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mary_j_59"And then I'll be married. Married! At fourteen, in the very flower of mine age! O, I know that many women my age are already married and mothers to boot, but it simply won't do for me." Goose Chase, page 6.
This may have been the first time I laughed out loud when reading this book. It wasn't the last.
Patrice Kindl's Goose Chase is an utter joy and delight. At least, if you like brave and clever heroines who, in spite of their cleverness, aren't perfect judges of other people or of what's going on around them (well, have you met a 14-year-old who was such a paragon of judgment? I sincerely hope not!) Then there are the sly allusions to all sorts of literature - as I say, the Shakespeare quotations make me howl with laughter, but I'm sure I'm not picking up on everything. Then there is the zany plot, in which a poor, virtuous girl gets cursed (blessed, most people would say, but what do they know?) with enchanted hair and tears that turn to diamonds and beauty like the dawn. All of which, as she points out, are utterly useless for a goose girl. Worse, all of which soon bring her a couple of undesirable suitors who lock her in a tower and force her to choose between them. If she chooses the sweet-natured dunce of a prince, who is near her age - well, the wicked King Claudio the cruel will soon have him done away with. But if she chooses the king - whatever did happen to his former wives?
Luckily for the plucky young goose girl, Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, her twelve geese have ideas of their own, and the tower isn't as impregnable as either the prince or the king imagine. And so the chase begins. When I recommend this book to a teen, all I do is read the first sentence and hand them the book so that they can read the next page or two. Every single time I've done this, the girl I'm talking to has taken the book out. Every single time!
For the heck of it, here's the first sentence:
"The King killed my canary today."
I promise you, the rest of the book isn't as grim as this sounds. Enjoy!
This may have been the first time I laughed out loud when reading this book. It wasn't the last.
Patrice Kindl's Goose Chase is an utter joy and delight. At least, if you like brave and clever heroines who, in spite of their cleverness, aren't perfect judges of other people or of what's going on around them (well, have you met a 14-year-old who was such a paragon of judgment? I sincerely hope not!) Then there are the sly allusions to all sorts of literature - as I say, the Shakespeare quotations make me howl with laughter, but I'm sure I'm not picking up on everything. Then there is the zany plot, in which a poor, virtuous girl gets cursed (blessed, most people would say, but what do they know?) with enchanted hair and tears that turn to diamonds and beauty like the dawn. All of which, as she points out, are utterly useless for a goose girl. Worse, all of which soon bring her a couple of undesirable suitors who lock her in a tower and force her to choose between them. If she chooses the sweet-natured dunce of a prince, who is near her age - well, the wicked King Claudio the cruel will soon have him done away with. But if she chooses the king - whatever did happen to his former wives?
Luckily for the plucky young goose girl, Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, her twelve geese have ideas of their own, and the tower isn't as impregnable as either the prince or the king imagine. And so the chase begins. When I recommend this book to a teen, all I do is read the first sentence and hand them the book so that they can read the next page or two. Every single time I've done this, the girl I'm talking to has taken the book out. Every single time!
For the heck of it, here's the first sentence:
"The King killed my canary today."
I promise you, the rest of the book isn't as grim as this sounds. Enjoy!
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-13 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-13 03:44 am (UTC)BTW, I'm also a Dickens fan. May I friend you?
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Date: 2009-11-13 03:59 am (UTC)