Welcome to my throwback book review! I’ll be rereading and reviewing books from my childhood. I was a huge reader as a child and these books shaped my life. I couldn’t possibly get rid of them, so I still have a large collection that I am sharing with all of you in the form of reviews.
Gail Carson Levine is one of my all time favorite children’s book authors. I love fractured fairy tales and the way she creates these societies around classic stories is so cool.
You might be familiar with the movie Ella Enchanted that came out years ago. I actually can’t remember if I read the book first or not. While I love the book, I think the movie is awesome as well, and actually went to see it three times in theaters.
If you’ve seen the movie (or read the book), you know that Ella Enchanted is Cinderella retold. Except she is treated so badly because she’s cursed. Her fairy godmother gave her the gift of obedience at birth, she has to do everything she’s told. Things weren’t so bad until her mother died. Except her father sends her to finishing school with two girls, Hattie and Olive, who figure out her gift and how to exploit it.
Her one comfort in life is her friendship with Char, the prince. Ella escapes from school and heads out to find her godmother, but along the way she is captured by ogres. Char comes along in the nick of time and helps rescue her. Ella’s search for her godmother doesn’t result in the curse being lifted, so she returns home to find out her father is getting married, and Hattie and Olive were going to be her stepsisters.
Ella’s father leaves soon after the wedding, leaving her to be treated like a servant by her step family. Her one consolation is exchanging letters with Char, until he proposes. Ella is afraid her gift will be used against him, so she pretends that she has eloped with someone else to stop writing to Char.
A series of balls are thrown in Char’s honor to help him find a wife, and Ella goes wearing a mask just to be near him. When Hattie rips it off at the end of the third night, Ella runs home only to be followed by Char and her missing slipper. When the slipper fits, Char unknowingly orders her to marry him, and Ella breaks the curse by resisting and finally refusing in order to save him. She is then free to marry him and they live happily ever after (of course).
It’s a story we all know, but the charm of this version is the world built around the typical Cinderella story. The obedience gift/curse, the friendship between her and the prince, and the sheer number of fleshed out characters and fantasy creatures. Of all the retellings, this one is worth checking out.
Have you read the book or watched the movie? What did you think?
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