Step Sister~ Jennifer Donnelly
Like most children, I went through a Disney/Fairytale phase that I haven’t grown out of. I still love and know most of the lyrics to the films. But, unlike my childhood self, I’ve stopped believing in the Good triumphs over Evil storyline and have begun to wonder about the villain’s motivation and what made them evil. So, it’s fair to say that I love fairytale retellings. Step Sister by Jennifer Donnelly is not a retelling. It’s the story of what happened after Cinderella got her Prince from a different perspective: the ugly stepsister’s perspective.
This novel starts with the Fates create the maps for each individual human life when Chance appears and they start a wager over whether or not one girl could change her fate or stick to the path that is written for her. That girl is Isabelle de la Paumé, one of the ugly stepsisters of Queen Ella. Isabelle is not what you expect the ugly stepsister to be, neither is her sister Tavi. Both are girls who aren’t pretty and don’t fit with society’s expectation of women. Tavi wants to be a scholar and Isabelle wants to be a Pirate Queen or a warrior. Neither of them are particularly cruel or mean. It is revealed early on that Isabelle doesn’t hate Ella, rather she hates herself. Isabelle asks the Fairy Queen (godmother) for help to be pretty and is told to find the lost pieces of her heart and so she sets out on her quest.
Isabelle’s quest is more of an emotional journey than a physical one. Donnelly writes this journey wonderfully, mashing together insecurity, jealousy and expectation to create so incredibly roadblocks and misdirections. However, what I liked most about her journey is that although there are three supernatural beings involved (the Fate, Chance and the Fairy Queen) it is a journey of self-discovery. We, as the reader, are told early on what those pieces of her heart are, but we get to see her make the choices herself to regain them.
Isabelle is a fan of war stories and strategies and she is almost always dealing with her obstacles by thinking of strategies from great generals and warriors. It is made clear that Isabelle should not like that stuff because it is for men. Donnelly turns that on its head and makes this about Herstory and the great female warriors and leaders, some I had never heard about before. It made Isabelle so much more powerful when instead of using the strategies of men, she empowered herself by thinking of the female warriors. This moment in the book was so incredibly overwhelming that I found myself tearing up. It was the same feeling I got when all the female superheroes banded together in Avenger’s Endgame, but more potent. There was so much overwhelming female empowerment at the end of this novel, power that was supported by male characters that broke stereotypes, that I felt ready to get up and fight just from reading it. Kudos, Jennifer Donnelly.
Donnelly also redefined ugly and pretty in this book. Pretty is compared to an extremely addictive drug that ruins girls’ lives. Ugly is redefined as the best thing to be because it leaves you alone to do what you want for yourself. Isabelle and Tavi reclaim the word ugly as their own and turn it into a weapon to make themselves better and allow themselves to be their own people doing what makes them happy. In a way that I didn’t expect, this book was inspiring and great for my low self-esteem.
Step Sister has very short chapters which is both a blessing and a curse. The short chapters allowed us to skip between the Fates, Chance and the Fairy Queen without taking too much time away from Isabelle’s story. It also made it quite easy to read as there wasn’t anything longer than seven pages without a break. However, sometimes paying attention to the chapter lengths made the story feel a bit short and choppy. It also made me feel like I had read much more than I actually had.
Overall I really liked Step Sister and how it was a celebration of feminine power and females who aren’t societally beautiful. It was a book that encouraged you to choose your own path and do things for yourself for your betterment. It was also left open for more novels to follow (hopefully more fairytale reimaginings). Step Sister by Jennifer Donnelly gets four stars.
“Go now, girl. Remake the world.”
C🌙
