A Book A Week

I vividly remember the first time my mom took me to see The Nutcracker. We dressed in our Sunday best and made our way to downtown San Antonio. I remember walking the streets of the city, weaving amidst the riverwalk as we made our way into the elegant theater. Once the show began, I was transported by Tchaikovsky's music, mesmerized by the sheer fantasy unfolding upon the stage. That year, I opened the gift of my very own nutcracker, a single emblem that would begin a collection that grew throughout my childhood. My brother and I would play with the toy soldiers, reenacting the story as it was told in the ballet. Years later I would find myself in the serendipitous position as a music teacher for the Houston Ballet Academy, a role that gave me the opportunity to work with students who performed in the very work that had enchanted me as a child. It is safe to say that the endearing story of The Nutcracker has been an ever-present part of my holiday traditions. 

In Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker, author Gregory Maguire attempts to capture the origins of the endearing classic. There's probably no author better suited in tackling such a monumental story. Maguire has delved into the worlds of Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Cinderella, and most famously The Wizard of Oz. If you've heard of the hit musical Wicked, then you are at least tangentially aware of his work. This novel imagines the origins of the mysterious Drosselmeier, the eye-patched godfather of Klara, the girl transported to the land of the sugar plum fairies. As we first encounter the famed toymaker, he is but an orphaned boy, living in the woods with an elderly couple. He learns the art of storytelling from the old woman who tells fanciful tales of fantastic worlds. The old man is more practical, teaching the boy the value of hard work and living off of the land. A tragedy at the start of this tale sets into motion a coming-of-age journey twinged with ever-growing magic, one that sees the boy grow into the famed man of the classic Christmas narrative. 

For a novel based in the same world as the spectacular Nutcracker, Hiddensee is a surprisingly subdued affair. Sure, there are glimmers of the same magic and wonder that permeate the classic story, but Maguire's take on the tale is much more firmly planted in reality. Much of the drama and action that takes up the pages of the book is built around a young man growing up without the benefit of someone guiding him through adolescence. His coming to terms with religion, art, and love would be perfectly fine if they were combined with the dazzling mystical elements of the original story. Absent these moments, the story reads as much more ordinary than it should. This combined with Maguire's penchant for classically formal language makes the short novel drag on endlessly. By the time the timeline of this origin story intersects with the tale we've come to know, it is simply too little too late. Simply put, Hiddensee is a valiant effort at an origin story that never truly lives up to the magic of the story it attempts to precede. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2021, 52)

"How very like a dream this all is."

Gregory Maguire, author of the bestselling novel Wicked, is back with his latest novel, a re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice in Wonderland. Whether you've read Carroll's novel or seen any of the numerous film adaptations of the work, you are probably familiar with Alice's adventures in the strange Wonderland. But what about Alice's family? How did they cope with her mysterious disappearance? And what kind of impact did Alice's presence in Wonderland have on all of those curious characters that she came across? As he's done in most of his other novels, Gregory Maguire uses After Alice to fill in the gaps and answer some of these questions.

Young Ada is around the same age as her neighbor Alice. She wears an unwieldy contraption that is intended to correct her posture, but the device only accentuates her awkward personality and deters many potential playmates. Alice, however, has never seemed to mind Ada. Whether Alice truly enjoys Ada's company or is simply too preoccupied with her own fantasies to notice the other girl's presence, she is the closest thing to a friend that Ada has.

One day, Ada is asked to take some homemade marmalade to Alice's house. As she wanders into her friend's yard, she sees a peculiar sight. A small white rabbit adorned in a waistcoat and clutching a pocket watch stands before her. As the animal runs off, Ada follows. She suddenly falls through a rabbit hole and is thrust into a crazy world populated by odd characters. As the novel progresses, Ada travels a few steps behind Alice's famed journey and aims to reconnect with her friend and find her way back home.

Parallel to this is the story of Alice's older sister Lydia. Lydia is supposed to be keeping watch of her sister, when the girl descends into Wonderland. She isn't worried at first. Alice is notorious for exploring their grounds. But when Ada too is noticed to be missing, Lydia begins to worry about the two girls. She hesitates to interrupt her father who is meeting with Charles Darwin. When Ada's housemaid comes looking for the girl, Lydia enlists her help.

This is my first novel by Gregory Maguire. After the high praises of Wicked and his other works, I was eager to get my hands on this one. Maguire's writing style takes a bit of time to get used to. He writes in a way that seems to hearken back to the Victorian era that this story occurs in. The entire novel is approached with a high-brow air of superiority that initially caught me off guard. While this could certainly be an attempt to mimic Lewis Carroll's prose, it ends up coming off more as an unnecessarily pretentious device that does little to enhance the story.

The story itself is equally confounding. The parts that focus on Lydia offer many promising insights about a young woman's role and expectations in Victorian Era England. By introducing Charles Darwin as a guest to the family's residence, Maguire also explores issues of science, evolution, and race. This narrative could easily have been fleshed out into a fascinating novel on its own. However, by placing this thread alongside the surprisingly less vibrant Wonderland narrative, Maguire ultimately does not have enough book to adequately devote attention to either plot. In the end, After Alice is a novel that is full of interesting elements that never reach a cohesively satisfying whole.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and GoodReads.

(2015, 33)