Review: A clever way of translating a fable into a modern novela
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 31, 2011
In my review of Household Tales by Brothers Grimm, I discussed the fact that fairy tales contain practical lessons for adults, just as myths and parables, if the adults would just take the time to analyze them. This is what Selena Kitt did in this novella. Leaving the gratuitous sex in the story aside, she translated the many facts and symbols in the Rapunzel fairy tale into a modern drama.This is a tale about a woman suffering from cancer, who has taken treatments that resulted in the loss of her hair. She owns a beauty salon and wears a gorgeous wig because she is embarrassed by her hair loss (similar to the enchantress cutting Rapunzel's hair so that she could not use it to bring the prince to her). One of her clients (like the parents in the fairy tale) is more interested in herself than her daughter.  The daughter wants to cut off her hair and give it to a society that collects hair for cancer victims. Her mother refuses her permission to do so. The daughter's father, who is divorced from her mother, is attracted to the salon owner, who avoids him because she is embarrassed about having no hair (similar to Rapunzel being cut off from the prince because she lacked hair). The father agrees to his daughter's hair cutting. He and the salon owner get together by practical means. These are just some of the imaginative details that Kitt drew from the fairy tale for her story.