Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Writing a post last week about Breath got me thinking about Donna Jo Napoli again and how much I love her books, and how heavy a phase I went through some years ago. This is not to say I don't still love her, but for a while I was ordering her books one by one from over seas and reading them all in a row. I recently reaslised how many of her books I've yet to read and was a little daunted but very excited at the prospect.

So, here I am, writing a review for a book I read years ago, but is still fresh in my mind because I thought it was fascinating and skillfully executed.

As you might be aware, Donna Jo Napoli's 'thing' is to adapt and flesh out traditional stories and fairy tales. Bound is fantastic because it is a Cinderella retelling set in Ancient China. The reason it works so well is that, as the title suggests, it brings into it the practice of foot binding. The match is perfect and feels effortless, even though I'm certain a lot of research was involved.

Unlike my review of Breath, I'm not going to spell out exactly how this setting and story fits into the story arch we know so well from so many versions of Cinderella. But I will say, that I loved this book because it gave the main 'Cinderella' character some pluck. She is a girl who can stand up for herself and isn't the flouncy-I-need-someone-to-do-everything-for-me girl of many other stories.

I'm surprising myself with how well I'm remembering this book, it would be at least 6 years since I've read it and I can still see Xing Xing trying to please Stepmother, praying to her Ancestors, hiding a gown in a hole in a cave, making her own way to Emperor's festival, the food, the performers and her holding her own in the face of royalty. I think that goes to show how good a book it is, and how brilliant Donna Jo Napoli is.

You should read this book.

 

4.5 Gold Stars

Find it on Goodreads