Four Stars out of Five
This was my first time reading one of the Disney Twisted Tales, which is a series of books based on popular/classic Disney films that showcase re-imaginings of said stories. I had lukewarm feelings about the 2013 movie Frozen, upon which this novel is based, so I didn’t have very high hopes. However, much to my surprise, I enjoyed it and felt it improved upon the first film.
Plot-wise, Conceal, Don’t Feel, by Jen Calonita, is based on the premise, “What if Elsa and Anna never knew each other?”. Thus, the novel explores a variation of Frozen‘s story line where Elsa and Anna, while still sisters (unbeknownst to them), have been physically separated and raised by different families. Elsa remains in the palace with her parents, the king and queen of Arendelle, and Anna lives with a baker and his wife in a mountainside village. The two girls couldn’t be any more different yet each one senses there is a missing piece out there. In time, Elsa’s wintry powers, which she has tried to stifle throughout her childhood, come to light and she is forced to flee. At the same time, Anna feels compelled that Princess Elsa needs her help though Anna can’t explain why. As Elsa goes into self-imposed exile, Anna takes off to find the missing princess who has now made herself a target. Can Anna reach Elsa to warn her in time? And will the two young ladies ever uncover the mystery that seems to bind them?
As stated, Disney Twisted Tales (the titles of which are derived from songs from their respective movies) takes well-known, beloved Disney animated films and re-imagines them in various ways. Some stories possess only subtle changes to the film’s original plot while others are complete overhauls. Based on reviews of the series as a whole, readers seem split. Some like the unique retellings while others assert the stories are either not different enough from the movies or are too different and almost unrecognizable. I suppose it comes down to whether or not you mind if your favorite Disney movies get a (sometimes drastic) creative facelift. I was on the fence, not leaning one way or the other, and wanted to check out this series for myself.
Conceal, Don’t Feel was a strong first impression and I was surprised at how much I liked it. It goes beyond being just a Frozen novelization by changing up the first film’s story in critical ways (some of which count as spoilers). It also allows readers to experience what the main characters are thinking and feeling, something a film can’t do by nature of its medium. This book became a page-turner as, seeing as this is a retelling, it featured plot twists that could change the story. As mentioned earlier, I had lukewarm sentiments about Frozen: I didn’t hate it as it’s impressively animated and peppered with memorable songs, but it didn’t enthrall me with its predictable plot (though I ended up adoring Frozen II.) However, I don’t harbor the same feelings towards Conceal, Don’t Feel as it either patches the first movie’s plot holes or avoids them altogether.
Part of this is due to the revised premise this novel’s story is based on (“What if Anna and Elsa never knew each other?”). In Frozen, sisters Elsa and Anna are separated (but reside together in the palace) because of Elsa’s growing powers. As children, Elsa accidentally injures her sister, leading her parents to seek magical aid. As a result, Anna is made to forget both the incident and the fact Elsa has powers, and Elsa is encouraged to put a damper on her abilities. However, the movie’s logic in this regard created plot holes that I could never reconcile. But Conceal, Don’t Feel rectifies these through its altered premise.
Here, Elsa still has magical abilities but has no idea she has a sister; and Anna, who lives in a neighboring village, also has no memory of a sister. Rather than have both sisters grow up together under the same roof yet live separate lives, they have been raised in two different environments by two different families. So while Elsa is given a royal upbringing by her biological parents, Anna is raised as a commoner by an adoptive family and removed from palace politics. Therefore, the sisters are separated by family, distance, culture, and magic rather than the more metaphoric boundaries that divide them as seen in the first movie.
The plot’s pace here is constantly in motion thanks to either characters being on the move or by dropping hints as to what happened to separate the two sisters. It’s fairly straight-forwarded but the twists and turns are fun and keep the story mobile. The narrative itself is broken up into different POVs, which normally I don’t care for, but in this case each POV reads different. Elsa’s POV is different from Anna’s and so on, which adds a sense of depth as readers are offered diverse glimpses, experiences, and opinions among characters, adding varied perspectives that color the central story.
I also enjoyed the character of Olaf here, who is elevated as an important figure as opposed to a comic foil, which is what he leaned towards in the first movie. While his spunky, childlike nature is still in play, we get the benefit of seeing Olaf behind closed doors, so to speak, so he develops as a character rather than just someone to laugh at. He holds a critical piece to uniting Elsa and Anna, and the way this gets carried out improved my opinion of him as a character and I took him more seriously here than I did in the first movie.
More than anything, I enjoyed delving into Elsa’s and Anna’s thoughts and what they were feeling, two things the first film didn’t (and couldn’t) do. Each sister has a different view of themselves, each other, and the world at large, and Conceal, Don’t Feel makes a subtle case for the nature versus nurture argument. The novel shows how both “nature” and “nurture” contribute to how people develop their personalities and form worldviews.
“Nature,” in this case, is Elsa’s and Anna’s respective environments, both their homes and social circles, that mold who they later become. Elsa has lived in the palace all her life and away from the general public while Anna has lived with a working family and befriended members of her adopted community, which has influenced how she views the outside world. This ties into the concept of “nurture” in that Elsa has been raised and reared to be a queen while Anna has been raised and reared to be a baker – two different life goals but the novel doesn’t elevate one over the other. Instead, it portrays both Elsa and Anna as complete individuals in their own right while still feeling there is a missing piece of themselves out in the world. That sense of longing serves as an internal goal both sisters seek to attain. Though it’s a safe bet most readers will predict how it wraps up in the end, it’s still a fun journey.
Overall, Conceal, Don’t Feel is a fun, fast read that re-imagines the basic premise of the movie Frozen but dives deeper into the sisterly dynamics. Fans of Frozen might enjoy this re-imagining of the first movie’s story with the added benefit of diving into Elsa’s and Anna’s psychology, which works to deepen their characters, along with multiple POVs that causes all aspects of their plots to come full circle and feel like a complete tale.
Content:
Language – None.
Violence – There are a few tense moments echoing similar scenes from Frozen, such as characters being pursued by creatures, braving dangerous terrain, and discussing other characters’ demises that lend themselves to brief sad moments. Regarding the latter, since this story delves into characters’ thoughts, such persons are seen dealing with grief at times, something the film could not show. We also learn that Elsa’s powers once injured Anna and there are magical ramifications as a result. Two characters perish in a shipwreck off-page. Olaf’s body can come apart but it’s meant to be comical and no harm is done to him. Lastly, Elsa is hunted down due to her icy powers and declared a “monster,” which results in some tense moments.
Sexual Content – None. The novel doesn’t repeat the first movie’s mild, subtle innuendos, and it’s worth noting that for all the speculation about Elsa somehow being a lesbian, absolutely nothing here is presented as any sort of evidence for this.
