Zel by Donna Jo Napoli Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Zel
Book Review: Pretty Good
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a fan of all retold fairy tales, and this one is no exception; it fills in the gaps of the Brothers Grimm tale 'Rapunzel', but still follows the plot line that the original followed.This one is about a girl named Zel who lives with a witch that she calls mother. Zel's mother had had a craving for a special lettuce called rapunzel that the witch grew in her garden and persuaded her husband to steal some for her; in exchange, they were to give the witch the newborn baby.
One day at market, Zel met the prince, and they both fell in love. Zel's mother really didn't like this, and locked Zel up in a tower where only she could visit her.
This book I would recommend to teens, but not to young children because it has some adult situations. PG-13 would be an appropriate rating.
Final opinion: I think that this book was pretty good.
Book Review: Pretty good story, but creepy
Summary: 3 Stars
The story was good and interesting. Sometimes the characters giving their commentaries became annoying, but overall a pretty good book. You may want to check it out at the library first though because the book is so creepy. Zel, the shero (heroine), is rather mad (as in crazy).
ex.
1. She runs around naked in a tower and waves to strange men who ride by.
2. She grows colonies of ants and lice and loves them until she decides to squish them all.
3. The poor girl is lonely from being in a tower with no one to talk to and the "mother" is taking some kind of perverse pleasure at keeping her up there. She actually thinks she's helping Zel!
The book is pretty good, but overall has some rather perverted characters in it and to be frank, it creeped me out so much that I sent it to my cousin instead of keeping it to re-read later. It was a pretty good redo of Repunzel and more realistic than the original story.
Book Review: Rapunzel revisited
Summary: 3 Stars
Zel is a retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale. In this one Zel is actually placed in the tower by her mother, after she meets a young man in the market one day. Zel's mother is a witch, who loves Zel more than anything, and wants to keep Zel with her always and cannot bear the thought of sharing her with anyone.
I liked a lot of the touches in this book, especially the one that dealt with how Rapunzel dealt with being locked up alone in a tower with no company. I did find the storyline of the mother more than a little creepy; I guess I couldn't understand any mother doing such a terrible thing to her child. Overall it was a interesting take on a classic tale.
Book Review: Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Firstly, I want to ask why people seem to make such a huge deal about Zel sleeping with the prince. They exchange marriage vows, and nothing is actually said. It was implied, and the only part the story tells is when Konrad wakes up, the next morning. From the way people seem to carry on, you would think it was graphically detailed. I didn't even realize they'd slept together until I skipped back and put two and two together.
While I still wouldn't recommend this book to anyone under twelve, that's only because of the descriptions of Zel's madness in the tower. It was very disturbing, and I cried when I read it. People younger than me might have found it more traumatic, but I think teenagers and preteens could handle it, because it makes the story more emotional and realistic. Overall, it was a great book, disturbing and very romantic toward the end.
Book Review: SUPER GREAT!
Summary: 5 Stars
ZEL is a great book. It is really graphic. Napoli has done a super job writing this book. I would recommend this book to young adult readers. It's not so appropriate for young kids. Because it was so cool, I finished it in one day! Now I want to read the rest of Donna Jo Napoli's books. I'm hoping they are just as good as ZEL.