Zel by Donna Jo Napoli is a retelling of Rapunzel, as the name would suggest and this may very well be one of the most disturbing and dark rooted fairy tale retellings I have ever read. Part of what unsettled me so much about this story is that Mother genuinely loves Zel but it is an extremely unhealthy love. Her whole world is wrapped up around her daughter and she is willing to do anything to keep that close mother-daughter bond intact and keep Zel with her always. To me, abuse is always scarier and creepier when the abuser is claiming love as the motivator.
It is terrifying how easily love is corrupted into obsession and this story gives two examples of this. Mother loves Zel and desperately wants her to remain with her forever. She does love Zel, but there are other, far darker reasons for her desire to keep Zel close. Then there is Konrad. He meets Zel at the market place and is captivated by her eyes and is fascinated by her. She leaves before he can figure out who she is and he becomes obsessed with finding her again. His days are spent searching for her, his money spent paying townsfolk for tiny tidbits of information and his thoughts are always full of her.
This is a story of obsession, of twisted, tangled love and of our deepest desires of what dark things we are willing to do to fulfill our deepest wishes. And more than anything it is a story of madness and all the many forms it may manifest itself. Never in any other version of Rapunzel have I seen madness as a part of the story. But if you think about what Rapunzel's life must be like, locked away in a high tower for years, seeing no one but her mother once a day, it is a wonder no one has used madness to tell her story before.
I read this book for the first time a few years ago, and didn't quite know what to think. When I read it, I had mostly read the traditional retellings, which stay in the realm of 'happily ever after' and 'Once upon a time'. I had not had much personal experience with the darker fairy tales beyond the original Grimm's versions and I was not really prepared for this book. But I liked it, and it intrigued me, made me want to read more and understand deeper. Zel is a story that even in the happy moments is tinged with an undercurrent, at times both subtle and overt, of pain and darkness just out of reach.
This retelling is haunting. It is darkness. It is madness. It is eerie and chilling and dark. And yet, it also, somehow hopeful. It is a compelling read, one that makes you think, makes you wonder, makes you question. But it is not one that makes you sorry for the reading.