I'm surprised by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. This is completely different from her Dairy Queen series. It took a while to get into and understand all the people and introductions they had when it was their chapter. I got into it about a quarter or more of the way in. I thought it was a good story but there was too much confusion on my part by the way everything was layed out. I also didn't enjoy completely the way it was written but other times I did.

Longer review to come. ( )

It might have been good as a straight narrative, as a mix of plays, letters, etc.
it is horrible. ( )

I enjoyed the various ways the story was presented from the multiple viewpoints. ( )

This is a fun tale that references various fairy tales (Puss-in-Boots and Sleeping Beauty, for instance). Ben from "Princess Ben" is back and there is intrigue and magic and villains to be had in plenty. The format is fun as well - a mixture of drama, dictionary, memoir, and letter. ( )

Although not obviously apparent for most of the book, this is actually a reimagined fairy tale. The whole thing does read like a fairy tale, with princesses and betrayal and cats and magic. What makes this book really stand out is the method that Murdock uses to tell the story. Most of the plot unfolds through characters memoirs written ex post facto, diary entries or letters written to others. There are also little snippets of plays interspersed between the other formats. These generally depicted a scene that had been already described but in extra-dramatic Shakespearean style. I thought this way of telling the story showed ingenuity and was surprisingly effective.

The characters, however, did not meet with similar satisfaction. So many of them were incredibly dumb, including the poorly-named wisdom. Really the only one I liked at all was Trudy, who had a seriously awkward ending. She's the first character you meet, but her story is rattled off like a note in the end credits. The Queen Mother, who I believe is Ben from Princess Ben, one of Murdock's earlier novels that I have not read, is awkward. If her young character is anything like this crazy grandmother, I'm not sure that I want to read that book. If young Ben is not this way, why would you do this to her? And what happened to her husband?

My only previous experience with Murdock was Dairy Queen, which I did not like. For one thing, I have no interest in football. For another, the main character was not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, which, since the story was written in first person, meant that the writing was not particularly good. Plus, she was a serious jerk to her best friend when the friend confessed that she was a lesbian. The writing in Wisdom's Kiss was, for the most part better, although Tips' letters drove me crazy.

All in all, this is a very odd book, but it was rather amusing and constructed in a unique manner. I enjoyed reading it and my opinion of Murdock has improved slightly, but she's still not going to be a favorite author. ( )