Six-Gun Snow White

Catherynne M. Valente and I have this relationship: I think her books sound interesting, pick them up, and then I start to read them and stop. I can't exactly say why. This has happened with Palimpset and The Girl Who Circumvented Fairy Land in blah, blah, blah. Honestly, it's me. I just can't shovel through the mucky muck to get to the real story. That is, Valente takes a very long walk around the garden, pointing out butterflies in order to make her point and by the time she does, I have forgotten why I cared in the first place.
It's like listening to a charming old person rattle on about a war you are interested in. They wander in the storytelling, and in fact jump decades on you every once in a while. After a half an hour, you begin to plot how to remove your sense of hearing without the old person noticing and your neck hurts from bobbing your head up and down politely. It's not that you don't want to like the story. It's not that you don't like the person telling the story. It's the “how” of the delivery.

So. I made it through 6 Gun, and that either means that it sucks (because I really liked it) or the reason why I liked it is because Valente really reigns it in.

The chapters are short. Some are only a paragraph long. The chapter titles do not make sense until you read the chapter (like cheeky hints), Snow White is kick ass, and the world Valente created is so VERY interesting.
Why is it interesting? Because she does not give us too many details and instead we need to fill in the gaps by using our own imaginations. A boardwalk with a saloon created as a child's paradise! A personal petting zoo! A magic mirror! A deadly mine!

No spoilers, and I plan to give this a 4 as soon as Goodreads comes back up, but Snow White meets.....we shall say, “a group of characters” who I adored and wanted to stay with and learn more about. In fact, I wish those characters could have their own book.

Overall, I'm a bit tired of fairy tale retellings. I do appreciate the effort to be original here.

I may just be crazy enough to try The Melancholy of Mechagirl, but probably not.

EDIT: sorry about your power failure troubles, Goodreads. I'm glad you are back! This review is also featured on my blog.