Book jacket synopsis:
The moment young Ivan stumbled upon a clearing in the
dense Carpathian forest, his life was forever changed. Atop a pedestal encircled by fallen leaves,
the beautiful princess Katerina lay as still as death – while a malevolent
presence stirred in the hidden depths below.
Now years later, Ivan is compelled to return. He finds the clearing just as he left
it. This time he does not run…
This is probably the third or fourth time
I’ve reread this book. It’s one of those
stories that I gravitate towards when the world around me seems to have lost
all its magic, and all its inhabitants seem to be moving about merely following
patterns that loop back and never change.
As the title suggests, it’s a story that lets
me want to believe that there are still some things beautiful and wonderful in
the world. I’ve mentioned before that
I’ve always had a special fondness for fairy tales, and that Sleeping Beauty is my favourite. Well, this particular adaptation of Sleeping Beauty is one of the best I’ve
ever encountered so far.
We meet Ivan, a ten-year-old Russian boy,
suffering from identity crisis. His
parents have suddenly decided that everyone will turn Jew – and that this will
have serious implications as to which parts of his anatomy will remain unscathed;
all this in a desperate effort to escape Russia. They sojourn at a relative’s farm in Ukraine,
where on one of his running sprees, Ivan finds the sleeping princess Katerina
and runs away, frightened by the palpable evil that guards her resting
place. The family flies to America where
Ivan grows up to be a scholar and an athlete; but not for one moment has he
forgotten the mysterious clearing, and the sleeping beauty that lies in the
middle of a great chasm filled with dead leaves. He returns to her, unable to
move on with his life unless he does, and when he does find her he takes his
destiny in hand and his life – as well as Katerina’s – become hopelessly
entangled in events that lead them to discover what truly mattered in their
lives. But did he actually end up saving
the princess, or bringing her further trouble?
Was Ivan the man that the princess needed, or will he end up regretting
his actions and wishing he had left Katerina trapped under the curse forever?
Baba Yaga is certainly powerful, but it is
never enough. She ensorcells Bear, the
god of winter, and taps into his power, using it to get even more. The curse she placed on Katerina and the Bear
seemed fool proof, until Ivan came along.
And now she must use all her wiles and employ all her magic to get
everything back to how she wishes it to be.
But even as they find themselves betrayed left and right by people
supposedly trustworthy, Ivan and Katerina manage to find some allies of their
own.
I love how this book sent me back in time
to when I was a kid eating up all the books on folk tales in my school
library. I remember the tales from
Russia; Baba Yaga and the Bear, and brave Ivan who had as many or even more
adventures than did the more western Jack.
I loved that the characters that peopled this story weren’t
glamorized. They all had their own
problems to deal with – even the witch and the gods had their unpleasant
circumstances to face. I love that both
Ivan and Katerina were not your stereotypical fairy tale prince and
princess. They both surely had their
many failings right along with the qualities that redeem them in each other’s
eyes. But their journey is a long and
perilous one, filled with magic and science, bitterness and betrayal, and
intertwined along with theirs are the lives of everyone around them. How were
they to know that they held the fragile balance of the world in their hands? Too many times in the book did it seem
doubtful that goodness, nobility, sacrifice, and even love would make any
difference in their efforts against their terrible and powerful adversary. And I am taken along for the ride. I follow them across the unseen bridge through
time and space into two different worlds, each with their own brand of good and
evil, of truth and lies, and most of all, of magic.
As long as I can read, and as long as the
pages of this book are intact, I believe I shall never tire of reading it over
and over. Rarely is there ever such a
book that comes this close to the soul that once it is found, it is ever let
go. I hope you find such a book
yourself, and gain a revitalizing source of magic when and where there seems to
be no more magic to be found.
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