Dream within a dream within a dream
"She awakens to repeated awakenings as though trapped in some strange mechanism..."
This mechanism, quite darkly (in the true tradition of the fairy tale, and perhaps a few steps beyond) serves to explore the question posed by the good/bad fairy:
"Desire: what is it exactly?"
At a mere eighty-six pages, Coover could have probably accomplished his goal in less than half that, and not lost my interest so thoroughly along the way. I can handle a good bit of gauzy unreality in a story (especially when it's a modern take on an old tale, which fascinates me), but this work is mired beneath its own tiresome meandering and double weight.
If you'd like a more enjoyable (and still not entirely fluffy) Sleeping Beauty modernization, Robin McKinley's Spindle's End has more going for it.
