The Nutcracker

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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What's The Nutcracker About?
This is a story about a little girl who gets a nutcracker from her toy-making godfather. But this is no ordinary nutcracker: it's magical—it's a prince trapped in a wooden figure until he's freed (like Belle's Beast).

At night, this Nutcracker comes to life (like Buzz, Woody, and the rest) to do battle against the mice in the girl's palace. The war between the Nutcracker and the mice—in particular, the seven-headed Mouse King, goes back to when the Nutcracker was human, and wages on.

And then things get weird...
A Couple of Confessions
I'm part of the probably 5-15% of Western Culture who needed the above, many of you probably rolled your eyes at me including that. But:

1. Until I got the newsletter from Fahrenheit Press talking about this release, I had no idea that this novel existed. Obviously, I knew about the ballet and a handful of the adaptations of it. But a novel started it all? What rock was I living under to have missed that?

2. I have never watched the ballet, or finished any of the various adaptations. I get bored, or distracted, or just decide it's just a mess of a show. Maybe now that I've actually read the novel, I can make persevere to the end.

or

* They also do some great charity work at this time of year, even as a struggling indie press, an example to us all.

The Nutcracker

Arabian Nights

The Princess Bride

Marathon Man