6/29/2023 0 Comments Ice by sarah beth durstSo what's with the bear? Years ago the North Wind had promised Bear Cassie's mom, his adopted daughter, who instead shunned her mystical heritage to marry a human scientist. Since when did bears pitch their woo at human teenagers? Who knew meteorological phenomena have human families? These are things you have to roll with when you're the star (or reader) of a fairy tale, even one with snowmobiles and post docs. The daughter of a biologist, Cassie balks at the talking Ursus maritimus on her doorstep, not to mention the ensuing revelation that she's the granddaughter of the North Wind. When protagonist Cassie turns 18 in her father's research station in the Arctic Circle, a polar bear aptly named Bear comes seeking her hand in marriage. While the GPS coordinates heading each chapter suggest Durst meant Ice as an “East of the Sun” for the tech-savvy set, the novel turns out to be less about the iPhone Age than about the age of consent. In her 2010 retelling, Ice, Sarah Beth Durst underscores these themes of agreement and refusal, updating them for today's post-feminist audience. FAIRY AND FOLK TALES are stuffed with magic words and phrases, from “mirror, mirror on the wall” to “open sesame” to “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.” But in Norway's “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” the most powerful hocus pocus comes from the simple “yes” and “no” - words of bargains and betrothals.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |