Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon

Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon
First published by Three Rivers Press in 2011 (this edition by Headline Review in 2011)




Description (from Goodreads)

While in hiding at a remote convent, a king's daughter sees a magical being dragging a shipwrecked man to the shore. The creature is a mermaid princess - the youngest daughter of the Sea Queen - but she shares more with her human counterpart than her royal blood. By saving a young man's life, both women have sacrificed their hearts. In one moment, the lives of the princesses, mortal and mermaid, are transformed forever.

My thoughts
Mermaid is - as mentioned on the back cover - a re-invention of The Little Mermaid, a fairy tale that was written in 1837 by Hans Christian Andersen, a Dutch poet and author. So essentially, the plot follows the same path that the original story follows, with some additions here and there, which differentiate the story from the original and make it unique (despite the fact that the same story has been told before).


In this re-telling, we get to see the story unfold from the point of view of both princesses - the mermaid and the mortal. Each one gets her own fair share of chapters, so we experience the story as both the mermaid and the mortal princess. We get to understand what motives each one of them has for acting the way she does and that is very interesting to know; especially because of the fact that in the original fairy tale we do not get to hear the voice of the mortal princess.


The story is a sad one, because as it builds up you start to see the inevitability of certain events. For me, it was a little worse, because I've read The Little Mermaid a thousand times (ok, maybe not a thousand, but you know what I mean) and I knew what was going to happen. But Carolyn Turgeon added lots of new elements to the story, elements which I did not expect to be there, and which gave the story a completely different "air" and made me want to keep reading it to find out what exactly was going to happen next.


All in all, Mermaid a really good re-telling of a classic fairy tale and one that is definitely worth reading. Carolyn Turgeon is an excellent storyteller and knows how to make even a well-known story interesting again, by adding just the right details to turn it into a story of her own. I will be looking forward to reading more of her books in the future.


Rating: 8/10


Author:
Carolyn Turgeon is an American author. Other than Mermaid, which is her latest book, she has written another two novels: Rain Village and Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story. Godmother has been optioned for film and Mermaid is being adapted into one as we speak. Carolyn Turgeon has her first middle-grade book, The Last Full Moon, coming out in January 2012.

Godmother   |   Rain Village

You can find out more about Carolyn Turgeon and her books from her WEBSITE (with the amazingly pretty graphics)!




Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

Ash by Malinda Lo

Ash by Malinda Lo
First published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in 2009 (this edition by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in 2010)








Description (from Goodreads)

In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash's capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

My thoughts

Ash is a retelling of the story of Cinderella, with a very very important twist; the main character, instead of falling in love with some sort of prince, falls in love with the King's Huntress. And therein lies the problem, from what I've gathered. Lots of people on Goodreads seemed to have had a problem with 'Cinderella' being in a lesbian relationship. I will admit to thinking it is rather weird, but then again, Ash is a retelling. Which means that Malinda Lo has used a well known fairy tale (and some things that happen in it) as a backdrop in which to set her own story. In my opinion, the point of retellings is telling a well known story in a different way. If you just say the same things with different words, then it's not a different story. In this, the author has succeeded.


I'm not going to go into any details about the story, as we all know what happens to Cinderella in the original fairy tale. Ash follows approximately the same pattern. Ash's mother dies and her father remarries to a woman who already has two daughters. Then her father also dies and Ash is forced to become a servant for her stepmother and stepsisters. And the prince is also looking for a wife (and the stepsisters are vying for his attention). But there are some very important changes. First of all, the addition of the King's Huntress, Kaisa, a character who has a rather elevated position in the King's court. And secondly, the addition of actual fairies and quite a bit of fairy lore in the story.


The actual writing is very fairytale-like. There is a wonderful choice of words and a very atmospheric portrayal of both the world everything happens in, as well as the characters. The characters are well developed (though not extremely so) and the story flows very well. I just kept reading and reading, until, at some point, I realised I had read 100 pages or so. And one of the things that I liked the most (though it is rather superficial) was the play on the name of the main character. Ash is really short for Aisling, but I liked how it kind-of has the same meaning as Cinderella (as in ashes/cinders). That's just the way I saw it.


As for the main characters, Ash is a rather complicated character; she is timid at first, clinging onto everything she knows from her past in an attempt to keep going in her present circumstances, but, as the story progresses, grows into herself. Kaisa seemed a little distant at all times, but I couldn't really connect with her, though she was likeable enough. As for Sidhean (the fairy), he was rather creepy and possessive for the most part, but he really did help Ash when she needed him, which made him ok.


So, all in all, Ash is definitely a story worth reading. It is very enjoyable, very well written and rather different, which is also what makes it unique. And it really shouldn't be thought of as a lesbian Cinderella retelling, because it is much more than that; it is a story in its own right.

Rating: 7/10


Author:
Malinda Lo is a graduate of Harvard and Stanford Universities and is the former managing director of AfterEllen.com, an entertainment news site for lesbian and bisexual women. Ash was her debut novel, published in 2009, but since then, she has also published Huntress, the prequel to Ash.

You can find out more about Malinda Lo and her books on her official website.

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough
First published by HarperCollins in 2008 (this edition by HarperCollins in 2009)


Description (from Goodreads):
Twenty years after Pride and Prejudice closes, the Bennet sisters have another remarkable story to tell.

Mary Bennet, of the atrocious voice and staid bent of mind, has been weighed down with family obligations. Her sisters have made lives of their own: Jane is happily married, Elizabeth finds being a Darcy brings unwelcome social pre-eminence, Lydia's still entranced by soldiers, and Kitty's a star of London's fashionable salons. But Mary has had to wait for her moment to claim her liberty.

Once she is free, Mary resolves to publish a book about the plight of England's poor. Plunging from one pedicament to another, she embarks upon a mission of investigation that eventually leads her into mortal danger. But having tasted independence, Mary resolves to keep it - and she will let nobody, whether family, suitor or enemy, take it away.

Warm, witty, tragic and eminently satisfying, The Independence of Mary Bennet is a novel for every woman who has yearned to make her mark upon the world, from a master story teller. 


My thoughts:
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet - as is obvious from the title - tells the story of the sister who is most reserved in the story of Pride and Prejudice. In this book, set 20 years after the events in P&P, we see a completely different story, where everything seems to be falling apart: Lydia has become a drunk and has been subjected to years of Wickham selling out her body for money; Lizzie is in a cold and distant marriage, as Fitz (that's Darcy) has reverted back to his cold and superior ways; Jane is tired out from having to endure one pregnancy after the other; Mary is stuck living with her mother in some corner of the country, where Darcy has hidden her away so as not to cause any embarrassment. On the other hand, Kitty seems to have made quite a good catch, by marrying a gentleman.


But then, Mrs Bennet dies, leaving Mary a free person. It is assumed that she will either stay with Jane or Lizzie (whose houses are a few miles apart), but Mary takes them all by surprise and decides to make her own way in the world, resolving to publish a book about the poor people of England. Somehow, though, she doesn't manage to get very far in her travels and lands into a bit of a predicament.


Though I really hate the cover of this book, it was the title that drew me to buy and read it. I really loved Pride and Prejudice and Mary was one of the most inconspicuous characters in it, so I was very interested to see what the author came up with to present as her story. At first, I absolutely hated the book. The only reason for that - and I know it's rather shallow - was the fact that Lizzie and Mr. Darcy (Fitz as he is known throughout the book) have not had a happy marriage, despite their lovely courtship in P&P. Talk about disappointing. But as the book progressed it became more interesting. It was obvious that the author made all the circumstances of the other Bennet sisters off-putting, so as for Mary to have an argument against marriage. Mary sets off on her grand journey, despite all warnings against it, and manages to end up having quite an adventure.


Mary's character is portrayed in a lovely way. It shows that she's not the same person she was 20 years ago; that she has grown to realise a bit more about the world. She is a wonderful, compassionate woman, who revels at being free (after nearly 20 years of being confined to care for her mother), and is smart and knowledgeable to boot.


I liked the fact that new characters entered the scene. It wasn't all about the characters we have already met and loved in Pride and Prejudice. My favourite would definitely have to be Charlie, Lizzie and Fitz's son.


Though I did enjoy this book, I can't say that it was one that I just have to keep on my shelves forever. Nearing the end, some of the things happening seemed to be dealt with in a very quick manner, to the point of me actually thinking that it was a rather quick change of heart.


Rating: 6/10


Author:
Colleen McCullough is an Australian author. She intended to study medicine at university, but a severe reaction of her skin to surgical soap led her to abandon her dream of becoming a medical doctor. Instead, she switched to neuroscience and has worked in many hospitals in Australia and England, before getting a teaching job at the Yale Medical School. She currently lives in Sydney.
Her other books include:

The Thorn Birds  |  The First Man In Rome (Masters of Rome #1)

The Ladies of Missalonghi

You can find out more about Colleen McCullough and her books HERE.

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011