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Mirror Mirror: A Novel
by Gregory Maguire

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15858.Mirror_Mirror_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Mirror Mirror: A Novel " border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1185433887m/15858.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15858.Mirror_Mirror_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Mirror Mirror: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7025.Gregory_Maguire">Gregory Maguire</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5264486?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>  Incestuous relationships abound in this revision of Snow White by the famed author of "Wicked." Set in Italy in the 1500s, the heroine is Bianca de Nevada, a motherless girl whose father is asked to set off on a quest to find the Tree of Knowledge from the Garden of Eden by none other than the heir to the poison-loving Borgia family,
<br/>  The wicked witch in McGuire's revision is Catherine Borgia who sleeps with her father, her brother and her own son/nephew by the end of the book, as well as countless other men. 
<br/>As with his other two fairytale inspired novels, McGuire focused on the bad guy, trying to soften the lines of Catherine Borgia and lend her a humanity and depth that the original fairytale fails to provide to the evil stepmother. But he never really fleshes out the reasoning for Borgia's hate of Bianca. Beauty seems to be the cause, but it may be more of the fact that men find her more attractive. I was left wondering why he didn't delve further into her mind.
<br/>  McGuire also fails to develop the most interesting theme in this book, one that peppers his others: the fine line between a mythical past and an ever advancing present that tears it away. He's come much closer in this than in his others to exploring that idea of loss of innocence, but again raises more questions than he's willing to give answers to. I was left in a state of confusion as to whether Snow White even understood her state or still possessed the mind of a child after being asleep for more than a decade. I also couldn't figure the purpose of why the dwarves were stone creatures who lived in an ancient burial mound. And what does the apple from the Tree of Knowledge actually give a person? It certainly didn't change the dwarves into humans, or stop them from aging. And it didn't help Borgia survive a bloody childbirth.
<br/>  I finished it disappointed and feeling if he'd but more time into it, "Mirror, Mirror" could have been a masterpiece. But McGuire fell far short of "Confessions of an Evil Stepsister," which I feel is his most complete effort to date.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/70356?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Eileen's review
rating:
recommended for: Do you like Wicked?

Incestuous relationships abound in this revision of Snow White by the famed author of "Wicked." Set in Italy in the 1500s, the heroine is Bianca de Nevada, a motherless girl whose father is asked to set off on a quest to find the Tree of Knowledge from the Garden of Eden by none other than the heir to the poison-loving Borgia family,
The wicked witch in McGuire's revision is Catherine Borgia who sleeps with her father, her brother and her own son/nephew by the end of the book, as well as countless other men.
As with his other two fairytale inspired novels, McGuire focused on the bad guy, trying to soften the lines of Catherine Borgia and lend her a humanity and depth that the original fairytale fails to provide to the evil stepmother. But he never really fleshes out the reasoning for Borgia's hate of Bianca. Beauty seems to be the cause, but it may be more of the fact that men find her more attractive. I was left wondering why he didn't delve further into her mind.
...more Incestuous relationships abound in this revision of Snow White by the famed author of "Wicked." Set in Italy in the 1500s, the heroine is Bianca de Nevada, a motherless girl whose father is asked to set off on a quest to find the Tree of Knowledge from the Garden of Eden by none other than the heir to the poison-loving Borgia family,
The wicked witch in McGuire's revision is Catherine Borgia who sleeps with her father, her brother and her own son/nephew by the end of the book, as well as countless other men.
As with his other two fairytale inspired novels, McGuire focused on the bad guy, trying to soften the lines of Catherine Borgia and lend her a humanity and depth that the original fairytale fails to provide to the evil stepmother. But he never really fleshes out the reasoning for Borgia's hate of Bianca. Beauty seems to be the cause, but it may be more of the fact that men find her more attractive. I was left wondering why he didn't delve further into her mind.
McGuire also fails to develop the most interesting theme in this book, one that peppers his others: the fine line between a mythical past and an ever advancing present that tears it away. He's come much closer in this than in his others to exploring that idea of loss of innocence, but again raises more questions than he's willing to give answers to. I was left in a state of confusion as to whether Snow White even understood her state or still possessed the mind of a child after being asleep for more than a decade. I also couldn't figure the purpose of why the dwarves were stone creatures who lived in an ancient burial mound. And what does the apple from the Tree of Knowledge actually give a person? It certainly didn't change the dwarves into humans, or stop them from aging. And it didn't help Borgia survive a bloody childbirth.
I finished it disappointed and feeling if he'd but more time into it, "Mirror, Mirror" could have been a masterpiece. But McGuire fell far short of "Confessions of an Evil Stepsister," which I feel is his most complete effort to date....less

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