‘Poisoned’ is the latest book by award winning author Jennifer Donnelly, again a reimaging of a well-known fairy-tale. While in Stepsister we discovered the truth about the ‘ugly sisters’, in Poisoned we see Snow White as she’s never been seen before.
Following the death of her father the king, Princess Sophia has grown up in the shadow of her stepmother, a brave but ruthless queen. Sophie, “with lips as red as blood, skin as pale as snow, and hair as dark as night”, is about to come of age and so inherit the throne. All through her life, Sophie has been told by the Queen and the courtiers, that although she has a good heart, she is too weak and foolish to rule: other kingdoms would take advantage of her kind nature, and invade and take over her lands. Sophie believes her, as she believes all the things that have been said about her; she has been poisoned by cruel words to stop her becoming strong and powerful. When the Queen’s huntsman carries out the Queen’s orders to cut out Sophie’s heart, she is saved by the very thing that she was told would be her downfall.
Once again Jennifer Donnelly has written a book perfect for our times. Girls reading this book will be reassured that it is the right thing to ignore those people who constantly try to undermine them, and follow their own path. Like the sisters in Stepsister, Sophie learns to stop relying on others to tell her what to do. She takes chances and risks as her adventure progresses, and does make some bad decisions along the way, but ultimately she does things her way.
Older readers like myself may get irritated with Sophie initially as she does remain naive for quite a while. There were times I wanted to shout at her not to trust certain people who she seems to rely on to help her, rather than having the courage to trust her own decisions. Even when you think she has learnt her lesson, she still falls foul of others’ deception. Fortunately, most of the time she is a good judge of character and makes some loyal friends along the way, who again serve to illustrate the point that you should follow your own feelings, not trust those who may be seeking to undermine you for their own ends.
There is no doubt that this version of Snow white is more Brothers Grim than Disney. Anyone expecting Sneezy, Dopey et al will be disappointed. There are several descriptions of poverty and many gruesome deaths throughout the book, along with some quite upsetting tales of loss and grief. However, these are intertwined with an exciting fast paced plot, many engaging characters, as well as some devilishly evil ones, and an uplifting ending which asserts the importance of being true to yourself and facing up to your fears.
I look forward to reading Jennifer Donnelly's next venture into the fairy tale world.
Following the death of her father the king, Princess Sophia has grown up in the shadow of her stepmother, a brave but ruthless queen. Sophie, “with lips as red as blood, skin as pale as snow, and hair as dark as night”, is about to come of age and so inherit the throne. All through her life, Sophie has been told by the Queen and the courtiers, that although she has a good heart, she is too weak and foolish to rule: other kingdoms would take advantage of her kind nature, and invade and take over her lands. Sophie believes her, as she believes all the things that have been said about her; she has been poisoned by cruel words to stop her becoming strong and powerful. When the Queen’s huntsman carries out the Queen’s orders to cut out Sophie’s heart, she is saved by the very thing that she was told would be her downfall.
Once again Jennifer Donnelly has written a book perfect for our times. Girls reading this book will be reassured that it is the right thing to ignore those people who constantly try to undermine them, and follow their own path. Like the sisters in Stepsister, Sophie learns to stop relying on others to tell her what to do. She takes chances and risks as her adventure progresses, and does make some bad decisions along the way, but ultimately she does things her way.
Older readers like myself may get irritated with Sophie initially as she does remain naive for quite a while. There were times I wanted to shout at her not to trust certain people who she seems to rely on to help her, rather than having the courage to trust her own decisions. Even when you think she has learnt her lesson, she still falls foul of others’ deception. Fortunately, most of the time she is a good judge of character and makes some loyal friends along the way, who again serve to illustrate the point that you should follow your own feelings, not trust those who may be seeking to undermine you for their own ends.
There is no doubt that this version of Snow white is more Brothers Grim than Disney. Anyone expecting Sneezy, Dopey et al will be disappointed. There are several descriptions of poverty and many gruesome deaths throughout the book, along with some quite upsetting tales of loss and grief. However, these are intertwined with an exciting fast paced plot, many engaging characters, as well as some devilishly evil ones, and an uplifting ending which asserts the importance of being true to yourself and facing up to your fears.
I look forward to reading Jennifer Donnelly's next venture into the fairy tale world.