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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
What a monument. What a joy. I look forawrd to reading and rereading these elusive, illusoniary, visionary tales all throughout my life. How many girls will grow and fight and cry and love and die. I love Angela Carter. (I really like mossycoat)
Loved the interesting and unique fairly tales/folk tales/legends/fables/etc collected here. Loved the way they were told in the voice of their culture, even when it wasn’t always successful.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I originally read thus book because I was researching how people write and view fairy tales and Angela Carter stories are known for twisting fairy tales (just read The Bloody Chamber if you don't believe me) I liked how a lot of the stories, whilst similar, came from so many cultural backgrounds. It was interesting to read and worth my time.
I really enjoyed this book and most especially the introduction to different tales from around the world which were very bizzarre at times yet really rich and interesting.
That said, this book could have been much much shorter and with a more curated selection of tales, as many simply felt unnecessary, instead of what looks like every fairy tale the writer has come across in their life. After the halfway mark, many stories became too repetitive, I felt like I was reading Cinderella at least 14 times with a few variations but the same story nonetheless.
I'd say I recommend it for fairy tale fans who want an introduction to many cultures at once but avoid reading it all in one go as it will feel like it's the same thing over and over again.
That said, this book could have been much much shorter and with a more curated selection of tales, as many simply felt unnecessary, instead of what looks like every fairy tale the writer has come across in their life. After the halfway mark, many stories became too repetitive, I felt like I was reading Cinderella at least 14 times with a few variations but the same story nonetheless.
I'd say I recommend it for fairy tale fans who want an introduction to many cultures at once but avoid reading it all in one go as it will feel like it's the same thing over and over again.
What this isn't: original stories or classic fairy tales reimagined by Angela Carter.
What this is: A collection of fairy tales from across the world collected without any sort of modern editorial hand.
I went into this unfortunately expecting the former. Note that these stories often have no sort of sense to them, are often repetitive by nature, and have a lot of what would be considered appalling subject matter by today's standards of children's stories, or even standards of adult-aimed fairy tale reimaginings that are so popular these days (think incest, child abuse, graphic sexual assault).
There is some cultural insight in these and you may find the rough, ragged beginnings of now Disney-fied stories. There is also some difficult to read language, where Cater wanted to keep the original dialect in tact. Overall, this is a sometimes challenging but fascinating book of fairy tales from varied places and times in history.
What this is: A collection of fairy tales from across the world collected without any sort of modern editorial hand.
I went into this unfortunately expecting the former. Note that these stories often have no sort of sense to them, are often repetitive by nature, and have a lot of what would be considered appalling subject matter by today's standards of children's stories, or even standards of adult-aimed fairy tale reimaginings that are so popular these days (think incest, child abuse, graphic sexual assault).
There is some cultural insight in these and you may find the rough, ragged beginnings of now Disney-fied stories. There is also some difficult to read language, where Cater wanted to keep the original dialect in tact. Overall, this is a sometimes challenging but fascinating book of fairy tales from varied places and times in history.
The Repetitive themes show how much these stories are passed around and retold to suit culture.
Some were good others hilarious but lots were very dull.
Some were good others hilarious but lots were very dull.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I liked that Carter chose lesser known tales. I had to look up some of the older place names, though.