The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

I heard great thing about this book and I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed. It was not bad by any means, but I didn't exactly live up to the rave reviews I've read either.

The story follows a young princess named Ani who, when she was born, did not open her eyes for three days. She opens her eyes after her aunt comes to her and this aunt raises Ani with stories of magic. More importantly, her aunt teaches Ani how to communicate with animals. She teaches her how to understand and talk to swans and tells her that there are three abilities people are capable of possessing; people talking- talking so that your words convince your listener to agree with you, animal talking- to talk with animals, and the very rare nature talking- to talk with nature itself. After a certain age, people in the castle start to notice Ani trying to talk to animals and her aunt gets sent away. Ani is penalized for trying to talk to animals and must instead train to be the next in line for the crown, which she is very horrible at. Ani is very weak-willed and timid at this point in the novel (as she remains through pretty much the entire novel) and allows people to walk all over her and feels insufficient at all she does. After her mother discovers that a much larger and more powerful neighbouring kingdom may threaten to go to war with their country over resources, the queen tries to satisfy them by Promising Ani to the heir to their throne, without consulting Ani first. So off she is sent to an unknown land to marry a complete stranger. On the journey however, an even takes place that hinders Ani on her way and she is forced into hiding and eventually comes to hold the position of goose girl for the kingdom's geese. She learns more about herself and eventually overcomes the injustice done to her.

The plot itself I rather enjoyed. I thought it progressed in a very steady and logical manner. It wasn't boring but there were no inexplicable leaps either, so overall light reading in that department. There is a supernatural element to the story as well, but it is not portrayed as magical ability. Ani's ability to talk to animals is presented as a language she is trying to learn rather than a special ability, even though she is the only one who can seem to do it. It was almost like we watch her work through translating a newly discovered lost language rather than tapping into a magical ability.

If anything bothered me about the novel it would have to be the character Ani herself. Overall I didn't mind the characters in the novel. There was a decent mix up of personality types. Actually I think one of the reasons this story is so like a fairy tale is because many important people who decide Ani's fate are in their own way cruel about it, and those who aren't cruel do nothing to really help her until she gains some self-confidence. It wasn't her weak-willed nature or lack of self-confidence that bothered me however (that is the character and in time she grows beyond her perceptions of her short comings). In fact I applaud the author for keeping Ani so timid throughout the novel, but still forces her to go on despite her timidity. What bothered me was her naiveté. The author would spell out situations that would otherwise build suspense so that the reader is very aware of the plot and is waiting for the heroine to wake up, because even though she is given many clues she is unable to suspect anything until it is actually happening to her, and that was kind of frustrating to me as a reader. I usually like experiencing the story along with the main character, not with the author or the narrator where I know ahead of time what will happen. This is personal preference of course and I'm sure there are several people who didn't mind this. The other thing that I found slightly bothersome was at the end of the novel, her big climax of coming out of her shell and telling off the king, it sounded so juvenile. I was expecting some sort of outburst from her seeing as how she was introverted for most of the novel, but I was expecting that outburst to be somewhat mature and enlightened (which can be done in a passionate way) instead it seemed more like an angsty teenaged 'so there!' which was disappointing.

Despite that however, I did enjoy the book. It was a good read and a nice adaptation of the original.