Book Review: “Heartless” by Marissa Meyer
Marissa Meyer’s “Heartless,” a story about how the Queen of Hearts was simply a girl who wanted to fall in love until her heart was broken, contains the meaningful journey of heartbreak and betrayal that led to her final transformation. Each step of the story engages the reader as Catherine, the main character, suffers through the pressure put on her by her parents and her forbidden romance with a court jester, whom her parents see as below her.
Marissa Meyer blends a mix of Lewis Carroll’s famous “Alice in Wonderland” and its whimsical elements into the story, adding her new ideas to create an alluring tale of magic and love. Seamlessly continuing into “Alice in Wonderland,” Marissa Meyer creates a new story running wild with imagination and the impossible.
The story follows Catherine, also known as Cath, a talented baker whose ambition is to open a bakery in the kingdom of Hearts with her best friend, Mary Ann. However, the King of Hearts decides to propose to Cath, who does not want to marry him but is pressured by her family, especially her mother, to accept his proposal. Her life changes when she meets Jest, a charming and mysterious court joker, at a ball, and starts to fall in love with him against her family’s wishes.
In order to please her parents, Cath must choose the king and put her happiness at risk. Though Cath’s life seems completely disconnected from the world that people live in today, Marissa Meyer grounds her with human emotions and struggles that everyone has been through, shaping her into someone people can relate to and understand her difficult journey. As she tries to find a way to please both her family and make herself happy, each choice she makes continues to make her into the menacing Queen of Hearts that people know her as today.
The story’s strength lies in how Marissa Meyer connects Cath with the feeling of doing something that a loved one forbids and struggling between pleasing others or putting herself first. While some might see this book as one backstory of many for the Queen of Hearts, the journey allows people to connect with someone in a world that is completely separated from themselves, offering a new perspective on something people experience firsthand in their lives. Ending the story with the ever-familiar “Off with his head,” the author adds a touch of transition into “Alice in Wonderland.”
Overall, this book is a worthy book to immerse oneself in for hours, and Marissa Meyer delivers a meaningful story of how one must stay true to themselves.
