October 30, 2008

The Sleeping Beauty Proposal

By Sarah Strohmeyer

This book isn’t a direct re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story, but it looks at the question “What if someone was practically sleep-walking through life waiting for someone else to start it for them?” Genie hasn’t really been living her life. She’s just been waiting for her prince to come make everything perfect. When her boyfriend of four years proposes to someone else on national TV she lets everyone believe that he proposed to her. It’s the wake-up call that she didn’t even know she needed. Now as she’s struggling with her conscious and the realization that the world treats you very differently if you’re engaged, she’s slowly realizing the things that are important and becoming a fuller person.
I have a hard time with deception. It’s the number one reason that I don’t read certain books or go see certain movies (like how is Hannah Montana a role model when her life is built on deceiving people who admire her?). I decided to try this book anyway because Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite Disney movies and I wanted to see how the author worked with the story. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. For the most part she just keeps her mouth shut and other people assume things, which is just as sinful but easier to take then aggressive deception. The thing that ended up bugging me the most was the way her parents treated her once she was “engaged”. They weren’t complete stereotypes, but they were willing to give her money for a house and throw her a lavish wedding, when they wouldn’t do anything for her while she was single, living in a hole of an apartment with a crap job. Ugh.
It’s a cute book, though. It’s fun and slightly quirky, with a healthy dose of romance without going trashy. Plus it has a cute cover.

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