The Golden Braid

Title: The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

Image:

Genre: Christian. Fairy Tales

Justification:

           This was a genre that did not have any interest for me. I understood the importance but not being a Christian I had no desire to read a Christian book. When looking for a book I wanted one that was young adult and not overly Christian. When looking of Goodreads The Golden Braid (Hagenheim #6) appeared. This book met the requirements for the assignment and did not appear overly Christian and had good reviews. It was given 4.09 stars with 4,929 ratings (GoodReads, 2019). This book looked promising. It was also basted on a fairy tale and as a reader my love is fractures fairy tales. Amazon rated the book #40 in Teen & Young Adult Christian Fantasy (Amazon, n.d.). 

Evaluation of the book:

The pacing of this book was slow. The book spent its time developing the characters. As an avid fairy tale reader, I was read for Rapunzel to be locked in a tower. This over did not happen till the last third of the book. The book went over her moving and her mom’s desire to shied her from men. It then had elements of drama but left some pieces undeveloped. Rapunzel and Gothel were attacked by two men yet the other man is not found and never spoken of again. As a reader I spent the whole book what happened to the other attacker. When the action started the book became to pick up the pace. Once Rapunzel starts to learn to read the book speeds up.

The book used several themes of Chasity, friendship, forgivness, and focus on God. This book is geared to Christian audience. Rapunzel learns to read from the bible. She prays to God to deliver her salvation. Garek cannot find her until after he prays, and divine intervention shows him how to find her. “But all he could do was pray that God would make him a good husband (Dickerson, 2015, p. 275). When Rapunzel wanted to learn how to read the monks have Garek teach her with the door open because they did not want to break their vow of Chasity and they felt she would be temptation. Garek also has to learn to forgive himself and reconsolidate with his family and get forgiveness from them and acceptance as well. The book has many Christian intersecting themes.

          Gothel is a dynamic character. She grows and develops over time. She begins as an overprotective doting caring mother. From there she becomes set on revenge. Finally, she goes mad. Rapunzel stays fairly static through the whole book which is surprising for a protagonist. She wants to read so reads, she feels guilty for her looks and actions and retains this guilt to the end. Sir Gerek is more dynamic. He goes from the hero to grumpy to caring. He goes above and beyond to save Rapunzel and do the right thing.

Response:

          © Christian literature is not usually my first choice of books to read. However, this book was an interesting read. I learned how many different subsets of Christian literature there are. It was interesting to read this fairy tale from a different perspective. It also, made me more accepting of literature that I would not lean to or read in order to assist my students and patrons.

 (a) I learned a new version of Rapunzel as well. I have always read the book where she is already locked in the tower. In this version the reader gets to learn how she got locked in the tower.  This reminded me of how everyone has their own battle to fight. We must break free of our expectations and bonds to become the person we are meant to be.

 (b) This book used a lot of architypes and Christian themes. I felt it was over the top and forced. The messages about good and evil were important. I am not a Christian and would not read the rest of the series, but it was important to read to understand what books students are might be interested in. The author spent a lot of time discussing how women needed to cover up, to not be with men, to wait till marriage. How you should not trust males and how they did not trust themselves. I have had several male friends who I felt safe being in a room with and I do not think it should only be the women who needs to cover up and that she is only an object of lust. The book does try to make her a strong woman but having her rebel to learn to better herself by reading and knife throwing. This however, still does not diminish the trope that women need to be saved.

Conclusion:

          The Golden Braid is an interesting take on a popular fairy tale. It does a great job of explaining of back story of the fairy tale and including some of the traditional elements of the fairy tale. It does have a lot of Christian themes and language. It has a decent pacing, with Christian themes and strong archetypal character development.  This was an interesting read and opened my eyes to how diverse Christian literature is.

Citation:

Amazon. (n.d.). The Golden Braid. Retrieved from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Braid-Melanie-Dickerson/dp/0718026268/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=golden+braid+book&psr=EY17&qid=1575062853&s=black-friday&sr=1-2-catcorr

Dickerson, M. (2015). The Golden Braid. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

GoodReads. (2019). The Golden Braid (Hagenheim #6). Retrieved from goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25290956-the-golden-braid

The University of Texas at El Paso. (n.d.). How to Write a Reaction Paper or Reader Response. Retrieved from Reader Response: http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/engl0310link/readerresponse.htm