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10th out of 919 books
—
5,212 voters
East
by
Edith Pattou
Rose has always been different.
Since the day she was born, it was clear she had a special fate. Her superstitious mother keeps the unusual circumstances of Rose's birth a secret, hoping to prevent her adventurous daughter from leaving home... but she can't suppress Rose's true nature forever.
So when an enormous white bear shows up one cold autumn evening and asks teenage
...morePaperback, 507 pages
Published
May 1st 2005
by Graphia
(first published September 1st 2003)
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This novel is a retelling of "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" which is probably one of the most underappreciated fairy tales out there. Unfortunately, this retelling doesn't quite do it justice. The author chose to use multiple viewpoints, which felt more like a gimmick and less like the best way to tell the story (especially since I was only really interested in the stories from two of the five narrators). Also, no one ever seems to have given Edith that all important advice to "show and...more
I absolutely loved this book. I've read it so many times and never has it grown old. I love how it shifts views and tells you what other people are doing and how it has many plots that all tie together in the book. I love the White Bear and I love reading what he has to say and the riddles and poems he speaks in. The chapters weren't long so you could just fly through the book with no trouble. I fell inlove with Rose and her personality from the beginning, the first few pages a a little slow, bu...more
(Sighs) I gave up on two books in a row. Ashfall had better be good. (Edit from the future: Holy shit it is AMAZING! Just read that. You don't even need to read this review. It's just one long rant.)
So, yes, I gave up on this book. 200 pages was all I promised my friend, so I read 200 pages, no more. Why you ask? Because EVERYTHING SUCKED.
The plot, first off, was pointless. It moved along incredibly slowly. Normally, I don't mind slow-paced novels, but honestly, only a few real events happened i...more
So, yes, I gave up on this book. 200 pages was all I promised my friend, so I read 200 pages, no more. Why you ask? Because EVERYTHING SUCKED.
The plot, first off, was pointless. It moved along incredibly slowly. Normally, I don't mind slow-paced novels, but honestly, only a few real events happened i...more
For a re-telling this was very good. In many ways, other than just expanding on the original, this version seemed to try to add some realism to the tale. Fortunately it wasn't realism at the cost of magic. There was still plenty of magic. Don't look for anything staggeringly innovative here and the writing isn't perfect, but this is very readable.
The novel delineated an ordinary world from a magical world by making Rose's home life somewhat more mundane as well as keeping from her many of the ma...more
The novel delineated an ordinary world from a magical world by making Rose's home life somewhat more mundane as well as keeping from her many of the ma...more
Jul 12, 2008
Yati
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fairy-tales-myths-retellings,
2008
Multiple first person POVs always throw me off. Always. This wasn't an exception, though I really liked the narrators, so it didn't distract me as much as if could have.
I'm a bit disappointed that the more fantastic aspects of the original folk tale were not included, but if I had never read the original story, I wouldn't have noticed they were missing.
I'm a bit disappointed that the more fantastic aspects of the original folk tale were not included, but if I had never read the original story, I wouldn't have noticed they were missing.
I loved this new and interesting fairy tale. Pattou's style was fresh and easily drew me in.
This book will waste your time. The story is entirely unbelievable and hard to relate to.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I really enjoyed this book. It got a little slow near the middle, but it quickly picked up speed. I think the way Edith Pattou chose to write this book was interesting and I liked that you can read it knowing each persons point of view. The problem I had with the way the story was written is that sometimes you want to see the situation from somebody else's point of view and you can't. This left me with a lot of questions about what the other characters were thinking. I liked Rose a lot. She was...more
What a GREAT young adult fantasy! I loved everything about this book! Although it is almost 500 pages, it is a quick read. (Short chapters, larger print.) The story is based on the Norwegian fairytale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" which I didn't know until I read the author's notes at the end. I liked that even though it was a fantasy, it took place in a real time and place-16th Century Norway. (Read the glossery in the very back for modern names) I loved the mother's superstition, her...more
I guess it is a retelling of the "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" or "The Polar Bear King" fairy tale, which I had never heard of before... to me it is Beauty and the Beast with a twist. It was a good read. The ending seemed to wrap it up a little too quickly for me, and with a little to much "back to reality." After all the action, I wasn't ready for it. I don't know what I would have changed though, so I shouldn't complain! :)
Update: After reading Jessica Day George's "Sun and Moon, Ice and...more
Update: After reading Jessica Day George's "Sun and Moon, Ice and...more
I really loved the original story of "East O' the sun, West O' the moon", and a sucker for any book related to this enchanting story. So when I heard about East, I didn't even think twice before buying that book and started reading it. And totally fell in love with it. Completely different from the original story, but in a way, I liked it much better. Plus, the story is much more adventurous and magical, with a somewhat similar concept. Nonetheless, I loved it! I really am looking forward to rea...more
Dec 30, 2009
Shayla
added it
Recommends it for:
anyone looking for a good read!
Recommended to Shayla by:
best friend
This story is amazing. "East of the sun and west of the moon" has always enchanted me, and I was so excited when I picked up this book knowing that it was a retelling of this beatiful story. I was not dissapointed. I loved the way that Edith Pattou gave each and every character a believable personality. In our world, every "villian" has a story behind it--no one is truly evil--and Pattou was able to portray that very well the way that she switched points of view between the characters, rather th...more
Rose is destined to be a wanderer. Despite her mother's superstition, and denial, Rose was meant to adventure beyond the her homeland. Not only is she different from her her brothers and sisters, Rose is the apple of her father's eye because he know that she is special. Neddy, Rose's oldest brother, feels the same way and watches over Rose fearing that something will happen to her. However, when Rose falls into a pond she is saved by a giant White Bear. Even though Neddy witnessed this, he is pr...more
I saw this book at my local library, and being a fairytale/mythology nerd, I decided to check it out.
'East' is a Cupid & Psyche/Beauty and the Beast retelling with a twist. Set in the far north, the story follows Nymah Rose, and adventurous young girl. When her family falls on hard times, a great white bear comes to the door to make a deal with Rose's family. If Rose comes with him, her family's fortune will change for the better. Against her parent's wishes, Rose agrees to go with the bear...more
'East' is a Cupid & Psyche/Beauty and the Beast retelling with a twist. Set in the far north, the story follows Nymah Rose, and adventurous young girl. When her family falls on hard times, a great white bear comes to the door to make a deal with Rose's family. If Rose comes with him, her family's fortune will change for the better. Against her parent's wishes, Rose agrees to go with the bear...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I... did not like this book. Its not often I say that but, perhaps as an adventure person this book wasn't vibrant enough. Some parts of the book were interesting (Tuki was a phenomenal character), but other parts were boring and confusing. The ending left you with a lot of questions. I really disliked the whole idea of the mother not accepting the child for who she was. And the disregard to this was uninteresting. Ned was an alright character, but many times his inputs were tedious. Rose has to...more
This is one of my all-time favorite books. Just the way Edith Pattou writes it, it's like one of the woven tapestries that the main character, Rose so expertly weaves, so enchanting. I read it first in fourth grade, and it made a profound impression on me... Ever since then I have longed to be able to write that way. It is a retelling of a Norwegian fairytale called East of the Sun and West of the Moon, about a teenage girl whose family is on the brink of starvation and in the midst of heartbrea...more
A quality book is something quite hard to find. When I first picked up the book 'East', by Edith Pattou, I did not know what to expect. My original thought about this book was that it looked very lengthy! Yet, once I got through the first couple of chapters, which lean towards being very boring, I was surprised at how quickly the rest flew by; I read all 494 pages in just two days! The premise of the book is centered on a teenage girl named Rose. We skim through her childhood, learning that she...more
I first discovered this book about six years ago. I had run across it in my local library, opened the cover and began to read. It reminded me of one of my childhood pleasures of the movie "The Polar Bear King." I picked it up, checked it out and headed home. From the moment I started reading the book I was hooked. I had it for three weeks, and I read it at least four times.
The characters come alive before yours, there is intrigue, passion, adventure, and self-discovery. Pain, heartbreak, and th...more
The characters come alive before yours, there is intrigue, passion, adventure, and self-discovery. Pain, heartbreak, and th...more
Beauty and the Beast is easily one of the most celebrated and beloved fairy-tales of all time, directly inspiring other fairy-tales in its wake. East of the Sun and West of the Moon is one of these, a Norwegian folk tale directly inspired from the old tale.
East is a new take on an old story. It doesn't really offer anything new to the table and story, but delivers beautifully. Ms. Pattou creates a lovely albeit harsh world that for 500 pages you feel completely immersed in. The language and nar...more
East is a new take on an old story. It doesn't really offer anything new to the table and story, but delivers beautifully. Ms. Pattou creates a lovely albeit harsh world that for 500 pages you feel completely immersed in. The language and nar...more
This bookgroup pick excited me because I finished reading Women Who Dance with the Wolves a few months ago and a story like this was discussed in that book. Hoping that this was a new take on old tales I was excited to see what the author would do. The first 3/4 of the book was great, the last 1/4 disappointing. Not that it ended differently than I would have liked, although it did, but the effort felt half-hearted. Did Pattou get tired of writing the story? Did her editor kill the original vers...more
This is apparently a retelling of a fairy tale, East of the Moon, West of the Sun...but I'd never even heard of that fairy tale, so I can't comment on how much it adheres to the story line of the original tale. However, it's a satisfying fairy tale--a quest, a bit of folklore, and a handsome prince. One thing I particularly enjoy is that the hero of the story is actually a heroine--Rose is the one who follows the quest, rather than being the damsel in distress. One thing I didn't particularly en...more
There was a multitude of things to like about this book and the way the author fleshed out a simple fairy tale. The time and place she set it in, the history and geography and languages she included, the use of mapmaking and seafaring and the symbolism of the directions on a wind rose - it all came together in such an organic, lovely way that I read through most of the book, nearly 500 pages, in a day and seldom felt like I was slogging through it. (It might also have something to do with the sw...more
LOVED IT! I did NOT want to put it down, but at 500 pages, I was forced to occasionally.
East is very loosely based on East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The author has a very thin outline of the original, but she fills in most of the details herself. This is definitely how I prefer my fairy tale re-tellings! I especially love how she portrays the trolls. She added her own little twist on most of the characters.
When I first started reading it, I was very briefly hesitate about liking the writing...more
East is very loosely based on East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The author has a very thin outline of the original, but she fills in most of the details herself. This is definitely how I prefer my fairy tale re-tellings! I especially love how she portrays the trolls. She added her own little twist on most of the characters.
When I first started reading it, I was very briefly hesitate about liking the writing...more
May 05, 2012
Kazia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
any fantasy fan
Recommended to Kazia by:
none
Shelves:
favourites
A very beautifully and uniquely written book that caught my attention immediately from the first page. I enjoyed seeing the story through the eyes of many characters, sometimes even switching back to what was going on with roses family while she was gone. I loved the mystery surrounding the "white bear" as well, with the short vague peices of his thoughts giving you a sense of how lost and lonely he is.
I could never predict or get a sense of where the story was headed for many chapters, with a...more
I could never predict or get a sense of where the story was headed for many chapters, with a...more
East of the Sun, West of the Moon seems to be retold (or sort of revised) on a fairly regular basis, which is unfortunate for me, since my first experience with the story was in an incredibly trashy BuffyxSpike fanfic, where Buffy wakes up every night to realize the lights are out and there’s a silent and unknown vampire in bed with her, and so she’s silently battling him but also becoming silently attracted to him and also not so silently coming to terms with her mother’s death, and eventually...more
Jan 17, 2012
Abby
added it
Before I ever read this book, I wrote a short story retelling of the same Scandinavian fairy tale along the same lines--appropriating the plot but filling in the details. Fairy tales, like a lot of oral traditions, are plot-driven and survive on the basis of being a fantastic story, but they're not so good at explaining things. So I understand the impulse to fill in the gaps, which inspired not only this author but at least two other novel-length retellings of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon....more
Have you ever heard of a talking polar bear? What about the Young Woman who chose to live with him of her own accord? I have, most recently in this book:Eastby Edith Pattou. With 494 pages, this might seem a daunting book to some; however, for me it was a favorite from the start. This story comes in many different packages: the source of this story is an old Norwegian myth that has been interpreted by many authors, I myself have read two other versions of it. This myth sends itself out as a book...more
Inspired by the famous Scandinavian fairy tale East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon, Edith Pattou has created a rich novel which approaches the story in a fantastical yet believable way, including the previously untold perspectives of all main and secondary characters of the famed story. Nyamh Rose has a propensity to wander, much to the chagrin of her superstitious mother. Rose’s mother was once told by a fortuneteller that a child of hers born in the direction of the north was fated to die in...more
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| this is an awsome book | 31 | 115 | Jan 03, 2013 10:12pm |
Edith Pattou is the author of several fantasy novels, including East, an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. She is a graduate of the Francis W. Parker School, Scripps College (B.A., English), Claremont Graduate School (M.A., English) and UCLA (M.L.I.S.). She is married to Charles Emery, a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University. They have one child, a daughter.
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“That's the trouble with loving a wild thing: You're always left watching the door.”
—
66 people liked it
“East of the sun and west of the moon.' As unfathomable as the words were, I realized I must figure them out, reason it through. For I would go to this impossible land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon. From the moment the sleigh had vanished from sight and I could no longer hear the silver bells I knew that I would go after the stranger that had been the white bear to make right the terrible wrong I had done him.... All that mattered was to make things right. And I would do whatever it took, journey to wherever I must, to reach that goal.”
—
43 people liked it
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