Suzannah Rowntree's Reviews > Ella Enchanted

MAGNIFICENT.

I missed this classic 90s YA novel until this year, for a number of reasons. I've been meaning to get to it for a while, but I guess I just expected it to be a charming YA novel with some deeper-than-usual themes. What I didn't expect was that this book was going to be so profound, punch me SO hard in the feels, provide such a heartfelt and well-written romance, or give me such a glorious eucatastrophe at the end. That last one is still boggling my mind a bit because it's a trope I've never liked before: (view spoiler)[I've never been happy with an ending in which the heroine simply has to dig deep inside to break her curse through an effort of willpower; it feels a bit too much like the people who think the only reason someone is disabled is because they haven't tried hard enough to be well (hide spoiler)]. But in this book, specifically, it works; and I think the reason it works and still feels like a fairytale is because in the end it's not Ella's power but the power of true love within her.

And then there are the themes, which, as I said, are profound. Ella has been cursed to be obedient, which allows the book to explore all sorts of ideas around this topic. The way that unquestioning obedience puts Ella in danger - and also endangers the people she loves. The way that she can't grow up and attain maturity until she's able to exercise her own judgement and her own conscience in the face of others' commands. The way that Ella continues to be resentful and rebellious even while rendering punctilious obedience, because it's not coming from a place of genuine love and choice.

Basically, this is the doctrine of the right and duty of private judgement in YA fairytale romance form. Which makes it, I am shocked to discover, the most Protestant book I have ever read in my life.