Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker

Let me begin with this: there is nothing predictable about Maguire's books. That is a compliment. I know that this in itself does not guarantee a good book, but it helps that Maguire is a very good writer. This is not a tightly plotted novel nor a heartwarming holiday story, but a moody sort of rambling (something reminded me of Hesse) with some inspired musings on life, death, childhood, memory...I find the "traditional" Nutcracker story a weird, unsettling little tale in itself, so who better than Maguire to have a go at cracking it open?

“You might forget a story, but you can never unhear a story.”

I can't help but feel like I missed something with this book. Maybe I don't know the Nutcracker story well enough? Or read enough of "the flowering of German Romanticism ties to Hellenic mystery-cults" - but either way, I just did not enjoy this one. Full of odd magic realism/fantasy type story but also shocking moments of swearing and odd sexual incidents. There were times that it felt more modern than some of the time, placing and information would push you to assume. I never felt pulled into the story and, instead, often times found myself disgusted or frustrated with Dirk. He seemed to flit around, making random choices without thinking of consequences and then just show more moved on to the next thing.

I don't think it's a good example of Maguire's amazing ability to pull readers into a world we think we know and remaking it. I love many of his other stories and will definitely keep reading him! show less

You have to go into reading a book by Gregory Maguire with an open mind. I didn’t know that when I read my first book authored by him but it’s apparent pretty quickly that you are entering a different kind of world. His books are not going to be for everyone and I’ve run into people that love them as I do and just as many that don’t get them. I find it surprising that I enjoy them as much as I do as I am such a literal thinker. To me that is a testament to Mr. Maguire’s ability to create a reality within his fantasy worlds. To somehow ground them in enough that is believable for a person to accept animals that talk or worlds beyond the type we inhabit.

Hiddensee is not the Nutcracker’s story but rather his creator’s. Like show more most I suspect, I had never given much thought to this aspect of the tale, but rather only to the more familiar; the young girl, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s music is familiar to most and calls to mind the happy children skipping along and of course that famous dancing fairy.

This book, though goes to dark places. The godfather who sets the tale in motion bringing the Nutcracker to little Klara is the focus of Hiddensee and his back story is not really a happy one. It’s this tale that Maguire mines for his book. He takes his reader through a rather dark childhood through the use of the German fairytales that most of us grew up on and the author assumes his reader has at least a general knowledge of these tales. I don’t know if they are still told to children but some of the first stories I was read included Grimm’s fairy tales. Seemingly happy for children but far more threatening when read through the eyes of an adult, eh?

The godfather’s origins were not happy and this book explores that and at times it can get a little slow but overall the magic that is Mr. Maguire’s writing pulls you out of those sections and the overall reading experience is like eating a sugar plum. show less

Hiddensee is a re-imagined novel of the infamous Nutcracker story, which I found really unique and was initially, quite excited to read.

Dirk grew up deep in the woods, far from any town or village, with the old lady and the old man; until the day he ran away after an accident in the woods left him with one eye and the sneaking suspicion the pair had tried to kill him. The novel follows Dirk as he makes he way through Bavaria, never settling for terribly long in once place. After traveling the world, he sets up shop as a toy-maker, carving beautiful figurines from wood, earning himself quite the reputation. Finally as an old man, he gifts his prized Nutcracker, carved from the wood of that log ago forest in which he was raised, to the show more sickly Klara, his goddaughter. In what her parents are convinced are fever dreams, Klaras toys come to life at night in an epic battle, the Nutcracker included.

Having read many of Maguires novels in the past (Wicked, Son of a Witch, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), I had really high hopes for this book. Unfortunately I just really didn't love it. I wanted to love it so bad, but I didn't. I found it boring and uneventful. There were parts that were entertaining and exciting. I was particularly fond of the time Felix and Dirk spent together, and was pretty bummed that nothing ever really transpired between the two as far as a romantic relationship. It was confusing at times and hard to follow, perhaps it was too nuanced with hidden meanings that I really just didn't understand? Either way, this was my least favorite of Maguires books. Not really where he was trying to go with this book, but I would have found a book about Felix and Dirks relationship much more appealing than the genesis of the Nutcracker (which really only comprised a very small portion of the book). Overall, this book wasn't for me, but I wouldn't discourage you from reading if you enjoy this genre. show less

Having read most of his other books, I had expectations going into this one. The first half to three quarters of this book I really enjoyed, but then it seems either the author or I got lost in the end. There were many little paths he seemed to want to take us down, and it would have been willingly, but instead he turned and went another way. It still has his unique style of telling the story and I enjoyed the read and would recommend it to others. It's an interesting chapter he's added to the nutcracker that's worth sharing.

Ok, so, I plowed through it. The place, Hiddensee, is both real and a sort of a metaphor I guess. Maguire sure likes to show off his erudition, vocabulary, and purple prose... to the point where I didn't always understand exactly what was going on. I wish I could've cared more about Dirk, but I just didn't. The story got interesting to me when he got old and we caught up to Hoffmann's events; before that it was pretty boring to me. And the end is rather abrupt with plenty of loose threads. It could have enhanced the original; instead it basically told its own, largely irrelevant story. I'm not a fan of the original text or the ballet (though I do like the music), and still I liked this less. Sorry.

I had a hard time staying interested in this one. I feel that way about ~50% of Maguire's works that I've read, and the others I have loved. The book felt slow and meandering at times, while at others it skipped through interesting pieces of story in just a paragraph or so. I felt no attachment to Dirk, so it was hard to care about his various strained relationships. There was a moment that connected for me related to the passing of time and the way that you can feel unaltered while the world around you changes, and I'm glad I had that moment. Otherwise, I could have missed this one.