Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon

Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon

***Warning:  This review contains spoilers.  But that might be a good thing.

This book was great in the beginning, before I actually started reading it.  The writer is local, and the premise is great.  A fairy tale with an edge.  “The Secret Cinderella Story,” the cover says in letters almost as big as the title itself.  The back cover description promises a part of the famous Cinderella tale that we’ve never heard before:  The Fairy Godmother’s story.  Hooray!  Something fun, light, sweet, romantic, and totally make-believe to pull me into the pollinated Pennsylvania springtime.  I found it at the library and checked it out, happy that it was a thin 273-page book which would probably take me as long to read as it would take for me to enjoy my coffee the next morning.

On the contrary, this book took me over a week to get through.  From the very beginning, I kept thinking that this story would have been much better if it was written for an appropriate fairy/princess audience, such as an age 9-11 crowd.  The story was terribly overwritten, and the main character, Lil (the fairy godmother), was simply unlikeable.  Another main character, the modern-day Cinderella named Veronica, was a combination of a sorority girl and a vampire-obsessed teenager, with only the worst qualities of both.  She was annoying and I wanted her to go away, but she didn’t.  I was stuck with her.  Even the flashbacks to the original Cinderella weren’t fun to read.  Cinderella was such a whiner, I would have given up on her and said, “Fine, even though it is your destiny to be with the Prince, and he actually WANTS you, and all your troubles would be over if you just went to the ball, go ahead and sit there and feel sorry for yourself.  I can’t help you if you just want to wallow in your own self-pity.  I’ll go to the ball and take the prince for myself.  Later!  Have fun sitting in the dirt and ruining your makeup!”

Finally today I finished it, and although the characters and I couldn’t be friends, I was dying to know how the fairy tale really ends.  Guess what?  It was another “and then I woke up” endings.  The fairy godmother actually ended up being a delusional old woman rather than a fallen fairy, and none of the Cinderella stuff I just read actually happened in the fairy tale context.  WHAAAA???  This book is marketed as “The Secret Cinderella Story.”  The description on the back made me think that Carolyn Turgeon may be writing a Grimm-like tale.  Sorry, Carolyn, I know you’re local and I’d love to support you, but you didn’t follow through with your promise.  I won’t be buying – or even reading – any of your other books.  And for you, my faithful readers (all zero of you), please don’t waste your time on this one.  It’s unbearable and unrewarding.