“Murderer, martyr, monarch, mad.”
- Kasey Spear
- Feb 7, 2017
- 3 min read
My fellow bibliophiles,
The best, most cheesy way I can describe my emotional journey through Heartless is to compare it with first an offering of the carrot (more precisely, carrot cake) and then the stick right in the feels. Heartless brings to mind the Willy Wonka flavor changing gum- whimsical in the beginning but the experience escalates into inexorable heartbreak. You are equally as helpless as Violet Beauregaurd, since you know- thanks to the title- which ending is inevitable.
“Suddenly, the people around the table were no longer strangers. They were friends and confidantes, and she was sharing with them her magic.”
Heartless begins innocently. We meet Lady Catherine Pinkerton, heiress to Rock Turtle Cove, as she schemes with her maid, Mary Ann, to open Sweets and Tarts: The Most Wondrous Bakery in All of Hearts. Cath attends a ball at the King’s Castle but she flees mere moments before the King proposes and stumbles into the King’s new fool, Jest (insert swoon here). Here begins Cath’s battle that you watch with a growing pit of dread in your stomach. “What good is a cake if you can’t eat it?”
Throughout the story, Cath struggles to master her fate and realize her goals. No crown. No Rock Turtle Cove. Nothing but life with who and what she loves. However, Victorian era morals, expectations of the nobility, and borderline emotionally abusive parents present rage-inducing roadblocks. The Kingdom of Hearts, its King, its gentry, and - to an extent- some of its common folk, are vapid people with simple whims. Cath’s growth as the story progresses sets her increasingly apart from her fellow citizens. Heartless is far more than a mere love story. Cath is every person that has fought for a seemingly impossible dream. You start to share in her desperation as Cath’s schemes are foiled again and again. By the time you reach the end, you can’t hate her for the wrathful Queen she becomes. “Off with his head.”
Meyer plays with many familiar tales. Her interpretation of characters that later appear in Alice In Wonderland offers explanations for why they act as they do. You gain a deeper appreciation for them if you ever spend a little time reading Lewis Carroll's novels. If you have not then I highly recommend taking on the task. Carroll's novel, to the modern reader, may read as a simple, nonsensical children's tale but once you read it using Meyer's interpretation, new life and meaning is breathed into both novels. Having never read Alice in Wonderland, the experience felt like a delightful scavenger hunt. Throughout Alice in Wonderland, I kept finding tiny details that inspired fairly significant plot points in the Heartless. I admired Heartless from the moment I closed the book, but after reading Alice In Wonderland, I itch to read it again. Meyer borrows from all the books of Alice's adventures and just a little more from other familiar nursery rhymes and famous stories but not enough to bog down the story or confuse you if you don't understand the references.
"‘We want you to be happy. That’s all we’ve ever wanted. Is this what’s going to make you happy?’
‘How different everything could have been,’ she said, ‘if you had thought to ask me that before.’"
Most importantly, consider Heartless in the tradition of Wicked by Gregory Maguire (to whom Meyer gives a nod in a follow-up author’s note). A well-done and enjoyable interpretation that compels you to befriend otherwise unforgivable villains and share in their grief over the loss of love, innocence, and dreams.
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