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Mirror Mirror

3.23 of 5 stars 3.23 · rating details · 19,447 ratings · 1,168 reviews

The world was called Montefiore, as far as she knew, and from her aerie on every side all the world descended.

The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. There she spends her days cosseted by Primavera Vecchia, the earthy cook,

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Paperback, 280 pages

Published October 1st 2004 by Regan Books (first published October 14th 2003)

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Sep 09, 2007 Krissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Okay, well. Shana and I were at the Used Book Sale at St. Agnes yesterday and she chided me for buying this when I said I'd probably dislike it.

I said I would because I'm not sure anything Maguire does will compare with the freshness, the intrigue and the delight I found in Wicked. Or the quiet painterly tension in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which I liked almost as much.

The gimmick, of course, is getting old. In Mirror, he takes Snow White into the viper's nest of the Borgia family in 1...more

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Mar 26, 2007 Amanda rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: ?

This is by far the least appealing and satisfying of the Maguire fairy tales I've read. I'm not really sure where to begin! I was all set to devour this retelling of Snow White, set within a beautiful Italian landscape and with the wicked "stepmother" cast as an untraditional outcast of royalty. (Maguire does possess a gift for understanding the prevalence of politics these stories imply.) However, the rest was slow going. Unfortunately, I will have to re-read it to give more specific reasons fo...more

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May 05, 2008 Erin rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes roman history

Erin Gort
Ms. Houseman
H World Lit
5 May 2008

Gregory Maguire
Mirror Mirror
New York: Harper Collins, 2004
280 pp. $16.00
978-0-06-098865-4

The novel “Mirror Mirror” was an immense letdown after reading “Wicked” and “Son of a Witch.” Gregory Maguire is noted for recreating or retelling previously created tales of fantasy. “Mirror Mirror” is the reinvented story of Snow White. Placed in the fantasy tale are Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, the famous children of Pope. They plan the demise of Bianca De Nevada,...more Erin Gort
Ms. Houseman
H World Lit
5 May 2008

Gregory Maguire
Mirror Mirror
New York: Harper Collins, 2004
280 pp. $16.00
978-0-06-098865-4

The novel “Mirror Mirror” was an immense letdown after reading “Wicked” and “Son of a Witch.” Gregory Maguire is noted for recreating or retelling previously created tales of fantasy. “Mirror Mirror” is the reinvented story of Snow White. Placed in the fantasy tale are Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, the famous children of Pope. They plan the demise of Bianca De Nevada, the innocent and pure Snow White. The novel has difficult Italian vocabulary and requires history of Rome and the Borgia family. Maguire constantly changes the scene and character throughout the novel, leaving characters dull and undeveloped. These flaws in the writing cause the reader to be left bored and confused.
The requisite fairytale ingredients are present - magic mirror, dwarves, beautiful girl, evil authority figure, and random unicorn. But even with these, one is left disappointed by the fact that Maguire seems to devote more attention to the context and history of the story than to the story itself. Maguire clearly did a great amount of research for this book, and that should be applauded. Even so, the book left the reader longing for more fantasy and less history. Maguire interspersed his text with a great deal of Italian words and when you add that to his eclectic vocabulary. Stumbling over the pronunciation of half of the words was surely not helping the story flow, but unfortunately, the story already seemed incredibly disjointed and murky. Maguire’s usual love of the complex characters does not appear in this in this story, instead they were just unfathomable and flat. Many of the characters had great history behind them, but not enough detail and intrigue to enchant the novel.
The most one-dimensional character is the main character Bianca. She never is fully developed as an intriguing character because she spends most of the book asleep or suspended in time. As a symbol of innocence and purity, though, she is the center of the novel around which everything else revolves. She is forbidden to live her home on the farm. When talking with Cesare Borgia they discuss her view of the world outside of her view. She says, "I seldom leave the farm -- only once or twice to the village at the ford of the river a few miles on, and then only with my father. Years ago. This is world enough for me, up here. I play with the birds. I climb the apple trees. I used to try to make friends with the servant girls, but since my father left, they have gone away too. Primavera feeds me, and when he remembers, Fra Ludovico sees that I keep to my devotions. I've learned a few letters and I can write my name, some modest sentences. I can swim; the gooseboy taught me how. I milk the cows when the farmer is too drunk to come up the hill to do it. I collect the eggs and help pull beans from their runners and tomatoes from their vines. I help Primavera move the potted lemon trees into the limonaia for the winter. In the summer I pick oleander, lavender bells, and fennel for the shrine in the chapel wall. I watch the moon in its swelling and subsiding" (Maguire 86). Bianca is a dull and uninteresting character with nothing to intrigue the reader or leave them wanting more. She falls flat of Snow White, whose classic story at least kept the girl mysterious and captivating to the reader. What's the point in retelling a fairy tale if the retelling is as one-dimensional as the original story?
Gregory Maguire does not live up to the praise and glory of “Wicked.” He left the reader utterly confused and bored. He simply goes too far into the background history and context of the characters that he deprives “Mirror Mirror” of a stimulating storyline for the reader. By using Italian terminology and foreign history Maguire damages his hopes of having another bestseller. He leaves the characters without a life that attention-grabbing and unique, boring the reader and leaving the book unsatisfying.
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Jan 11, 2008 Xaka rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm a little surprised to see so many dismal/mediocre reviews of this story here. I found myself to be just as fixated by this story as I was by Wicked (I can't say that about another of his popular novels, The Ugly Stepsister).

I appreciated the position Gregory took in this re-telling of Snow White. I found the inclusion of an actual historical family (the Borgias) intriguing, although I'm not going to research them. I absolutely adored his description of the "dwarves" and I think that's where...more

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Jan 01, 2009 Bette rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

I thought that this was a very disappointing book. After reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which I loved, and Wicked, which I liked, I expected Mirror, Mirror to be a fun read at the very least. It was not. I love the idea of playing with fairy tales; but in my view, Maguire did not succeed in transforming Snow White into a compelling contemporary re-telling.

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Aug 05, 2012 Lynda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read Gregory Maguire’s Wicked and absolutely loved it. I adore the idea of taking a common story and putting a twist on it. I was excited about this new book, so I reserved it at the library before it had even been published.

I was sorely disappointed and that is being kind. I felt like I missed something important in the story telling process that would explain what was happening. The basic plot of the story is easy enough to follow.

Bianca de Nevada’s name literally translates into White from...more

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May 08, 2008 Courtney rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Italian history freaks, people that enjoy nails on chalkboards

This book would have entertained me better if it had been on fire.
I rarely ever put a book down before I have finished it, no matter how bad it is... but I not only put this book down, I gave it away. The cafe I was reading it at had a collection bin of books to send to the needy in Africa. After forcing myself to read it for several days, I walked right over and tossed it in. Sorry to whoever receives the book, perhaps it will be better than reading nothing, though I doubt it.

Overall the book...more

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Feb 24, 2008 Danny rated it 2 of 5 stars

Yikes... I read this aloud with my boyfriend after piling on compliments about how much I love McGuire's other novels. A few bedtimes and two long plane rides later and we both hated this book...

Part of the problem was in the fact that I did make this a read aloud. McGuire interspersed his text with a lot of Italian words and when you add that to his sometimes eclectic vocabulary, I was tripping over sentences left and right. Stumbling over the pronunciation of half of the words was surely not h...more

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Apr 15, 2008 Britta rated it 4 of 5 stars

"The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say."

"What child does not feel itself perched at the center of creation?... Small children know the truth that their own existense has caused the world to bloom into being."

"Speaking uses us up, speeds us up. Without prayer, that act of confession for merely existing, one might live forever and not know it."

"Faith is a floor. If you don't work at making it for yourself, you have nothing to walk on."

"Silence can be tactical. Even God us...more "The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say."

"What child does not feel itself perched at the center of creation?... Small children know the truth that their own existense has caused the world to bloom into being."

"Speaking uses us up, speeds us up. Without prayer, that act of confession for merely existing, one might live forever and not know it."

"Faith is a floor. If you don't work at making it for yourself, you have nothing to walk on."

"Silence can be tactical. Even God used silence as a strategy."

"The way a man slakes his thirst and a woman slakes her thirst are not identical, for they thirst for different things."

"She sat amidst us, more or less naked as a human baby, looking, but it was we older brothers - older than trees, older than wind, older than choice - who were born in her presence."

"[He] put his mouth to hers and apologized."

"Out of our need we patronize our artists, we flirt with our poets, we petition our architects: give us your lusty colorful world. Signal to us a state of being more richly steeped in purpose and satisfaction than our own.

Thanks to our artists, we pretend well, living under canopies of painted clouds and painted gods, in halls of marble floors across which the sung masses paint hope in deep impasti of echo. We make of the hollow world a fuller, messier, prettier place, but all our inventions can't create the one thing we require: to deserve any fond attention we might accidentally receive, to receive any fond attention we don't in the course of things deserve. We are never enough to ourselves because we can never be enough to another. Any one of us walks into any room and reminds its occupant that we are not the one they most want to see. We are never the one. We are never enough."

"...puzzled curiosity. A raging patience. An articulate simplicity. A womanliness. Or perhaps it was that she seemed like one who didn't worry about what it meant never to be enough. The absence of such a care on her brow filled her with an unearthly beauty that I could neither achieve nor abide."(less)

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Jan 12, 2009 Lindsey rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really hated this book. It was like Snow White on acid. Very fragmented and choppy. Even the book cover was creepy. I love retold fairy tales, but I thought this one was a bit of a stretch, and just...weird. I couldn't tell where it was try to go; was it a horror story, a murder mystery, a complete mistake? All in all, it was trying too hard to be too edgy, in my humble opinion. Mirror Mirror didn't recapture the magic that all of Maguire's other novels held. I was really disappointed.

In fact...more

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Mar 18, 2009 Marianne Ruggiero rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. I find Gregory Maguire's style of writing and use of language different, very compelling. It reminded me of "Wicked," in that the beginning was kind of difficult due to the unusual type of narration. When I got used to that, I got gradually drawn into the tale and couldn't put it down. I loved the inclusion of short poems at the beginning of each chapter, some had the feel of ancient chants. And the woodcut illustrations are lovely, they really complement the text. For a tale...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Al rated it 3 of 5 stars

The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore.

In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on

...more

The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore.

In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia.

She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest salvation can be found as well ...

A lyrical work of stunning creative vision, Mirror Mirror gives fresh life to the classic story of Snow White -- and has a truth and beauty all its own.

From Publishers Weekly

Maguire has a lock on clever, elaborate retellings of fairy tales, turning them inside out and couching them in tongue-in-cheek baroque prose. After his revisionist takes on Oz's Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked) and Cinderella's ugly stepsisters (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), he now tackles Snow White. The notorious Borgia habit of poisoning rivals inspired him to transplant the classic tale to 16th-century Tuscany, where Vicente de Nevada is an expatriate Spanish widower who lives with his daughter, the fair Bianca. Beholden to sinister Cesare Borgia and Cesare's sister (and perhaps lover) Lucrezia, Vicente is sent on what appears to be a fool's errand, to discover and steal from a Middle East monastery a branch of the Tree of Knowledge complete with three apples. When Bianca is 11, Cesare's attraction to her causes the envious Lucrezia to order a young hunter to murder her and deliver her heart in a casket. Bianca, of course, is spared and taken in by seven dwarfs. But this is not Disney; the dwarfs are boulders, stirred to life by Bianca's arrival ("a clothed, bearded obstinacy became slowly apparent"). Several years pass in surreal, dreamlike fashion, with Bianca tending to the dwarfs, who cavort stiffly and philosophize collectively. When Vicente returns successful, Lucrezia poisons an apple for her rival. Innocent Bianca's fate is gentle, but that of the corrupt Lucrezia, in brilliant Venice, is appropriately grotesque. Fairy tales in their original form are often brutal and disturbing; with his rich, idiosyncratic storytelling, Maguire restores the edge to an oft-told tale and imbues it with a strange, unsettling beauty.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School--A dark and vivid retelling of Snow White transposed to the Italy of the Borgias. Lucrezia is the evil stepmother and five-year-old Bianca de Nevada grows into the role of Snow White. Vicente, a minor landlord beholden to Lucrezia and her brother/lover Cesare, unwillingly leaves his motherless daughter to go on a seemingly futile errand for Cesare. Journeying to Greece to seek out a branch of the holy Tree of Knowledge, Vicente languishes for years in the dungeon of the very monks who possess the relic. While her father is gone, Bianca develops into a lovely young woman, attracting Cesare's attention. Seeing this, Lucrezia orders her killed and sends a young hunter into the woods with the familiar instructions. Adding much historical flavor and returning to the edgy eroticism of the fairy tale, Maguire invests the journeys of the Borgias, Bianca, and Vicente with a compelling urgency. Readers will be intrigued by the new story and yet curious as to how the familiar elements are brought in. Sometimes seven, sometimes eight, the dwarves, slowly awakening to their possibilities, are droll and great fun to listen to. The language has an old-fashioned quality and the point of view shifts frequently, but teens who continue to the end will learn much of medieval Italy and a little of human nature, and have a new respect for the old tale. This is a great addition to the Maguire shelf.--Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Oct 08, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Who is the fairest of them all?

With the recent re-release of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, now was a great time to read Mcguires' take on the Grimm Brothers tale. Mirror Mirror reflects the well known story through the eyes of all characters. Set in Italy in the 1500's, the novel includes historical figures along with the fictional. Machiavelli, De Medici and De Borgia are among the more well known names used through out.

As we all know, the story revolves around a young girl with pa...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Emma rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-tale-retellings, put-downable, own-the-book, stand-alone, non-ya

As far as fairy tale rewrites go, this one is good. The basic story is the same, he doesn’t mess about with the apple or the dwarfs. It is set, as mentioned in the blurb, around the famous Borgia family and if I am honest that is why I bought it. I love that section of history and it doesn’t disappoint. Obviously maguire takes some creative liberties with the history section but if I can deal with it then most people shouldn't be put of by it.

However, it took me a long time to get into this book...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Gloria rated it 5 of 5 stars

At first I was a little surprised by all the negative reviews of this book. I think it's one of his best. In fact, I ended up liking it better than Wicked. The first time I read the book, I didn't really "get it." The second time though, I was floored. It strikes me as a psychological and metaphorical novel. Whereas Wicked and it's sequels are pretty much straight-up exciting storytelling rife with action and politics, Mirror Mirror has extended sections that in first reading are confusing. But...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Gregory Maguire is turning out to be one of my favorite authors. I have already reviewed Wicked! (http://www.treehugger.hu/node/708) and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and just read Mirror, Mirror this weekend. Mirror, Mirror is the retelling of the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but typically Maguire, flipped on its head and told mostly from the perspective of the Witch. In this version, Snow White is called Bianca de Nevada and was born on a farm in Renaissance Tuscany in 1495 am...more Gregory Maguire is turning out to be one of my favorite authors. I have already reviewed Wicked! (http://www.treehugger.hu/node/708) and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and just read Mirror, Mirror this weekend. Mirror, Mirror is the retelling of the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but typically Maguire, flipped on its head and told mostly from the perspective of the Witch. In this version, Snow White is called Bianca de Nevada and was born on a farm in Renaissance Tuscany in 1495 among the Borgias, Machiavelli and Medicis. Arch-manipulator Lucrecia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI portrays the wicked witch. I do not remember the original tale that well except for snippets of the Disney film, the magic apple, the kiss, the Trivial Pursuit question of the dwarfs' names, and the song, "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its Off to Work We Go." Maguire goes much deeper, delving into the origins, motivations and backgrounds of the witch, the dwarfs, the apple and the mirror, as well as filling in information on the essentially bare framework of the story we all think we know. He also investigates such alternatives as what if there had been an 8th dwarf? The origin of the apple is explained, though less believable as the effects are too vague and measured as is the quest - lacking detail but perhaps that is because it could have made a Sinbad-the-Sailor-like novella by itself. The motivations of the dwarfs are less elaborated than I would have liked, especially as to why they helped and continued to help Bianca, and their reasons behind originally fashioning the Mirror. The surprise ending is also too quick and off the cuff. Despite these minor criticisms, it is a very well crafted and captivating book that I could not put down. I am eagerly keeping my eyes out for more of his books, such as Son of a Witch, What the Dickens and A Lion Among Men. There is a new Julia Roberts movie now out by the same name, also a twist on the classic tale, but it is unclear if it is based on or independent of Maguire's book.

By chance, the same weekend I also read John Morressey's "Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall" in Fantasy and Sci-Fi Magazine (August 1988).

http://treehugger.hu/node/985
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May 25, 2012 Bart Breen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mirror Mirror: A Novel

I confess. I've read most of Maguire's works and I am a true fan. He writes somewhat to a formula in these Fairy Tale revisions, but the formula itself is not enough to carry the day. Maguire is a truly talented writer whose abilities are what makes it work.

Compared to his other works I was disappointed, but only slightly. Wicked, and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister are truly brilliant and effective pieces of work which set off Maguire's social commentary to great effect...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Justine rated it 3 of 5 stars

I should by love this book given that it's rife with shit that makes my literary appendage tingle:

1) Snow White, arguably one of the most unfortunate fairy tale ladies and just as arguably one of the most metaphorically grim Grimm stories (sexual awakening? blood red lips, red hair, snow white skin? duel with older, scary witchy woman? encased in glass? bites of poisoned apples? shacking up with a band of creepy dwarves? (okay that one gets a little harder to interpret))
2) Renaissance Italy
3) B...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Pam Logan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received this book in winning a random drawing. It is not a book that I would have bought for myself, but I enjoyed reading it. Gregory Maguire wonderfully interwove the facts of the Borgias of Italy in 1502 with the traditional story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in this story, sometimes eight.

Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, the children of a wicked pope, survive or more likely embrace rumors of incest, poisonings, adultery, conspiracy and murder. Cesare sends Don Vincente on a quest to fi...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Adriane Devries rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-read-novels

Mirrors reflect truth, and truth exists before the reflection reaches the eye at the speed of light. Mirrors, in essence, are fortune tellers, showing us what we are to be. In Gregory Maguire’s Mirror Mirror, characters emerge onto the world stage much as we do: through the formative families we are born into, the trials we battle, the relationships we forge along the way. Through his retelling of the familiar Snow White fairy tale, and in a setting distinctively Renaissance-European, we trace t...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

A dark and vivid retelling of Snow White transposed to the Italy of the Borgias. Lucrezia is the evil stepmother and five-year-old Bianca de Nevada grows into the role of Snow White. Vicente, a minor landlord beholden to Lucrezia and her brother/lover Cesare, unwillingly leaves his motherless daughter to go on a seemingly futile errand for Cesare. Journeying to Greece to seek out a branch of the holy Tree of Knowledge, Vicente languishes for years in the dungeon of the very monks who possess the...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Why I Chose This Book
I had no business reading this book with so many other books ahead of it on the list! But I inherited this milk crate of books that I have been driving around with in the trunk of my car for a week or two, and because the top row was a lot of mystery novels, including a bunch of books in a series of Dutch crime novels (*shudder*), I didn’t really dig through it with much interest. But then there I was on Saturday at some kid’s birthday party in the park, and I was packing up...more Why I Chose This Book
I had no business reading this book with so many other books ahead of it on the list! But I inherited this milk crate of books that I have been driving around with in the trunk of my car for a week or two, and because the top row was a lot of mystery novels, including a bunch of books in a series of Dutch crime novels (*shudder*), I didn’t really dig through it with much interest. But then there I was on Saturday at some kid’s birthday party in the park, and I was packing up the chairs and tables with help, and the guy noticed the crate of books, and I sent him home with Seabiscuit and opened up the second layer. There was some actual fiction in there, and so I brought a few into the house. Sunday ended up being both a busier and a lazier day than anticipated, and the living room was so clean and sunny, and I blew through it basically in a day.

Detailed Review of the Book
Part of the book served as a fictionalized biography of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, with hints at some of the political intrigue that surrounded them. Part of the book was an examination of mythical creatures (dwarfs, unicorns, straight up magic from ancient times), and the power–-I guess-–of perception and how perceptions can affect reality. The other part of the book was a fairly straightforward adaptation of the Snow White story, with the details thrown in that Disney left out (the poisoned comb, the suffocation bodice). The most compelling characters were the house staff: Primavera the cook/nurse and Fra Ludovico, the house priest. Primavera’s grandson, the woodsman Ranuccio, was someone I’d follow to another novel, even. The dwarfs were weird and grotesque and not like any other dwarfs I’ve encountered in literature, and the handful of scenes in which Bianca de Nevada stood up to her Borgia guardians hinted at a girl with some real spark, but there was way too much Lucrezia. Way too much of it. And for a book called “Mirror, Mirror,” the danger/potential/value of the mirror was not nearly emphasized enough. Even when the dwarfs and Lucrezia talked about the mirror, you still didn’t really get what it was all about. If the story was supposed to be about Bianca coming to some awareness after her own bouts of self-reflection, I didn’t really get that she was a stronger or more accomplished person in the end, either. Vincente’s character journey left me cold as well, and no matter how many times the author suggested that the dwarfs were the foundation of the earth, of life, of time, it never went any deeper than the author just saying so. And then again always with the Lucrezia. If you really want to do Lucrezia Borgia and you really want to do magic, I think you should have found a way to make Lucrezia the subject of your story instead of your antagonist. I can imagine a book that is a fantastical biographickish retelling of the Lucrezia tale, or a reimagination of the traditional fairy tale, but they don’t mesh well here.

Of the three of the Maguire novels that I’ve read now, I still like Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister the most.(less)

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May 18, 2011 Our Intrepid Heroine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, adaptations, fantasy, reviewed, fairy-tales

I was in the mood for some fairy tales, and I saw this on the shelf at the library.

I really wanted to like it. Instead, I kept reading because I was sure it was going to get good at some point. The premise sounded interesting, but the plot was convoluted, annoying, and historically meh. There was so much Maguire could have done with this that he passed over, such as the established moral ambiguity of his "dwarfs," which were closer to rock spirits than actual dwarfs.

They started out as interest...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Chinook rated it 2 of 5 stars

He is an author who writes retellings of fairy tales from the perspectives of other characters. I read Wicked a couple of years ago and I remember enjoying it a lot.

In the last month I've read Mirror, Mirror and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Mirror, Mirror didn't interest me as much. I loved the historical setting but didn't love the weird dwarves part. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister I liked a lot more, I think largely because everything is simply placed into a historical context and the...more He is an author who writes retellings of fairy tales from the perspectives of other characters. I read Wicked a couple of years ago and I remember enjoying it a lot.

In the last month I've read Mirror, Mirror and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Mirror, Mirror didn't interest me as much. I loved the historical setting but didn't love the weird dwarves part. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister I liked a lot more, I think largely because everything is simply placed into a historical context and there isn't any weird magic stuff in the storyline. In both, what I liked best about the novels was the history, no surprise as I love historical fiction.

"To consider what other people might say is hardly a good reason to take action or to defer it."

"Approval and disapproval alike satify those who deliver it more than those who receive it."

One of the themes of the story is that Iris has a talent for seeing and it is suggested that she apprentice to a painter, in spite of the fact that it was not a normal thing for a woman to do. Eventually Iris does this. She seems a more content character than the other women, who are all defined by their roles as wives or future wives. Ruth is an exception - she doesn't talk and we read the whole novel until the end not knowing what Ruth thinks of all the events that occur.

In the Epilogue, Ruth says: "What is the use of beauty? ...beauty helps protect the spirit of mankind, swaddle it and succor it, so that we might survive. Beauty is no end in itself, but if it makes our lives less miserable so that we might be more kind -- well, then, let's have beauty, painted on our porcelain, hanging on our walls, ringing through our stories. We are a sorry tribe of beasts. We need all the help we can get."

Beauty is the main theme of the novel. Clara, the Cinderella of the story, is beautiful but is confined within her house. Iris is ugly. The painter has a collection of paintings of "God's Mistakes" and they are contrasted with his painting of the beautiful Clara. Iris and Clara talk about how kindness is a form of beauty.(less)

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Sep 12, 2010 Brett rated it 2 of 5 stars

I tried really hard to love this book but then reached a point where I realised that it just wasn't going to happen. For such a descriptive writer I found myself clinging to shadowy images of characters and images rather than the whole picture which is what Maguire readers are usually used to getting when reading one of his books... It seemed like there was not enough known about the main 'Snow White' character to truly feel for her or even care about what happened to her. I remember liking it a...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Nikki rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, read-in-2009

I like any historical fiction, especially if it has to do with the Borgia’s. While this wasn’t totally centered around them, they were in it, which made me happy. Besides that, the book was still good. The take on the dwarves was very interesting, really entering a magical, fantastical element into something that he could have turned into just a more historical retelling of a Snow White story that sounded more true. Which, actually, I probably would have enjoyed more, but what he did with it was...more

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Feb 20, 2010 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was another book that landed in the pile of "to-read" when I did a sweep of my bookshelf that the beginning of this year. It was more of a "read and decide to keep" or "read and get rid of" kind of cleaning.

Thankfully, my friends at the Mesa Library had an audio copy that I was able to download and listen to. Not sure I would have gotten through this without it. And the audio helped for all of those hard to pronounce Italian and Spanish names that are peppered throughout. This was definite...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Rachael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fantasy-science-fiction, historical

This is a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Bianca's father has been sent away on an impossible mission to find the tree that formed the cross Jesus Christ was nailed to. If he refuses this quest, his daughter will be killed and his land taken away. Bianca, is eventually sent into the woods by the hunter when her guardian tries to kill her. In the wood she discovers an ancient race of rock people who develop into 7 separate beings to take care of
her.
The difference between this book...more

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Jul 22, 2009 Pankhuree rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: genre-fiction

How hard can it be to tell a good story when you are using as your plot, one of the most famous fairy tales of the West? But Maguire does a shoddy job. None of the characters emerge out of their one-dimensionality, dialogue is stilted, all the actions seem contrived and even the places where the author tries to use some of his own inventions (dwarves made of stone coming to life), it falls utterly flat. Maguire knows how to use big words and he's read a couple of biographies about the Borgias....more

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Jul 23, 2012 Trixie rated it 2 of 5 stars

From the title itself, it can be easily be presumed that this novel is inclined to the famous Snow White fairy tale story. Published in 2004, currently, Mirror, Mirror is now well known as a film, but very much not adapted from this novel.

After reading this, I asked myself "Did i like it or not?"

Knowing that this is from the same author of Wicked I thought I would be much delighted in reading this, but it turned out to be just okay. Maguire's inclusion of the Borgia history was quite interesting...more

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About Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire is an American author, whose novels are revisionist retellings of children's stories (such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Wicked). He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children'...more

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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)

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“The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.” — 147 people liked it

“If you're ever in doubt, throw a pepper in the air. If it fails to come down, you have gone mad, so don't trust in anything.” — 42 people liked it

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