I don't hate myself enough to continue to read this book. Going to find something else to fit the "A Grimm Tale" square. I just don't have the patience for the singing or Aza and others talking about how ugly she is every freaking five seconds. My biggest issue is that Aza's not interesting enough to read as a re-imagining of "Snow White." She's mean at times to her sister and family cause she's not beautiful, though it makes no sense why she's not besides the fact she doesn't look like others around her. She apparently has a fantastic singing voice she can throw and bah. I just don't care.

Aza is a foundling in the kingdom of Ayortha. Apparently being beautiful and being able to sing are the only things people care about. Aza is tall, has dark hair, pale skin, and red lips and is therefore ugly (I am playing the world's smallest violin). Her family hides her away in the tavern (not really, she acts like a fool if anyone sees her and most people don't seem to care and or know her) until a Duchess needs Aza to accompany her to the royal wedding. So even though Aza is so ugly that she can make death die, she is still invited as companion (this made zero sense to me and I don't care enough to fixate on it). Aza goes to court and of course the new Queen has zeroed in on her.

The writing is repetitive, and I loathed all the songs. Maybe I hate happiness? Who knows. I think the main thing is that there is barely any character development to Aza and zero to everyone else. I just didn't have the energy to completely finish a book I knew I was going to be lukewarm about. 

Meh. There were some nice changes from the standard Snow White, and I  quite liked that she wasn't beautiful at all, but downright ugly. But it will never be my favorite. Weirdly, whereas the musical aspect of Seraphina really engaged me, the constant singing just kind of annoyed me, and that is huge.

It's written for a middle grade audience, there's no sex, or drugs, or actual  murder, and the resolution is elegant. But it felt watered-down to me, way more so than the Disney version. It's first person, so there's no worry for the reader, but it goes beyond that: there is reference to revolution but I didn't believe it. The stakes felt really minor. Or maybe I'm bothered that the heroine only twice showed any initiative. She never made decisions she just did whatever she was told. At least Snow White comes up with the housekeeper idea, even if it is a stereotype.

Or it could just be that I've been tired and cranky all day despite the lovely rain.

Library copy 

  Starting tonight. I may have read this within the last twenty years, but I don't have it recorded, so maybe not. Maybe I planned to read it aloud and didn't get to it. I haven't read any Carson Levine in a while, but I remember her fairy tale retellings fondly.

I really enjoy reading this book. It is magical and silly and also touching. It's definitely a unique take on Cinderella.

(There are a couple of movie spoilers in this next paragraph. The last one's safe, though.)

Regarding the movie, I can definitely understand the disappointment of fans who saw it, expecting it to be similar to the book. However, I really like the movie as well. I actually think I like both stories equally. I mean, it's annoying that they just took the names from the book and changed everything else, but the moments when Ella is forced to end her friendship with Areida and when she breaks the curse are just so powerful... Maybe Anne Hathaway is the savior of the movie for me. Anyway, I just think the book and the movie have the same feel to them even though the plot lines are so different. I choose to think of them as two stories only related by their Cinderella inspiration.

I do feel like in both the movie and the book, I could often find ways around her orders... Or there were instances where she was forced to do ridiculous things because of the wording of the order, whereas "Let me see it." forced Ella to literally give the object to the speaker. The inconsistencies bothered me a bit.

That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not itend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift. when I cried inconsolably through my first hour of life, my tears were her inspiration. Shaking her head sympathetically at Mother, the fairy touched my nose. "My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop crying, child."

I stopped.

- First sentence, Ella Enchanted

Ella has to obey. She can ignore a request, but an order, she has to obey. This made her into a rebel, or maybe increased her naturally rebellious behavior. Ella is constantly in danger, and she cannot tell anyone about the curse. She spends her time trying to find the fairy that cursed her and trying to figure out how to get her to remove the curse.

This is a variation on the Cinderella story we all know. I didn't realize how much before I started reading. When Ella goes to the ball, she goes in a pumpkin coach with magical coachmen that all revert to normal at midnight. 

I read this book as part of my graduate school project on strong female protagonists. Ella is for sure a strong person. She does everything she can to postpone her obedience. She knows she has to do what people say, but she doesn't have to do it in the way they expect. She tries to find ways to delay it as long as she can, even though it pains her to do so.

Recommended to:

Readers in grades 3-5 who like fairy tale princess stories.