As we all know by now Briar Rose is a retelling of the classic "Sleeping Beauty". The book alternates every chapter between the present and the past in which the Grandmother is telling her story of Briar Rose, in which she is Briar Rose. In Chapters 11-24 Becca, the main character is attempting to keep her promise to her Grandmother, which is to discover her grandmother's past and find the castle she left for her. Becca first travels 6 hours with a coworker and friend to uncover information about her grandmother, which eventually leads her on a trip to Poland to understand where her grandmother came from.
The story of this book is gripping, it is a real life twist on a fairytale we are all familiar with. The Holocaust is a time we all think of with great sadness, this book reminds us of the horrors that took place not so long ago. Becca eventually finds the "Castle", "It was an old castle once. Ruined in World War I," the priest enplaned. "But it was here that the prisoners were brought. The Nazis said it was for baths, for delousing. But it was only for death." (pg.146)
This story is a story of hope in more ways then one.....the grandmother escaped death, the grandchild keeps her promise to the utmost, and there is happiness to be found in even the worst times imaginable. In the chapter where we finish for this posting the telling of the story begins, Becca has found a man that knew her grandmother, knew her back then. "The fairy tale La Belle au Bois Dormant." (pg. 159). I can't wait to see what unfolds in the last chapters, how her grandmother managed to escape Poland with a young child in the middle of the war. Why do you think it is Becca's grandmother chose to keep her past a secret for all those years? Do you think a fairytale is the only way she could handle to speak of her past?
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3 comments:
I thought that the idea of Briar Rose being connected to the Holocaust was extremely clever. The way that Yolen combined true events with a well-known fairy tale was very believable and intelligent. However, I didn't always think that the book was appropriate for young adults, ages 9-12 like it proposes. The topic was interesting and the writing was simple enough, but there was some language that I didn't approve of. For example, in the very beginning of the book the sisters say that their father should have had an affair instead of buying an expensive car. Right off the bat this bothered me. Then later in the story Gemma's friend is called a "buttsticker." Maybe I am naive but I prefer to leave this sort of language out of books that don't require it to provide a good storyline.
This book was aimed more towards young adults from ages 13 and up like stated at the back of the book cover. I agree with you when you said this book was a well thought out book that used a coommon fairy tale that almost everyone knows and turns it into a story dealing with the Holocaust. I didn't really find out for sure until Becca started investigating Gemma's history that it had something to do with the Holocaust. Of course, it was stated in the back that it was about the Holocaust, but I'm not much of a person who pays much attention to the back discription.
To answer the question as to why I think the grandmother kepted her life history a secret is that the grandmother would always have the constant fear for those she love being killed due to the Holocaust. She probably didn't want anyone to have her name or looks to have the same fate as she does. That's what I think. As for the second question about fairy tales being her only way to tell her family about her life hardship, I would also say yes, that through fairy tales she got her story and fears out in the open even if it was only to three little girls.
I finished this whole book in one day, due to the fact that I couldn't and wouldn't let it go.
I agree with Nicole when she states that this is a story of hope. I also see it as a fairy tale within a fairy tale. Its not only the story of Sleeping Beauty, or Gemma, but Becca's story too...she's unraveling her grandmother's fairy tell, and at the same time, making her own.
"Will you write a story?"
"If there is one."
"Happy ending or no?" He was serious.
She attempted a smile. "Fairy tales always have happy endings."
He leaned back in the chair. "That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you are Rumpelstiltskin or the Queen." (pg 105-106)
I feel that this excerpt is Yolen's way of cluing the reader into the nature of fairy tales. We've already been exploring this theme in class and our fairy tale variations, but not all readers would have such a resource.
It is stated numerous times in the story how Briar Rose's ending isn't exactly "Happily ever after." There's no prince, no glorious kingdom, just Briar Rose and her baby. The prince lifted the sleeping spell on Briar Rose, but was she still cursed? Becca must think so, or she wouldn't be going all the way to Europe to uncover Gemma's mysterious life. I can't help but think that Becca feels somewhat cursed as well. She's the good-hearted heroine fighting to stand up against her "evil" big sisters (not that they are truly evil) and to discover the truth behind her family's past.
It'll be exciting to see how Becca's fairy tale ends.
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