Rating: 2/5
Review:
Trying a bit too hard
Kate DiCamillo has obviously written good books (you don't win a Newberry Medal for nothing) but I'm afraid this book didn't really work for me. It is an attempt to create a modern fairy story, and it does have its merits including some quite touching moments, but I found the book a struggle to get through and ultimately rather depressing and unrewarding.
On the dustjacket, DiCamillo is quoted as saying "I wanted, I needed, I *yearned* to tell a story of love and magic," and I think that has possibly led her to try a bit too hard. She has created a mythical city which seems to be somewhere in central Europe in the late 19th Century. It is cold and dark there and it is peopled by odd characters with a strange mishmash of names. The prose tries to be poetic and of the period but ends up just feeling rather affected with some very jarring slips out of style ("Quit moving your lips," for example). It read to me like a not-very-good pastiche of a Victorian translation of a Grimm Fairy Tale. The illustrations are dark and gloomy, and I remember finding books like this quite disturbing when I was small.
Please be aware that others have found this book charming and uplifting. You should read their reviews before being put off by mine - these things are often a matter of personal taste after all - but I'm afraid I didn't enjoy it and shan't be reading it again myself, nor to any young people.
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