Author: Gregory Frost
Genre: Fantasy/historical
fiction/fairy tale
Age: Upper high school and
older.
Topics for discussion:
This book might be an interesting way to introduce reseach on doomsday
cults and suicide pacts. Not exactly an uplifting topic, but
definitely worth further study.
Summary: Catherine's parents
are convinced that the doomsday prophecies
of Elias Fitcher are not to be ignored, and that the only way to be
saved from the impending destruction and hellfire is to move to
Fitcher's compound. The family packs up and moves, and it's not
long before Fitcher has taken shine to Catherine's oldest sister.
But Catherine has started to notice some very odd things, both in her
own home, which seems to be haunted, and on the compound itself where
people seem to mysteriously disappear. Despite Catherine's
growing concerns, her sister marries Fitcher, only to disappear a few
month later. Fitcher then begins courting Catherine's other
sister, eventually marrying her as well. When she disappears as
well, Catherine decides to get to the bottom of things and agrees to
marry Fitcher only so that she can better investigate the mysterious
compound. What she discovers is positively chilling.
Review: The story is
based on the Bluebeard fairy tales, and
there is a reason why Disney has never tried to clean this one up;
every version I have read of this tale is gruesome--we're talking lots
of blood and body parts. Fitcher's Brides also does not shy away
from the sexual aspects of each marriage, two of which are a little too
graphic and disturbing for my taste. While I felt that the
characterizations were very well done, and the beginning of the book
was well developed, the content disturbed me enough that I won't be
reading this one again. I was also bothered by the ending, which
relies a little too heavily on the supernatural, which is surprising
since throughout the entire novel Catherine is always trying to find
logical explanations. I
expected her to at last find a logical explanation and was disappointed
when all the odd occurences really do turn out to have supernatural
sources. In a way, this is what keeps the story true to its fairy
tale origins, but I guess as a reader I would have liked a little more
of a warning.
Christian perspective: I
can't honestly recommend this book for
Christian readers. While the book may generate some interesting
discussion among adults, I feel that most of the content is not
appropriate for young people. While it is proven in the end that
Fitcher is no Christian, there is definitely an overall negative view
of organized religion portrayed throughout the book. My only
interest in the book was as a retelling of a fairy tale, and really is
only worth reading as such if you have an interest in that sort of
thing. That said, there are many other fairy tale retellings that
are much more suitable for the general audience.