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nialiversuch's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Medical content, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Body horror, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Murder, and Alcohol
tessaf's review
3.0
So, I hated the first essay The Matter and as a result nearly returned this book and settled on DNFing, fortunately I decided to continue. Lessons of Female Success was better so I stuck with it. Got to enjoy Nuclear Folklore and Adrift. In all honesty the first essay was the one I disliked the most. So I'm glad I kept going. It was interesting, even if some were better than others (for me).
manoncremers's review
1.0
As the name would suggest, Ordinary Wonder Tales set out to be an exploration of wonder tales and how they then parallel to Emily Urquhart’s ordinary life. Although the tales themselves never fail to attract and enchant, the inevitable attempts at parallels almost always ended up being forced, dull and not as insightful as I would have liked from a well-researched folklorist. All in all, an ambitious prompt that stranded in an insufficient narrative.
smalltownbookmom's review
3.0
I really wanted to love this collection of personal essays more than I actually did. As a huge fan of her mother, my expectations were set very high but aside from the first chapter about childhood and the belief in wonders, this collection fell a little flat for me.
Sadly I found myself often bored/uninterested as I listened to this book on audio read by someone other than the author. Did that make a difference, maybe? Overall I found the book a little too academic and less heartfelt than I was hoping for, even though there were chapters on pandemic life and parenting. It was a miss for me unfortunately.
Sadly I found myself often bored/uninterested as I listened to this book on audio read by someone other than the author. Did that make a difference, maybe? Overall I found the book a little too academic and less heartfelt than I was hoping for, even though there were chapters on pandemic life and parenting. It was a miss for me unfortunately.
rorikae's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.75
'Ordinary Wonder Tales' by Emily Urquhart is an insightful look at folktales and how they connect to not only her life but the experiences we all share. Each chapter looks at a particular type of tale and connects it to an aspect of Urquhart's life. These vary from ruminations on how ghosts help us deal with grief and the importance of plague legends during the pandemic to pregnancy and how folktales can provide a view on family members with dementia. Urquhart's personal anecdotes open up how these stories that may feel like they are from the distant past are still relevant to our current day. Each chapter takes just enough time to dive into the type of tale while also connecting it to a specific aspect of Urquhart's life. I only wish this book was longer and showcased even more stories. This was a wonderful book with lots of insight and I really enjoyed the audiobook version. I will definitely be looking not only for more books by Urquhart but also more books that utilize folk stories and fairy tales to illuminate our shared experiences.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death
mandyk_reads's review
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Essay collection by a Canadian folklorist