Countless recommendations for Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West drove me to read Mirror, Mirror by the same author. It was a sorely disappointing introduction to MacGuire.
Mirror, Mirror is the story retold of Snow-White, set in Renaissance Italy. Feature historical characters are Cesare Borgia of Machiavellian fame, and Lucrezia de Borgia whose historical references I knew little of, save Emily Starr and Dean Priest of Emily's Quest hung a portrait of her in their home, describing her as a pleasant aunt who would have a sweetmeat for you under her dress.
Mirror, Mirror is instead, a banal little tale weaving together trying to lend a coherence to the fairy tale in most arbitrary fashion. The famed looking glass, a two sided mirror allowing people to viewers to see into each other's worlds, was fashioned by the seven dwarves to study humans. Lusty Lucrezia is no vain stepmother, but a powerful beauty who owns the castle of Snow White's father and conspires to send him on a grail quest for the golden bough, three golden apples finally used to poison Snow White. Finally, Bianca de Nevere "Snow White"'s prince is the hunter Rannuccio who was first commanded to cut out her heart. His abrupt reappearance in the ending does little to justfiy his status as the story's hero.
The story is coupled with a most graphic representation and a-religious discussion of sexual matters. As if such brute realism is a mark of maturity!
Friday, May 26, 2006
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