Friday, February 9, 2007
Briar Rose (ch. 11-24)
I finished Briar Rose and because I am supposed to be commenting on the middle part of the novel, I’ll be sure not to spoil the ending for those of you who have not made it there yet. Initially, I had trouble getting interested in the novel. The way the chapters are broken down, with the fairy tale retelling, and then the current day happenings, required me to pay close attention and, at some points I had to go back to see where the fairy tale had left off. The fairy tale retelling became repetitious and that started to bother me when I had to read the same thing again and again. Once Becca arrives in Poland, my interest was finally piqued and I felt like something intriguing might actually happen. Being as though Becca is the youngest of the women and still lives at home with her parents, I didn’t view her as the independent type, apt to travel to a foreign country alone with so very little facts about what she is actually looking for. Also, the people that Becca and Magda meet through their travels seem all too predictable and unrealistic. There are many people in Poland and the likelihood that these women are going to encounter the ones with the answers they are looking for is extremely slim, especially considering the amount of factual information they began their trip with. This book may have been intended for a younger audience, but I think that practicality is highly important to any story. Gemma’s story may have been a fairy tale, but is Becca’s search for answers a fairy tale also? So far, things have been working out all too easily in Becca’s favor and the remainder of the book continues along the same path. I will say that from chapter 25 on, Josef Potoki had my full attention.
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3 comments:
I would have to agree that the novel started out relatively slow. I did like the differences between the past and present but more so because I got to see the relationship between Gemma and Becca. However, I would have to disagree on the point that Gemma had a fairy tale life. No, it was horrible that happened to turn out better than most. It is important to note that the holocaust is never forgotten in the minds of those who went through it. I also ask the question, Why can't Becca have her fairy tale? It happens in life. Also, it would see to me that if you are a reporter and know the right places to go, then you would find the right people. However, Potocki did seem to just fall into their laps. Either way it is a compelling story once Becca gets to poland. An interesting, yet emotional story for me considering my family was in the war in concentration camps as well...
I just wanted to clarify that I didn't mean Gemma's life story was a fairy tale, by all means it was not. I was referring to the story she told the girls, which they considered to be a fairy tale.
I too believe that the book did start out fairly slow and did not catch the audience right away. I believe Jane Yolen produced a more modern look at the legendary tale of "Sleeping Beauty." I think the audience was more intended for modern readers than that of a child. This story has much more depth than what I thought it was going to have. I went into reading this thinking it was just going to be another generic retelling of a contaminated story. I do agree though that much of Becca's journey is unrealistic in that much of what she is searching for is presented to her so easily and suddenly. I really enjoyed that the book was based on the retellings of Gemma to her beloved grand childer. Thank you for not talking about the ending, I am just about wrapping it up!
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