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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
our parents owned an old copy of all the collected Brothers Grimm's works...they read us the more sensible ones, but even then i remember being alternately frightened and fascinated by the darkness of the stories and the fantastic-ness of the situations those poor fictional people found themselves in - selling your daughter for a head of cabbage, confessing your secrets to an empty stove, marrying a wife-killer, entertaining a bear/prince...these men were depressing geniuses...nothing is better than these original fairytales...the sad endings are better than the happy ones...
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great collection of stories. Several of them are the same, just told from a different angle (different character names, location or something else, but the same story is more or less explained).
These stories were very repetitive and while I know that the editors are trying to stay true to the literal transcriptions of the Grimm brothers, I did not enjoy listening to them. I have read other books with more entertaining version.
Was always obsessed with these stories from a young age! I would often sit with my friends and think of band names based on these stories— either the names or the characters. It was a fun activity so I hold this book dear. (I have the collectors edition hehe)
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is the first time I've read the orignal fairy stories, and they sure are strange! Evil step-families, giving away children, kids fending for themselves, and royal weddings...strange, yet entertaining.
It took me four years to finish this book. It's been on my "currently reading" shelf as long as I've had a Goodreads account; it'll be weird not seeing fairy tale recommendations all the time now. As with most collections of stories, this book doesn't really lend itself well to a straight read-through. I took it in phases: sometimes I would read myself a story or two as I went to bed, and sometimes I would just pull it out whenever I needed a little bit of fairy tale in my life. Finally finishing the book kind of feels like the end of an era for me, but I'll be sure to read it again as my kids get older and can enjoy bedtime stories.
I was so glad to finally read these classic fairy tales! I love fairy tale retellings (even Disney versions) and it was so fun for me to read the originals. They were exactly what I was expecting--some with happy endings, some with gruesome endings, and some with just odd endings, all interspersed with moral lessons and odd happenings.
Give it to the germans to have children's fairy tales with concepts like padeophilia. But the lessons and metaphorical angles are deep. My favourite of all folk tales out there.