Matchless, by Gregory Maguire: A Review

Note: Though Matchless is several years old, as well as a holiday story, I just encountered it this week and had to share my thoughts. . .
In the past several years, National Public Radio has made it a tradition to present to their listener’s a Christmas Day Version of their popular segment, All Things Considered. This special segment usually includes a Christmas themed story written and read by a popular author. In 2008 Gregory Maguire was asked to be this special guest .
The author, who is popular for his retellings of popular fairytales including Wicked, and Mirror, Mirror (The Wizard of Oz and Snow White), readily accepted the opportunity to charm readers with yet another magically rewoven version of a classic tale. Maguire did not disappoint. What the author did do however, was surprise. Taking a risk with some rather heavy holiday subject matter, Maguire approached Hans Christen Anderson’s holiday classic The Little Match Girl (1843). In case you are not familiar with the story of The Little Match Girl, it’s pretty simple and goes something like this:
“On a cold New Year’s Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast…she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and … The child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. ” (From Wikipedia)
So . . . Yikes.
On its own, The Little Match Girl may have been a tad too dated - and maybe more than a tad too tragic for a modern holiday audience. But wizard that he is, Gregory Maguire found a way, weaving in a thread so golden, so luminary, it is nearly impossible to resist the new tapestry. To update the tale, Maguire has moved the story to take place over Christmas Eve, changed the character from a Grandmother to a mother, and made the father a much more gentle soul. Most significant is that Maguire has introduced to the story Fredrick, a poor boy in pursuit of a better life for himself and his mother. This story is lacking nothing, but surprisingly and perhaps even refreshingly diverges in form from Maguire’s usual works which often feature anthropomorphism and other mystical elements. Maguire chooses this Christmas story to instead focus on elements of the divine, alluding to the experience of life after death and the journey of the human soul.
Once you encounter Matchless, whether it’s performed, or you experience it in its sparse but beautifully illustrated book format, it’s just kind of becomes hard to shake. Maguire has provided for audiences several things that were lost in the original story – transcendence, reason, and hope. Fredrick’s connections to the little match girl are undeniably moving, and what later comes of that freezing Christmas Eve night will this time leave you breathless.

Note: Though Matchless is several years old, as well as a holiday story, I just encountered it this week and had to share my thoughts. . .

In the past several years, National Public Radio has made it a tradition to present to their listener’s a Christmas Day Version of their popular segment, All Things Considered. This special segment usually includes a Christmas themed story written and read by a popular author. In 2008 Gregory Maguire was asked to be this special guest .

The author, who is popular for his retellings of popular fairytales including Wicked, and Mirror, Mirror (The Wizard of Oz and Snow White), readily accepted the opportunity to charm readers with yet another magically rewoven version of a classic tale. Maguire did not disappoint. What the author did do however, was surprise. Taking a risk with some rather heavy holiday subject matter, Maguire approached Hans Christen Anderson’s holiday classic The Little Match Girl (1843). In case you are not familiar with the story of The Little Match Girl, it’s pretty simple and goes something like this:

“On a cold New Year’s Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast…she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and … The child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. ” (From Wikipedia)

So . . . Yikes.

On its own, The Little Match Girl may have been a tad too dated - and maybe more than a tad too tragic for a modern holiday audience. But wizard that he is, Gregory Maguire found a way, weaving in a thread so golden, so luminary, it is nearly impossible to resist the new tapestry.

To update the tale, Maguire has moved the story to take place over Christmas Eve, changed the character from a Grandmother to a mother, and made the father a much more gentle soul. Most significant is that Maguire has introduced to the story Fredrick, a poor boy in pursuit of a better life for himself and his mother.

This story is lacking nothing, but surprisingly and perhaps even refreshingly diverges in form from Maguire’s usual works which often feature anthropomorphism and other mystical elements. Maguire chooses this Christmas story to instead focus on elements of the divine, alluding to the experience of life after death and the journey of the human soul.

Once you encounter Matchless, whether it’s performed, or you experience it in its sparse but beautifully illustrated book format, it’s just kind of becomes hard to shake. Maguire has provided for audiences several things that were lost in the original story – transcendence, reason, and hope. Fredrick’s connections to the little match girl are undeniably moving, and what later comes of that freezing Christmas Eve night will this time leave you breathless.