2021 EDIT: I don't know. I wasn't feeling it this time round. I couldn't get as invested in 'The Goose Girl' as I did years ago. I found it to be quite boring and predictable, and the pacing is all over the place. I admit to skimming most of the book. It is about 380 pages long, and it is dense, slow-building and meandering, though fast-paced when it should have been slow and gradual: such as the event of Princess Ani's father's death, which happens too suddenly and is barely mentioned again afterwards. It is just there to kickstart the plot.
I felt distant from Ani, and throughout all the hardships she goes through - the betrayals, and the amount of people and animals she loves and cares for dying suddenly and tragically - she doesn't give much of a reaction to any of it. She's basically apathetic, dull and passive, which I know she is supposed to grow out of in the course of her character development, but I still had difficulty connecting to her.
I also deeply dislike the part where Enna tells a story (pages 321-322) about women stripping naked and telling their husbands to win a war or else their enemies will rape them, and they do no actual fighting themselves. I mentioned this heinous story in my original review, as well: This is degrading and disturbing on so many levels, and it's seen as a beautiful and positive story. It isn't. It reduces women as only property for men to possess, and no one else can have them; women's bodies are not their own, but are meat for the taking. It also feeds into the idea that women cannot protect themselves; they need men to fight for them. Women are domesticated and exist sorely for male pleasures, and to be (male) baby-feeders. It degrades men as well, who are stereotyped as sex-driven Neanderthals who can't control themselves. These men also coincide sex with violence on such a thin line that the two things become almost the same thing to them. Forgive me if I'm going off on a tangent over such a small part in the book. It's just really jarring to me, coming from a Shannon Hale story.
Lest we forget, I'd pointed out this plot hole: Also, on page 246 of my copy, one Forest boy, in a gathering, calls Ani by her real name and not her disguise name, when he and the other kids are not supposed to know her true identity yet. Oops.
'The Goose Girl', for all its "feminism" (there's a reason why I never shelved it under "Feminism", despite the development of its heroine), really is stuck on medieval gender roles; plus the occasional catty, lovesick girl-on-girl hate, and the useless and loveless mother-and-daughter relationships.
And why did I like Geric again? What an ass. And how did I not see that twist concerning him coming? I honestly can't remember.
'The Goose Girl' is fine high fantasy for patient readers, however. Some passages are nicely written, and some are baffling and confusing. Its premise of a docile, hopeless and unappreciated princess who is betrayed, ruined and forced to survive and make it on her own (even though she still shows little agency, and needs men to save her constantly, oh and she develops magical powers!) - it was unique for its time (2003).
Read it and make of it what you will.
Final Score: 3/5
Original Review:
A great, complex fantasy book by Shannon Hale - starring a great, complex heroine. I've come to expect nothing less.
Basically the core concept behind 'The Goose Girl' is this: A princess learns to look after herself and make her own choices, and not rely on those who may likely not have her best interests at heart. She must leave her sheltered life and fight for survival not by pure luck or the trust of others, but by her own talents, intelligence and common sense. She should not be ashamed of who she is or think there is something wrong with her for not conforming to a very flawed tradition in her society (and in other societies as well). Her independence is a wonderful thing. Her own brand of magic - literal and metaphorical - is special, and she can do good things with it. Since, as a princess, she would be queen someday, she must learn to be responsible and decide for herself what is good for the future of her kingdom. A princess must know the kingdom she'll be ruling, in order to make plans to improve its state. She must empathise with and walk in the shoes of those less privileged than her and her high class royalty. She has the power within herself - not in material things or the words of corrupt officials - to change things for the better. Stop oppression. Stop prejudice. Stop ignoring "lesser people". Stop hate. Stop wars - where no one wins.
'The Goose Girl' is more than a fairy tale about a princess becoming a queen. It is an original story about a girl growing into a woman. A self-aware, self-assured and confident woman who not only works to improve herself, but who works to improve the lives of all the people in her circle of unlikely friends and allies. She fights using words - words, whatever the language (even goose or wind talk), communicates justice and universal understanding.
In her story, Princess Anidora-Kiladra Talianna Isilee - or Ani for short - starts off as a curious and outspoken child fuelled by the fantastic stories her eccentric, outcast aunt tells her. She finds that, like her aunt, she can easily learn the language of various birds just by listening to their speech patterns - a skill frowned upon by most people, including the queen. As Ani grows older - devastated by disappointment and grief, and compelled by the queen, her own mother, to give in to the norm of tradition - she becomes more subdued. A quiet mouse, as is expected of a fairy tale princess, she gets used to being told what to do and how to think. But she still wishes to use her gift of animal-speaking. Ani has a special bond with her horse, Falada, which she keeps a secret from others, especially her manipulative, overbearing mother whom she is constantly in the shadow of. After another family tragedy, Ani, at sixteen, is given no reasonable time to grieve as she is sent by the queen on a three-month-long journey to another kingdom - to marry someone she doesn't even know the name of. This decision, made in the half-hearted hope of preventing a war, kicks off the plot.
Betrayal is a great theme in 'The Goose Girl', and I haven't seen it portrayed so effectively in a children's/YA book before. I felt bad for Ani for all she has to go through. For being a Crown Princess. Her whole life she's done nothing wrong and yet there are those who want her dead just for being the eldest of a royal family.
Well, Ani will come to know that being born into royalty doesn't mean not making any effort or not having to work hard for anything. When she finds herself on the run and living the life of a peasant - a goose girl - under a new identity, she will have to rely on what she has within herself to achieve justice and prevent war.
'The Goose Girl' is truly a wonderful read and a breath of fresh air in modern children's fantasy literature. Simply yet spectacularly written, it relies on the magic of character development and real people behaving like real people together more than it relies on the magic of speaking to animals and other elements. Ani feels insecure because she cannot speak to people as persuasively as her mother and lady-in-waiting, Selia, can. However, she learns to understand the languages of animals and the wind, which will turn out to be just as important for her survival.
The princess in this tale is very sympathetic. I like how she isn't what you would call a "rebellious princess" or a "strong female character", as most writers try too hard to portray nowadays (and often fail at). Ani is shy and a sweetheart, nothing wrong there. It's realistic, given her upbringing. She grows more assertive as she works to tend unruly geese and earn her bread and water. She knows even before she's sent off by her family to marry a stranger that her comfortable life is a sham and she shouldn't be a victim. But her journey and the people she meets there help her to stand up for herself and to summon more confidence. She even brings out a healthy sense of humour along the way. Ani knows, no matter how many loved ones she loses and how brutally she suffers for her efforts, that she cannot give up. She must plan her next move and fight back.
'The Goose Girl' has a solid, colourful cast of characters, not just Ani. Enna is her new friend from the Forest who is a wicked, extroverted contrast to her, and she is very understanding and smart. Each character - particularly the men and boys - is realistically portrayed and they have their own development arc.
But the one man who succeeded in capturing my heart was Geric. The princess's romance with him is sweet and charming, like him. It doesn't feature a lot in the story, but that's okay because there are more pressing matters to focus on, like Ani's growth and an impending war. I certainly like the romance in 'The Goose Girl' better than I do in Shannon Hale's other novel, 'Princess Academy'. Geric isn't a jerk or an obsessive stalker rife with mixed messages, and the revelation about him near the end is well done and genuinely surprising. Way to tie things together nicely like a ribbon in a neat bow!
There are scenes in 'The Goose Girl' that are rather gory for a children's book, and it does overall contain heavy and mature themes. But I consider this to be more than a good thing. You are never too young to learn about the bad things in the world, and that there are bad people out there who want to hurt or kill others for small, selfish and even childish reasons. Some bullies at school will never really grow up. This can be dealt with, and how our heroine deals with corruption and oppression in the mature 'The Goose Girl' is inspiring to say the least.
At the midpoint of the book, the chapters take place in the same setting. But each one progresses the plot and character development to some capacity, so it never gets boring. Getting to know Princess Ani as a lowly goose girl talking to birds right next to the king's castle (*#&**"##!!!) is a lot more interesting than seeing her live a perfect but fake life in luxury. In royalty she is a prisoner of tradition, but in poverty she takes charge of her situation and works for her freedom. In order for her to take back her true identity, she must understand the flaws of her old life and, ironically, be herself, as her aunt taught her. And home is where the heart is, and all that hail.
Now, the reason why this incredible fantasy masterpiece gets only four stars from me instead of five? There are still some sexist stereotypes.
While there are strong females in 'The Goose Girl', none of them are fighters or are trained to be warriors. That's an honour strictly rewarded in the boy-becomes-man fashion. Female characters are never shown to be fighting, anyway. In the final battle, dramatic and well-written as it is, they are pushed to the sidelines. Even when Ani picks up a weapon and is about to charge at a bastard attacking one of her loved ones, she is told to stand back and do nothing. And she does just that. WTF? I thought the whole point of the book was her taking action and not letting people dictate her decisions and passions.
And there is one chapter where Enna tells a story (storytelling is another big theme in 'The Goose Girl') about warrior men not giving up a battle because their wives take off their clothes in front of them and tell them to win, or else their enemies will essentially rape the wives. This is degrading and disturbing on so many levels, and it's seen as a beautiful and positive story. It isn't. It reduces women as only property for men to possess, and no one else can have them; women's bodies are not their own, but are meat for the taking. It also feeds into the idea that women cannot protect themselves; they need men to fight for them. Women are domesticated and exist sorely for male pleasures, and to be (male) baby-feeders. It degrades men as well, who are stereotyped as sex-driven Neanderthals who can't control themselves. These men also coincide sex with violence on such a thin line that the two things become almost the same thing to them.
Forgive me if I'm going off on a tangent over such a small part in the book. It's just really jarring to me, coming from a Shannon Hale story.
Also, on page 246 of my copy, one Forest boy, in a gathering, calls Ani by her real name and not her disguise name, when he and the other kids are not supposed to know her true identity yet. Oops.
But apart from all that, 'The Goose Girl' is a worthwhile read for any fantasy fan. Ms Hale has her own brand of magic which she weaves into each individual work, and it is marvellous. A thing of beauty communicated in lines that are easy for any living soul to listen to and understand.
Final Score: 4/5
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