I’m going to get tomatoed and booed and generally taunted for my lack of taste, I’m sure, but I have to say it anyway: I don’t like Gregory Maguire. I know, I know! Many of my friends really love his writing and his stories and his ways of twisting known tales around on their existing structure, keeping the bones but slapping on new flesh.
Don’t get me wrong; I am all about retelling old legends, rediscovering their relevance for our modern minds and timeless hearts. I don’t not like Maguire because he messes with the stories I love. I don’t care what people do with those stories, frankly. It’s usually quite interesting and I’ve got a few buzzing around in my own head.
Wee bit of background: I’m currently reading “The Green Man” anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. It’s full of wild variants of the tale of this archetype, (one of my favorites).* Some I enjoy more than others, but I can appreciate all of them. And then arrives the Gregory Maguire story. I think, “Eh, whatever. People’s short stories are different and it’s this anthology, so I’m sure I’ll like it.” Oh, how very much I did NOT like it. And I figured out why--I think.
His writing always makes me feel dirty. It’s not that it’s dark—I happen to like dark quite a bit of the time. It’s that it’s dank. It’s like he takes every character and every situation and makes them as seedy and soiled as possible. In this particular story, the ladybugs were the only things I wanted to root for in any way, and they kept getting squashed flat. And what’s more, his writing seems almost gleeful about its grossness. It revels in the sourness. I find myself wanting entire kingdoms and worlds to just be destroyed because there is nothing to redeem them and I just. Want. Out.
I still want to see Wicked, though.
*New life goal: be included in an anthology edited by Datlow and Windling. Oh, frabjous day!
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4 comments:
I don't know this guy, but I will say that I don't enjoy Shakespeare. I have probably shared this with you before. Made a lot of reading assignments difficult.
I DON'T LIKE GREGORY MCGUIRE EITHER!!! I hated the book Wicked! Loved the musical. You should definitely go see.
Yes, exactly! He really does tend to enjoy taking and mucking up everyone. I'm all for giving characters depth and showing the shades of gray...but he goes too far at times.
I haven't seen the musical yet, but from what I've heard and listened to it sounds much less dirty and complicated. The soundtrack is one of my favorites!
It wasn't until you mentioned the musical that I knew who you were talking about. I bought Wicked right after it came out because of the reviews and because I love twists on fairy tales. I read it, about puked, and sold it back to Barnes and Noble because I didn't want it in my house.
I thought it sucked. I don't think it warrants me trying to phrase it nicely. I cringe every time I see a teeny-bopper trying to read it because of the (much more appealing) musical.
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