BRIAR ROSE
3 journalers for this copy...
First edition: September 1992. First mass market edition: November 1993. Introduction: Terri Windling (1992). Tor Books (Tom Doherty Associates), New York 1993. Paperback, 224 pages.
Jacket art and design: Thomas Canty (1992).
Becca grew up listening to the stories her grandmother, Gemma, used to tell her and her sisters. Most of all she loved Briar Rose, the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty. It was the story Gemma told best, and her version was different than the ones told by other people. But for some reason Gemma always claimed she was Briar Rose, the princess in the castle, the one kissed by the prince. On her deathbed Gemma asks Becca to promise she’ll find the castle, the prince, and the maker of the spells. Becca promises and starts her quest to find Gemma’s past and her own roots.
In Briar Rose the fairytale acts as a metaphor for the holocaust, and the concept is quite interesting. But Becca’s quest, too, is kind of a fairytale; everything seems to go with a swing. It bugged me a bit; being journalist Becca should be able to do some research work but she gets all the info so easily. I’m not saying that Briar Rose should be a guide book but still... To find out everything so easily — and to do it before Internet — is just so impossible that it makes this book related to soap operas. It makes the (Holocaust) story too superficial.
However, I must admit I don’t belong to the target group; Briar Rose is obviously written for young American adults or teens, and they probably are much more ignorant about WWII than Europeans.
Briar Rose is quite nicely written, anyway. I just think it could be much better.
I’d like to read some other books in The Fairy Tale Series, too. They seem to be quite interesting.
I don’t think I would have read this book or even known about it without TBR-vuoren louhintahaaste (Mt. TBR Mining Challenge) on the Finnish forum. One of the winners is Lukutoukka, and Briar Rose happens to on her wishlist. Not for long, though. ;) Thank you, Lukutoukka, for this reading experience! I hope you’ll enjoy the book.
Jane Yolen
Jacket art and design: Thomas Canty (1992).
Becca grew up listening to the stories her grandmother, Gemma, used to tell her and her sisters. Most of all she loved Briar Rose, the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty. It was the story Gemma told best, and her version was different than the ones told by other people. But for some reason Gemma always claimed she was Briar Rose, the princess in the castle, the one kissed by the prince. On her deathbed Gemma asks Becca to promise she’ll find the castle, the prince, and the maker of the spells. Becca promises and starts her quest to find Gemma’s past and her own roots.
In Briar Rose the fairytale acts as a metaphor for the holocaust, and the concept is quite interesting. But Becca’s quest, too, is kind of a fairytale; everything seems to go with a swing. It bugged me a bit; being journalist Becca should be able to do some research work but she gets all the info so easily. I’m not saying that Briar Rose should be a guide book but still... To find out everything so easily — and to do it before Internet — is just so impossible that it makes this book related to soap operas. It makes the (Holocaust) story too superficial.
However, I must admit I don’t belong to the target group; Briar Rose is obviously written for young American adults or teens, and they probably are much more ignorant about WWII than Europeans.
Briar Rose is quite nicely written, anyway. I just think it could be much better.
I’d like to read some other books in The Fairy Tale Series, too. They seem to be quite interesting.
I don’t think I would have read this book or even known about it without TBR-vuoren louhintahaaste (Mt. TBR Mining Challenge) on the Finnish forum. One of the winners is Lukutoukka, and Briar Rose happens to on her wishlist. Not for long, though. ;) Thank you, Lukutoukka, for this reading experience! I hope you’ll enjoy the book.
Jane Yolen
I have wanted to read this for a long time! Thank you so much, Tarna! :)
I really liked this book. The main character Rebecca really wants to find out the truth about her grandmother's past. She knows very little about her grandmother, though they loved each other dearly. One thing Rebecca knows for sure is that the grandmother was very interested in the fairy tale about Briar Rose, or Sleeping Beauty.
I swore I wouldn't take any books with me, but this one is on my wish list, and here I go. Thanks, people!
I've read Briar Rose now, and I feel I must agree with just about everything Tarna has already written. The story has great potential, and is gripping at first. The parallelisms of Sleeping Beauty and Gemma's holocaust experiences are not obvious at first, but when established, they prove to be very pertinent indeed. I also like the whole underlying idea of Gemma telling the kids about the atrocities she suffered, in the form of a fairy tale, over and over again. As pointed out in the foreword, that's exactly what fairy tales are for: to acquaint us with the dark side of human nature.
As Nancy's quest forms and gets under way, I also started to get bugged by Nancy's own story. It really seems the gets all the essential facts a bit too fast, and yet is a bit too slow in arriving at the obvious conclusions. What's more, I didn't see why Nancy had to have Stan egging her on, telling her which clues to pursue next. She was portrayed as a grown woman and a journalist: couldn't she have managed without a man to guide her through the first difficulties? The whole romance plot with Stan seems totally superfluous, anyway, and the book had been much better without.
I started to get really tired, when Nancy arrived in Poland to continue her quest there. It felt like the author had done her field research almost a bit too thoroughly, making that part of the novel read like a guide book indeed. However, I regained my interest as soon as Josef came along and got started with his own story. Josef's tale underlines the fact that Jews were not the only ones persecuted by the Nazies, which is a good thing to remember. Towards the end of the book, I felt like the story had me in its grip once more.
All in all, Briar Rose was an OK read, but there was potential for a lot more, now left unfulfilled. Perhaps I'm not in the targeted audience group, either. Or perhaps everything just doesn't need to be spelled out that clearly, not even for YA readers. Be that as it may, I'm happy I had the chance to read this book! I'm also on the lookout for more modernized versions of fairy tales. I find it a fascinating genre.
Thanks, Tarna and Lukutoukka! This book will now continue its journey in Scotland.
As Nancy's quest forms and gets under way, I also started to get bugged by Nancy's own story. It really seems the gets all the essential facts a bit too fast, and yet is a bit too slow in arriving at the obvious conclusions. What's more, I didn't see why Nancy had to have Stan egging her on, telling her which clues to pursue next. She was portrayed as a grown woman and a journalist: couldn't she have managed without a man to guide her through the first difficulties? The whole romance plot with Stan seems totally superfluous, anyway, and the book had been much better without.
I started to get really tired, when Nancy arrived in Poland to continue her quest there. It felt like the author had done her field research almost a bit too thoroughly, making that part of the novel read like a guide book indeed. However, I regained my interest as soon as Josef came along and got started with his own story. Josef's tale underlines the fact that Jews were not the only ones persecuted by the Nazies, which is a good thing to remember. Towards the end of the book, I felt like the story had me in its grip once more.
All in all, Briar Rose was an OK read, but there was potential for a lot more, now left unfulfilled. Perhaps I'm not in the targeted audience group, either. Or perhaps everything just doesn't need to be spelled out that clearly, not even for YA readers. Be that as it may, I'm happy I had the chance to read this book! I'm also on the lookout for more modernized versions of fairy tales. I find it a fascinating genre.
Thanks, Tarna and Lukutoukka! This book will now continue its journey in Scotland.
I gave this book to a fellow Finn and an almost-neighbour!
