Bookies! No Spoiler Book Review: Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire. Could Hiddensee Have Been Better?

Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire creates a backstory for Herr Drosselmeier of Nutcracker ballet fame. A worthy subject of a book review and recommendation.

Drosselmeier. The eye patched toymaker who made the nutcracker. Maguire excels at fantasy, but there was far too little of that aspect in Hiddensee. Hiddensee needed a nudge toward the fantastical and magical for it to excel as a compelling story.

Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked, has gifted us with another interesting novel in which a familiar theme or character is re-presented. In Hiddensee the reader receives hints of German Romanticism, the magical, the dark influence of the Black Forest, and a brief cameo of the Brothers Grimm.

Maguire's Drosselmeier is not the toy wielding package of entertainment to children that is presented in the ballet. Drosselmeier is instead presented as a foundling child who was unloved, who likewise grew to old age, and, for the most part, remained exactly that ... unloved.

While Maguire excelled at presenting Drosselmeier as such, unfortunately, it made for a rather dull character. Drosselmeier is nothing more than a simple man who drifts from place to place with unfulfilled hopes and wishes. The environment acts upon Drosselmeier, and he is never the main mover in the story of life. In real life, not every person must be a dynamic soul. However, in fantasy literature, it does aid in drafting a compelling protagonist.

Regrettably, when the protagonist is rather dull, it makes it very difficult to entrance the reader with the fantastical ... the magical. Given that this is where Maguire excels as an author, it is somewhat astounding that Drosselmeier is simply presented as a simple, unloved man. Surely he could have remained as such if only his surrounding environment was of greater interest? Alternately, Maguire could have given Drosselmeier a bit more depth.

As an advisement to those who are considering Hiddensee for a Christmas read, Hiddensee does not shift into the context of Christmas until the last twenty percent. When Maguire does land in that context, he does present it well. However, Christmas is not the subject. It is merely the context. This story could have been presented as the character study that it is without any mention of Christmas. This is not a criticism of the novel. Rather, it is a simple advisement to the reader.

In total, Maguire gives us a fast paced, readable novel with some fantasy elements. He writes his protagonist well. However, Drosselmeier is simply not compelling. Hiddensee appears to this reviewer as a lost opportunity to create something dynamic and compelling.

Hiddensee receives a Bookies! rating of 3.25 stars out of 5.

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