Disney won't like it, but who cares about that?
Pinborough takes
"Snow White" and applies a little twist... make that a few little
twists. For one thing, nobody is quite what they seem. Evil the Wicked
Stepmother, while being VERY wicked and VERY stepmothery, gets some
sympathetic backstory. She's portrayed as a real person, and with some
sympathy - as is Snow White herself, not just a cut out Good Girl but
more of a real, actual person with real desires and appetites.
So
while this book has dwarves, castles, magic, princes and poisoned
apples, it also has some acute dissection of the place of women in a
kind of fairy-tale land (it's all joined up round the back: we learn the
true nature of that unpleasant boy Aladdin, and a couple of rather PTSD
characters turn up who have apparently wandered in out of other
stories). And sex - which Pinborough is rather good at describing (no
danger of this getting a Bad Sex award, I think).
It's quite a quick read, very enjoyable, actually quite thought provoking. Definitely recommended.
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