Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (largely a comparison with the movie adaptation, I fear)

[meganbmoore]

Ella of Frell is a normal girl who lives in a normal fairy tale kingdom.  There are ogres, fairies, gnomes, dwarves, elves, terrible people just waiting to be evil stepmothers and stepsisters, and, of course a handsome prince, Charmont, who will soon need a bride.  It's also, unfortunately, cursed with Lucinda, a fairy who gives out horrible gifts that ruin lives, but who is also too powerful for anyone to stop.  Lucinda's gift to Ella was obedience.  No matter what the order is, if Ella is directly told to do something, verbally or in writing, no matter how cruelly or kindly it's meant, she has to do it.

I've seen the movie adaptation with Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy.  A few times.  It isn't the world's best movie, but it's solid fun.  Mock me if you will, but I also love the song and  dance numbers.  The movie, however, pretty much rewrites the entire thing as an adventure, with the confident, collected, driven Ella and her extremely modern sensibilities showing the stuffy but kind and chivalrous prince the beauty of equal rights for all.  (Hey, for two hours, my inner thirteen-year-old thinks it's just great.)  In the movie, the curse is shown to be an inconvenience, and a horrible way to live, but all in all, Ella's life isn't that bad.  In comparison, at least.

The book, however, is very, very different.  Ella is the book is awkward and clumsy, and while she's far some ninny with low self-esteem, she grows into the confident and collected girl she starts as in the movie.  In addition, when the two are compared, Ella's curse in the movie is a cakewalk.  Because she can only obey even commands not seriously meant, she's disliked by teachers at school for obeying commands literally, as opposed to the spirit of the words.  When Hattie and Olive, daughters of an acquaintance of Ella's father, learn her secret, they turn Ella into their maid.  In many ways, Hattie's malice is far less horrible than Olive's commanding idea of friendship.  While Hattie  makes demands out of spite and cruelty, she leaves Ella alone unless she's bored or wants something.  Olive, however, is lonely and unliked, and she realizes that a friend she can command is a friend she can do anything with, who can never ignore her or not talk to her and give her what she wants.  Unlike Hattie, there's no malice in Olive's actions, but her selfish nature makes Ella a complete slave to her whims.  When their mother marries Ella's father, they reveal Ella's secret, and Ella literally becomes a scullery maid in her own home.  Very honestly, they made Ella's life so horrible that I kept exclaiming about how I couldn't believe how terrible they made her life to Cali.

Then, of course, there's Ella's romance with Char.  The movie plays off the "spirited girl with forward thinking ideas shows closeminded prince the error of his ways" trope.  I like this trope.  *points to Ever After*  In the book, however, Ella and Char's relationship builds over a long period, including a courtship by letters, growing from friends to more, and it's as she falls in love with Char that Ella finally realizes how truly horrible her curse is, because in her sheltered life of school and home, no real harm can be done to anyone but her.  However, in the larger world outside-especially as the wife of the future king-she could be used to influence and control others, especially her husband.  In the movie, Ella is able to free herself by rejecting an order to kill Char.  In the book, she is ordered to do something she wants to do, but rejects the order because doing so would cause harm to someone she cares about.  By refusing to allow anyone else to to suffer her fate by proxy, she's able to reclaim her own life, a much more impressive feat than conquering the easily identifiable villain.

Anyone have opinions on Levine's other books?  I first noticed her when I saw her new book, Ever, st the bookstore, but considering how cruel (in all the best ways) she was to her main character in Ella Enchanted, I almost fear what she'll do in a romancve between a god and a mortal.

Comments

[oxymoronassoc.livejournal.com]

Levine's Princess Tales which are a bunch of short stories collected together, are retelling of common fairytales and I remember really enjoying them. I love fairy-tale adaptations though, like Robin McKinley and Jane Yolen. I know I owned and read The Two Princesses of Bamarre and I remember liking it, but I can't remember anything that it is about. Then again, I read it when I was 14.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I love fairy tale retellings myself.

[foenix.livejournal.com]

I'm still way too amused at her being from Frell.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Remind me which show that's from? I've seen at least part of it. (Whatever show it is, I'm pretty sure it came AFTER the book.)

[foenix.livejournal.com]

Farscape.

Also, I was watching a Muppet documentary by Jim Henson from the sixties, and he named a kingdom there Frell, too.

[estara.livejournal.com]

I also read her Beauty and I couldn't handle - although completely in plot - what the main character had to go through, so I don't think I'll read any more books by her.

For some reason I can handle what Shannon Hale does to her female protagonists though, and Enna Burning was probably a worse fate (because a more realistic situation than that curse) than Ella's.

Hmm

[estara.livejournal.com]

woops, her version is called Fairest.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah...she seems to be pretty ruthless about what she'll put her characters through.

Din't think I know Shannon Hale, though.

[estara.livejournal.com]

She won a Newbery Honor Medal for Princess Academy which is brilliant Young Adult. She also has three Grimm fairy-tale retellings set in the same fantasy world, and Enna Burning is the second one.
I have yet to buy her Book of Hours (I think) the newest YA she's written.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I keep debating about reading Princess Academy...

[estara.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for some positive girl empowerment in a fantasy set in a version of the European Middle Ages, you'll be glad you did. The characters (especially the heroine) and their situation are set up so well you can suspend your disbelief, and the heroine - although she wins the day - gets to pick and choose what her boon shall be. She decides quite differently from your usual Grimm fairy-tale girl and most of the character growth has nothing to do with any falling-in-love story, but with making friends and finding a niche in your own community: coming-of-age for all the girls concerned.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Well, considering that I recently read and enjoyed sartorias's A Posse of Princesses, which pretty much falls squarely in that genre, perhaps I shall pick it up. XD

[estara.livejournal.com]

From what I grab from the description (thanks for point this out to me), the Princess Academy doesn't have as much outward action: it all takes place at an academy (specially set up for a year only) that is supposed to turn girls from a certain district into potential mates for a prince because of a prophecy.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Cool. :D

A big chunk of Posse takes place in one spot - the castle where all the noble youngsters are gathering in an attempt to marry off the prince. IIRC, it seems that about 1/3 of the story is the rescue attempt and the previous story is setting it up.

[carrielh.livejournal.com]

The movie plays off the "spirited girl with forward thinking ideas shows closeminded prince the error of his ways" trope. I like this trope. *points to Ever After*

I also enjoy this trope! Ever After is one of my favorite movies, and I very much enjoyed Ella Enchanted. The differences from book to movie are interesting. I'll have to give the book a shot.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the movie is kind of what happens when you toss the book and Ever After in a blender and watch them go. Ella Enchanted the book and Ever After are, imo, both better than Ella Enchanted the movie, but I'm still very fond of the movie.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I loved Ever After as well, but I think I was too attached to the book to really enjoy the film. And Parminder Nagra was woefully underused.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

(You mean Ella Enchanted? Though the EE movie is closer in plot to Ever After than it is to the book.)

I definitely need to checkout more of her books.

And yes, Parminder Nagra was underused in the movie.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I mean 'Ever After'. I don't quite love Ella Enchanted the film, but I do love the book. I read it about two-three times when I took it out of the library, then took it out again a few months later.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

The movie was okay, but I looooooved the book for never, ever forgetting to show that Ella HAS to respond to orders. You don't realize how many things are said in the imperative tense until you see her curse in action. I also really admired Ella's strength -- more than in the movie I think, first because it's more impressive in the book, and second because it's a more organic part of her character (a strength that's uniquely hers, and not my-sassy-heroine-is-pasted-on-yay).

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The movie never really conveys the enchantment as truly horrible except for a few things.

The book makes it clear it's terrible right from the start, by having even Mandy give her orders, and having even a "simple game" with the kitchen fairy emphasize her helplessness.

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

I am a huge fan of the book. I've read it many times over the years. A lot of my friends are fans of the book, too. We were excited when the movie was announced, but when we finally saw it, our first reaction when it was over was "WTF?!?" It was basically a completely different story other than the names of the characters and the curse. I was very disappointed and haven't watched it since.

I do enjoy her Princess Tales stories. She does interesting twists on the fairy tales.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The movie was pretty much Ever After's plot with Ella Enchanted's curse, plopped into a standard fairy tale world with modern sensibilities. Fun, but nothing in comparison.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

I also enjoy both versions (especially the song/dance numbers). But I agree the book has a lot more depth to it. I actually just reread this one a few weeks ago & remember being impressed at the time it takes their relationship to grow - kind of kdrama-ish (like Vineyard Man) rather than the almost instant attraction of the movie. And I love the part when she breaks the curse in the book.

This is also one of those rare books that makes me forget it's written in 1st person.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I don't think I even noticed that it was in first person.

That's interesting about the kdrama observation, though. Because what annoys me about a lot of kdramas (and shoujo manga) is that it seems we're meant to go "ZOMG! OTP!" from their first scene, and then the whole series is a sequence of events to keep them apart. Probably why I tend to go for the ones where the couple is solid fairly early on, or the romantic issues go a lot deeper than the normal love triangly stuff.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Hmm, maybe I'm just thinking of certain kdramas. Vineyard Man, Really Really Like You - the main characters actually hate each other at first but after slowly getting to know each other, they belong together.

[fa3ryg1rl.livejournal.com]

I liked her Two Princesses of Bamarre. I liked watching how the main character grew and gained courage. Here is the blurb from Amazon:

After stealing the hearts of middle-grade girls with her delightful Newbery Honor-winning Cinderella retelling, Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine here creates a fairy tale of her own and gives it a characteristic grrrl-power twist. Twelve-year-old Addie admires her older sister Meryl, who aspires to rid the kingdom of Bamarre of gryphons, specters, and ogres. Addie, on the other hand, is fearful even of spiders and depends on Meryl for courage and protection. Waving her sword Bloodbiter, the older girl declaims in the garden from the heroic epic of Drualt to a thrilled audience of Addie, their governess, and the young sorcerer Rhys. But when Meryl falls ill with the dreaded Gray Death, Addie must gather her courage and set off alone on a quest to find the cure and save her beloved sister. Addie takes the seven-league boots and magic spyglass left to her by her mother and the enchanted tablecloth and cloak given to her by Rhys--along with a shy declaration of his love. She prevails in encounters with tricky specters (spiders too) and outwits a wickedly personable dragon in adventures touched with romance and a bittersweet ending. Young fans of princess stories will gobble this one up.