- Title: My Name is Rapunzel
- Author: K.C. Hilton
- Publisher: Createspace
- Publication Date: November 22, 2013
- Pages: 322
- Genre: Young Adult
- Recommended Age: 13+
- First Read: 2013
- Source: Goodreads Giveaway
- Rating: 0.5 / 5.0 stars
Two words: highly disappointed.
I saw this book on
Goodreads and immediately told myself I had to have it. The concept was highly intriguing and I am a sucker for a fairy tale re-telling. But when I finally started reading the book, what did I find, but something not so magical and truthfully, not very worthy to be called one of the great fairy tale re-tellings. And it's such a shame too because the cover is so beautiful.
Initially, I was extremely excited to delve into this book, but the moment I started reading (and reading further only confirmed it) I saw to my disappointment that although the concept had potential with the whole "Rapunzel is immortal and must co-exist next to the modern world while she lives with a witch and dragon" it never really took off.
The characters themselves were highly one-dimensional and did not ring true to me. No exposition on any of the characters is given and the reader barely knows anything about them other than they are stuck together. Rapunzel was particularly unbelievable, not because she was a fairy-tale character, but because I could not believe her complete immaturity and ignorance for being over two centuries old and having access to the supposed "devices" she had. And Henry. Oh, Henry. The reader never finds out anything about his background and never gets any character development from him, other than knowing he is Rapunzel's "true love." And the reader doesn't really even know why! He is supposed to be one of the most important elements of the story-why Rapunzel sacrificed so much for him, and yet the reader never once even finds out his last name! Then there was Gretta. Honestly, I couldn't hate the witch because she was too flat a character, just like all the others to hate. The problem with each and every one of these characters is that they stay pretty much the same person they were throughout the book, never evolving and maturing; they were simply stagnant. Back to Gretta. She is introduced as a terrible witch and yes, what she inflicts upon Rapunzel and Henry is terrible yes, but I could never really get into Rapunzel's anguish because she is so close-minded about everything and never once becomes curious about who Gretta really
is, and just decides to hate her for two centuries, never really figuring out Gretta's history until Gretta conveniently tells her. Gretta was someone who you were supposed to hate and loathe, and I felt pretty apathetic about her-about all of them really. The greatest feeling I had while reading was annoyance, especially with Rapunzel because she decides to be extremely stupid and writes to a stranger about her life, though she does not know this man and knows that he will likely not believe her.
And it is this little oversight by Rapunzel that annoyed me the most. She gets infuriated because of some person who she does not know, writes an article about fairy tales being not true and all of that, blah blah blah. So what does any sane person who has a secret to keep so she does not get hunted do? Write a series of very long, badly written letters to this unknown person with her
address on it so he can conveniently trace her and fall in love. My biggest problem with this scenario is that throughout the book, Rapunzel frequently stresses the fact that she wants to stay hidden and does not want anyone to recognize her-that's why she only ventures into town once every fifty years. But then, the witch lets workers into the
castle (don't you think people would get suspicious?) to set up modern conveniences and Rapunzel immediately spills her guts out to a person who might expose her entire secret to the entire world. Why? Just why would she do this? I get that the letters are to tell the reader more of the story in a "unique" way, but Rapunzel's lack of foresight on the matter with John (who is another annoying, one-dimensional character)is what makes the least sense in the book. Why risk blowing your entire secret for some sassy reporter's column?
Another thing that bothered me about reading this was the lack of developed dialogue and general use of words in the novel. Living for more than two centuries, you would think that all of these immortal characters would have developed a more refined speech, but sadly, that is false. The descriptions and dialogue-both internal and with other characters-sounds as if Rapunzel was uneducated or else rather lazy with her speech. She talks like a ditsy teenage girl, not like someone who has experience much in her long, long life. And all those books she read over the years were bound to have had just a little impact on her speech, but no. The syntax was not up to par at all and it highly annoyed me. This girl's vocabulary was so unrefined and her diction completely inappropriate for the character she was supposed to be portraying that it was one of the biggest turn-offs of the book.
I really tried to like this book, truly I did. But honestly, the the lack of character development, the juvenile syntax, and just the annoyance of the plot (the location did not even ring true!) could not make me like the book. This book took me five months to get through, mainly because I would put it down for weeks at a time, not reading, too annoyed to go on. There was definitely a boat load of potential, but it just did not work out. I think I'll go watch
Tangled or read
Golden By Cameron Dokey now so my faith in Rapunzel is restored a little bit.
