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Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella" (Once Upon a Time) |
Author: Cameron Dokey
Published: 2007-03-06 |
List price: $5.99
Our price: $5.99
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As of: January 08th, 2009 01:45:51 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 An Amazing Retelling
Fairy tales have always been my favorite books, and I always jump at the chance to find a good retelling of one. Before Midnight is an AMAZING retelling of Cinderella. It goes above and beyond the original tale. And Cameron Dokey adds her own personal touch to the story, without taking away the special wonder of the original. This is definately a must have.
 Before Midnight
This was an interesting retelling of the classic tale Cinderella by a good storyteller. I thoroughly enjoyed some of the new concepts presented like the magic that was so prevalent that it was commonplace. I liked the way the author started the book, with the knowledge that we are all made up of multiple stories with multiple beginnings narrowing down into one perfect end of a person. The author had a way of writing about her characters that was both detached and loving - a bedtime story for her children to fall asleep to.
There are some main differences from the other major written works of Cinderella and a ton of differences from the Disney Cinderella many children have grown up with. In this book Cinderella is Cendrillon (the French version of the name) but her real name is Constanze after her mother who died at her birth. Her father is a nobleman but is alive for the duration of the book and cuts himself off emotionally from his daughter blaming her for the death of his beloved wife. As he leaves his infant daughter with Old Mathilde who delivered her he also leaves a baby boy. Mathilde gets to name both children and raises them as equals. She names the young boy Raoul.
In this story Cendrillon's father does remarry and sends his unwanted wife to the same stone house where his unacknowledged daughter lives. Through her goodness and kindness Cendrillon is able to get the nobleborn stepmother and her two daughters Amelie and Anastasia to become a real family for her. There are no ugly stepsisters in this story; just ones who have a little more growing up to do. It is a very happy ending for everyone: Amelie ends up with Niccolo (a younger nobleman's son from another country), Anastasia falls in love with Raoul (who turns out to be a prince) and Cendrillon falls instantly in love with the Prince Pascal who is twin brother to Raoul.
It is a lovely story with many good lessons in it. Cendrillon admonishes her father for turning his back on love. Mathilde advises her young charges that nothing is impossible just perhaps not as you would expect it. We learn that things can change in a blink of an eye and that sometimes it may take years of wishing and hoping to get what you want. All in all this is a beautiful bedtime story.
One upon a time with a new twist
I've read several of the "Once Upon A Time" books, and this is my absolute favorite of the bunch. With the writing style reminiscent of Robin McKinely's and Shannon Hale's beautiful tales, "Before Midnight" does an excellent job at hooking the reader with the first sentence.
I won't go into too much detail about the plot - many other reviewer have already done that. But be prepared for a fresh take on a timeless classic. No brothers Grimm here!
The ending, compared to the rest of the book, was a bit rushed, however not enough of a downer to give this five-star read anything less than a perfect review.
 An interesting, albeit dull retelling of the classic fairytale...
After he loses his wife in childbirth, Eitenne de Brabant abandons his home, leaving his newborn daughter behind. But before he leaves his home to serve the king, he brings home a child, a boy, who is raised along with his daughter. The boy is named Raoul and the girl is named Constanze, after her mother, but is nicknamed after the cinders, La Cendrillon. Years later, three women arrive -- her stepmother and two stepsisters. Cendrillon's father hasn't mentioned Cendrillon to the three women, so they are under the mistaken impression that she is a servant. So she endures the treatment of someone beneath them, especially from Anastasia, who appears to have feelings for Raoul. Everyone tells Cendrillon that she should let the women know that she is the real mistress in the home, but will such a revelation endear her to them or make things worse?
Before Midnight has a unique take on the classic fairytale in that it paints a more sympathetic portrait of Chantal, Anastasia and Amelie. What if these women aren't evil? And if they were, what if they had reasons for the way they'd treated Cinderella? More important, who is Cinderella's father and what role did he play in this women's lives? I like that the stepmother and stepsisters are more three-dimensional in this retelling. The romance between Anastasia and Raoul is more interesting than Cinderella's. This retelling is actually well written and quite interesting. Why am I giving it three stars? Because, in spite of the brief 193 pages, the novel has a slow beginning and is kind of boring throughout. I don't know if the reason to this is due to Cinderella's first-person narrative style or simply that I'm too familiar with the fairytale, but reading this felt like a chore at times. However, as said earlier, this version is interesting and some people might enjoy it. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be reading Cameron Dockey's fairytale retellings in the future.
A Charming Tale of Cinderella By the Best Once Upon a Time Author
When his beloved wife dies in childbirth, Etienne de Brabant never again wants to see the baby he blames for killing his wife. He abandons the girl, Constanze (nicknamed Cendrillon) in his remote mansion to be raised by her godmother Old Mathilde. He also drops off a baby boy, Raoul, who is to never leave the de Brabant estate. As Cendrillon and Raoul grow up together, they both make the same wishes on their birthdays year after year: Cendrillon wishes something would grow on her mother's grave and Raoul wishes that he will learn who he really is. One year, however, Cendrillon makes a new, impulsive birthday wish: she wishes for a mother to love her and two sisters, so at least one of them will like her. Since wishes have power in the world of this story, Cendrillon's wish is granted in an unexpected way, when Cendrillon's father marries a beautiful noble lady, Chantal de Saint-Andre. Since Etienne de Brabant seems to care as little for his new wife as he does his own child, he sends her and her two daughters to his isolated estate while he remains at court. Etienne has not even told his wife that he has a daughter of his own and when Chantal and her daughters, Anastasia and Amelie, arrive they, in their ignorance, take Cendrillon to be a servant girl. Cendrillon doesn't know how to correct this assumption and so plays along in the role.
Cameron Dokey is my favourite author in the Once Upon a Time series and although BEFORE MIDNIGHT doesn't quite rank up there with what I consider her best (Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" (Once Upon a Time) and Golden: A Retelling of "Rapunzel" (Once Upon a Time)), it is still quite good. In this book Dokey, as per usual, does a fine job of writing a sweet, charming fairy tale with some interesting twists on the original. In this story, the stepmother and stepsisters are given more depth than usual and aren't like their evil counterparts in most versions of the Cinderella tale: only selfish, bratty Anastasia really fits the "evil stepsister" role, but even she is lashing out more from hurt than from being a genuinely bad person. Furthermore, Dokey gives the reader a Cinderella that is not a doormat, some fun twists on the usual Cinderella motifs of pumpkins and fairy godmothers, and a dash of political intrigue. I would have liked a bit more interaction between Cendrillon and her prince, as their time together was much too short, as well as a better display of Anastasia when she is not being a brat, as proof that she is worthy of the guy who falls in love with her. However, overall this is a great addition to the pretty well-covered Cinderella tale (Ella Enchanted, Ever After - A Cinderella Story, etc) and another fantastic Once Upon a Time book by Cameron Dokey.
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