Six-Gun Snow White - SFBA Book Club

Hardcover, 167 pages

English language

Published Jan. 31, 2013 by Subterranean Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-59606-552-9
OCLC Number:: 828097718
ISFDB ID:: 1720807
Goodreads:: 16104414

(1 review)

From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title’s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves.

A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother’s death in childbirth, so begins a heroine’s tale equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through …

From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title’s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves.

A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother’s death in childbirth, so begins a heroine’s tale equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, readers will be enchanted by this story at once familiar and entirely new.

4 editions

Lazyreader@bookrastinating.com reviewed Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente

So much potential

4 stars

Loved the writing style, sharp, descriptive, and despite speaking in a slangy 1800's vernacular, it didn't feel forced.

This is a novella and I feel like that screwed the pacing up. There were tons of interesting details at the beginning of the story and I got invested in the characters. But as it went on the point of view shifted from first person to third person, and the pace of the story got faster and faster, but not in a measured way leading up to a showdown. In fact things just fizzled out weirdly at the end, like the author lost interest. Loose ends were left dangling.

Four stars just for the cool opening chapters though. I'm going to go see if the author has written any longer works.

Lists

Locus Award for Best Novella