Sunday, May 12, 2013

Schoolgirl Cinderella by Priya Narendran

Let's move Cinderella to the modern times. And make her a schoolgirl. That's bascially Schoolgirl Cinderella in a nutshell.

Our 'Cinderella' (Briony), becomes the poor overworked maid when her parents die in a tragic accident, leaving the horrid Mrs Eyres in charge of her parent's school. And since Mrs Eyres was previously fired by her father (shortly before the fatal accident in fact), she can't wait to vent her anger by turning the precious daughter into a maid of sorts.

And for our 'Prince Charming', is the heir to a huge biscuit factory, making him the most elligible bachelor in town (Tom). But when he serendipitously meets Cinderella, sparks fly, and I believe you know the story.

Personally, I really like the re-telling. I think it's quite a good version, if not for one problem - the old 'show not tell' problem.

Maybe it's because this book is written in present tense (It's not exactly my favourite form of narrative - and one I think is very hard to do successfully), but I felt like I was being told how the characters felt and why they acted. That meant that characters that should have been engaging and likable felt like cardboard pieces. And sometimes, I didn't understand the character motivation. Sure, I knew why they did it, but I didn't believe it.

I think that's the only flaw in this otherwise good re-telling.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book as part of the Enchanted Book Tours in exchange for a free and honest review.

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