I have to say that at first I thought that this was going to be one of those books that I really was going to drag through reading. Sure, I liked the short chapters (I have liked these types of chapters in novels since I was a child) and the author bringing me (actually talking to me!) into the story, was rather interesting. Still, a mouse falling in love with a human princess? I just wasn't buying into it. Plus, how in the world did that mouse grow up so quickly? It was like one minute he was being born and the next he was scampering through the castle and finding the open book in the castle library! However, I am glad it was a required reading, because I got more into it with the second book. I guess that I am just a plot driven person and until the entrance of more characters other than the mice in the castle and Despereaux (as cute as I am sure he is), I just wasn't into the book. With the entrance of the second book and the understanding of Chiaroscuro as a sinister rat that only wanted to see and be surrounded by light, I really picked up interest. What creepy characters rats played in this book. This is much different from The Rats of Nemph, in which rats are only trying to survive from the main enemy of human invasion. In this story, they are horrible creatures that only live to make others miserable, and how easily they dothis! I was really expecting Chiaroscuro to change with the entrance of light into his life, but he never really did. All in all, he stayed the sinister and horrible rat that he was born into being. I wanted him to change to show that there was some goodness, even if only a little, down there in that dungeon. The only goodness was Gregory and he ended up being lost in total darkness and died alone in the dungeon.
I have read one other of the author's books and that being Because of Winn-Dixie. As I read The Tale of Despereaux I tried to connect the two stories and styles together somehow, but I had a difficult time. I guess that the main characters are similar in that they are both trying to find themselves in a world that doesn't seem to accept their differences very easily. However, in Opal's case in Because of Winn-Dixie, she tends to gather other outsiders in with love and acceptance and poor little Desperaux tends to work through life on this own. Both also had endings that seemed somewhat happy, but nothing with that "fairy-tale-happily-ever-after" feel to them. Opal's mother never returned, but she seemed to finally except this in the end and Despereaux and the Princess Pea did not "fall in love and marry" (though honestly, I would have had a harder time relating to that). However, the king in The Tale of Despereaux and Opal's father (the Preacher) were both lost in their own worlds of sorrow and trying hard to hold on to their daughters. As a read I began to wonder if Kate DiCamillo writes all of her stories with a theme of unfortunate characters who find acceptance in a world that seems difficult? At the end of the story I was ready to make little Despereaux the most comfortable mouse in the castle for the rest of his days with books galore for him to read!
I happened to ask one of my students if she had read The Tale of Depereaux and instantly she said she had and that it was definitely a book that she loved so much that she couldn't put it down! Therefore, maybe my older age is starting to kick in and maybe I am not enjoying fantasy as much as I should. Maybe I could use a bit more "Once Upon a Time... and ...Happily Ever After"!
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I had a very different interpretation of Roscuro's character. I thought that, like Despereaux, he was born different than other rats. He wanted light not to inflict pain. I thought that the other rat influenced him negatively and his "crooked" heart also made him a sinister being. However, I thought that with a good influence and a different turn of events when he entered the light, that he would have been a lot like Despereaux.
I was glad to read your different interpretation. Some food for thought.
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