Wicked was, in my opinion, an incredibly original retelling of a story that has been told so often that it lost a bit of its life and flavor. I found it intellectually compelling but emotionally unsatisfying. But just as he had an incredibly difficult time connecting emotionally to other people, so did I with his story.
And Drosselmeier’s story was an interesting one. It retold a familiar story in a new and unfamiliar way, from the perspective of Drosselmeier, the toy maker who crafted the eponymous Nutcracker. I was definitely not filled with cheer and goodwill while reading this, which was a disappointment I should’ve seen coming. I should’ve known better than to trust Maguire to instill holiday cheer into anything he writes.
I picked up this book because I was looking for a retelling of the Nutcracker to get me in the Christmas spirit. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress on a dark winter evening, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized, has something precious to share. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism ties to Hellenic mystery-cults-a fascination with death and the afterlife-and ponders a profound question: How can a person who is abused by life, shortchanged and challenged, nevertheless access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless? Ultimately, Hiddensee offers a message of hope. At the heart of Hoffmann's mysterious tale hovers Godfather Drosselmeier-the ominous, canny, one-eyed toy maker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky's fairy tale ballet-who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter.īut Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, revealing how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how he guided an ailing girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a Christmas Eve. Hoffmann-the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked and to Wonderland in After Alice, Maguire now takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. Hiddensee: An island of white sandy beaches, salt marshes, steep cliffs, and pine forests north of Berlin in the Baltic Sea, an island that is an enchanting bohemian retreat and home to a large artists' colony-a wellspring of inspiration for the Romantic imagination. Gregory Maguire returns with an inventive novel inspired by a timeless holiday legend, intertwining the story of the famous Nutcracker with the life of the mysterious toy maker named Drosselmeier who carves him. From the author of the beloved #1 New York Times bestseller Wicked, the magical story of a toymaker, a nutcracker, and a legend remade.
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