was. I couldn't figure out why this supposedly hideous girl was pictured as a beautiful lady on the cover of the book! I found the singing kind of tiresome, although the poetry was OK. It was nice that the prince found her attractive for her personality instead of her looks, but I don't think that was too convincing since he liked her too soon, before he actually had a chance to meet her. And if he really loved her, why was he so willing to believe she was a traitor? The whole bit about how she managed not to die but Skulni did seemed too contrived. Overall, a pleasant enough book but not outstanding.
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Post by Interested Reader on Nov 26, 2006 16:06:36 GMT -5
This was a very fun book to read! Like others, I really enjoy novel-length fairy tale variants. As such, I think Fairest is outstanding. As a Newbery winner... I think there's way too much competition this year for this title, fun as it is, to rise to the top. (And I thought the 'Sings' were one of the highlights of the book. What a great way to build a sense of community!)
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