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Book Review: Cinder, by Marissa Meyer
Nov. 7th, 2014 07:04 pmOh my gosh, look at this! It's content! Content that I said I would write! And now I'm actually writing it, here and now! IT'S A MIRACLE!
Moving right along, here is some book-y backstory. It took me a loooong time to pick up this book. ("This book" being Cinder, by Marissa Meyer.) I looked at it in Barnes and Noble once, then put it back down, deciding that it didn't quite grab me. I walked past it in Target on my way to the DVD section with fair frequency, and still didn't think much of it past, "Eh, I dunno. I'd rather spend my money on DVDs or yarn." What finally got me to give it more consideration was when Audible was doing a two-books-for-one-credit sale and it was listed as one of the optional titles. I'm big on audiobooks these days, since I've got that long commute to work.
Not that I picked it up from Audible. No, I decided to wait and give it more thought, and maybe if I saw it again the next time Audible did such a sale, I would do it. And then I saw the audiobook on display at the library and decided to give the blurb a re-read. Set in New Beijing, it read. An Asian Cinderella? I thought. It could be, right? Nay, it must be! And you don't get a much better price than free, whether or not I'd have to return it. So I decided to check it out, in the interest of what I assumed would be both a fairytale revamp (one of my favorite things) with a main character of color (another one of my favorite things).
Oh what disappointment awaited me! ( Click the cut to find out exactly what disappointment did await me )
Anyway, that's what I remember being horrified by in the book. There are probably reviewers out there who would be able to critique every little sociological bit and piece and point out how wrongity-wrong-wrong it all is, but that's not what I was going for in this review (though I do enjoy reading that sort of review all too often). I was going for how this book is a hot mess of racism and ablism, and I think I proved that. Read with caution, or at least with knowledge, if you choose to read it.
Moving right along, here is some book-y backstory. It took me a loooong time to pick up this book. ("This book" being Cinder, by Marissa Meyer.) I looked at it in Barnes and Noble once, then put it back down, deciding that it didn't quite grab me. I walked past it in Target on my way to the DVD section with fair frequency, and still didn't think much of it past, "Eh, I dunno. I'd rather spend my money on DVDs or yarn." What finally got me to give it more consideration was when Audible was doing a two-books-for-one-credit sale and it was listed as one of the optional titles. I'm big on audiobooks these days, since I've got that long commute to work.
Not that I picked it up from Audible. No, I decided to wait and give it more thought, and maybe if I saw it again the next time Audible did such a sale, I would do it. And then I saw the audiobook on display at the library and decided to give the blurb a re-read. Set in New Beijing, it read. An Asian Cinderella? I thought. It could be, right? Nay, it must be! And you don't get a much better price than free, whether or not I'd have to return it. So I decided to check it out, in the interest of what I assumed would be both a fairytale revamp (one of my favorite things) with a main character of color (another one of my favorite things).
Oh what disappointment awaited me! ( Click the cut to find out exactly what disappointment did await me )
Anyway, that's what I remember being horrified by in the book. There are probably reviewers out there who would be able to critique every little sociological bit and piece and point out how wrongity-wrong-wrong it all is, but that's not what I was going for in this review (though I do enjoy reading that sort of review all too often). I was going for how this book is a hot mess of racism and ablism, and I think I proved that. Read with caution, or at least with knowledge, if you choose to read it.
