Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire (2000)

This is a most unusual book. Our Book group is reading it and a member with a PHD in Art History chose it. She plans to present it from the art perspective. I am glad I read it since it opens doors to many subjects for discussion but I probably would not read it again.

This is the third Maguire book I've read. He is a fabulous writer who takes you visually and emotionally to places you thought you've already been, but not until Maguire fills in the blanks do you get the full story;) Great read!

Being a fan of fairy tales as a child; I was thrilled to find adult an version of Cinderella. The "story behind the tale" is a more believable blend of historical fact blended with plausible fiction; that has you saying to yourself, "So, that's what really happened!"

You will never look at Cinderella the same way again. Gregory Maguire is an amazing writer. Taking fairy tales to a whole new depth, he makes us see a side of the story that is far different from happily ever after. If you enjoyed these fairy tales as a child, you are going to love these books as an adult. Great Read!

The author tryed to make the story of the Cinder girl we all grew up with as a true story something that could have really happened. It was done very well and the story keeps you inteseted from front to back.

If you like fairy tales or the everyday fairy tale with an odd twist this is the book for you. It takes the story of Cinderella and it is told through the eyes of Iris, one of the "evil" step-sisters. This is her story about her plainness, her sister's incompetence, and Clara's (Cinderella) beauty. It is about a family striving to make it in the world. It's about art, love, murder, death, insanity, and many other things that make this book hard to put down. The only reason this book got a 4 out of 5 is because it just couldn't quite compare to "Wicked." This is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone.

Confessions of an Ugly stepsister is one of those books that is difficult to put down once you'e begun to read it. with twists you don't expect and a great new take on a story that is ages old. I absolutly love this book and it's take on Ugliness and the curses of beauty. You'll soon find out that Ugly is just a simple state of mind and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This book reminds us of the importance of never beleaving untile you've heard both sides of the story and judged for yourself!!!!

I just finished this book and WOW I loved it from beginning to end. This is the second book by this author and I am so impressed I have purchased 3 others to read. I love the way the author slightly twists the storys we all grew up on and turns them into a wonderful story of saddness and mystery and in a way making it possible that that fairy tale really could have happened in real life, in a differant time and place.

Highly recommened these books and this author!!

This is the best of Maguire's books. If you liked Wicked, you will love this one. It was hard to put it down, so it took 3 days to read -- the last day because I slowed down to savor the reading. Didn't want it to end.

This was my favorite of Maguire's new versions of the old fairytales. I thought that the storyline was well thought out and executed. It was easier to follow that both Wicked and Son of a Witch and more enjoyable than Mirror Mirror. An excellent quick read.

the condition was great! I loved the condition of the book, it was even better than promised! I would buy from the seller again!

If you like Gregory Maguire's other books you will love this one! It has a suprise to it! I thought it was the best book yet!

I bought this book for my daughter.It was in excellent condition which I was very pleased.I can't give it an excellent because she has not had time to read it yet but if it is as good as his other ones then it will be excellent.

I bought this book after reading Wicked, which I really liked. While this book provided adequate reading enjoyment for me, it didn't really satisfy as much as Wicked did, which is why I'm only rating it as "average". It has a slightly more shallow treatment of its chosen fairytale, and the execution was a bit more trite than Maguire's other books. Definitely not bad, but simply not his best.

I liked this book alot better than Maguire's "Mirror Mirror". Once you get used to the way that he writes, it flows really nicely. I thought the imagery was nice. In some places it reads alot like poetry to me and I like that as well. As with all of his books, it was done from a new perspective and it actually made me dislike Cinderella, which I didn't expect. Finally, there was resolution at the end and I didn't walk away disappointed. What more can you ask for?