Kontis,
Alethea. Enchanted. Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt Brace 308p $16.99 978-0-547-64570-4 VG Fairy tale
When Sunday kisses an enchanted frog,
he is transformed back into the crown prince.
But Sunday’s family despises the royal family. How can Prince Rumbold
win Sunday’s heart? Enchanted,
at its
center, is a re-telling of the fairy tale The Frog Prince. Sunday, the seventh child of a seventh child,
discovers a talking frog in a woodland spring near her home. She immediately recognizes that the frog is under a spell and that
they are soul mates. She bestows the
spell-breaking kiss, but does not see the transformation of the frog into the
despised crown prince, Rumbold.
Rumbold, from his conversations with Sunday, knows it will be an uphill battle to win her love in his human form. Prior to being be-spelled, Rumbold was a degenerate character. He was also responsible for the death of Sunday’s brother Jack.
Elements from a great number of fairy tales are incorporated into this tale. There are elements of Bluebeard, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, and others. One of Sunday’s sisters, now dead, was the unfortunate recipient of THE red shoes, and danced herself to death. Another sister ran away to become a pirate. Yet another is reminiscent of Cinderella. The names may be days of the week, but the plots are recognizable.
The problem with this novel is that it attempts to fit in too much, which forces the narration to become mundane. When Sunday describes her sisters’ fates -- especially the death of a sister she loved -- she is emotionless. Readers may find it difficult to follow the many threads of Sunday’s extended family’s tales. Kontis admits that the novel is the result of a writing project in which she attempted to fit as many fairy-tale elements as she could into one story.
Readers who wish their lives were more like fairy tales may have second thoughts after reading Enchanted. Not every tale ends with “happily ever after”.
Rumbold, from his conversations with Sunday, knows it will be an uphill battle to win her love in his human form. Prior to being be-spelled, Rumbold was a degenerate character. He was also responsible for the death of Sunday’s brother Jack.
Elements from a great number of fairy tales are incorporated into this tale. There are elements of Bluebeard, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, and others. One of Sunday’s sisters, now dead, was the unfortunate recipient of THE red shoes, and danced herself to death. Another sister ran away to become a pirate. Yet another is reminiscent of Cinderella. The names may be days of the week, but the plots are recognizable.
The problem with this novel is that it attempts to fit in too much, which forces the narration to become mundane. When Sunday describes her sisters’ fates -- especially the death of a sister she loved -- she is emotionless. Readers may find it difficult to follow the many threads of Sunday’s extended family’s tales. Kontis admits that the novel is the result of a writing project in which she attempted to fit as many fairy-tale elements as she could into one story.
Readers who wish their lives were more like fairy tales may have second thoughts after reading Enchanted. Not every tale ends with “happily ever after”.
Fairy tales,
Fantasy – Fiction --
Hilary Welliver
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