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mollieh14's review against another edition
1.0
This is a collection of stories by the brothers Grimm that are the ‘darker’ version of the fairytales from Disney.
I so badly wanted to enjoy these stories as I was really looking forward to discovering the initial inspiration for Disney movies and how they fluffed up their original dark origin- but I just didn’t! I spent most of the time reading these confused by the lack of plot and/or meaning to the stories, as well as not understanding the ways in which they were written (I will give some leeway on that one as it isn’t in its original language!)
Overall I just didn’t enjoy and wouldn’t re read these again- I’ll stick to the fluffy Disney movies!
pawel9802's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
vsnotresponding's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
aggressive_nostalgia's review against another edition
What can i say about Grimm's fairy tales that hasn't been iterated a dozen times over - they're gruesome, violent, depressing, occasionally bawdy, and all 260-some stories seems little more than variations on a dozen different plot lines (with, for the most part, equally unoriginal titles). Some of the tales, no matter how many times i've read them, still don't make two cents of sense ("Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie", notably). and every fifth character is named Hans, or doesn't have any name at all (do you know how many generic princesses and maidens there are in this thing?). Still, it's a nice big book to curl up in pile of pillows with. And it's a classic - you can't see the Disney versions and then not read these.
A fun collection (and i actually do usually read it cover-to-cover, although i don't really recommend that. it gets pretty dreary after an hour or two).
A fun collection (and i actually do usually read it cover-to-cover, although i don't really recommend that. it gets pretty dreary after an hour or two).
jazlem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I read this because I feel like it's one of those books you should read in your lifetime, but a lot of the stories were similar and has the same plot line. Also the women characters had literally no automony and had no choice but to end up married to their rescuer or abuser! It got some stars because it was good to read the original tales behind the Disney classics.
foreverbookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
carlyg123's review against another edition
3.0
Tom Thumb and the little Peasant should collaborate - I imagine that would work. Although Tom wasn't particularly viscous with his intentions, his goal was actually rather reasonable, they each used a fair level of skulduggery. // And...was Clever Gretel actually clever at all? I mean the intuition was there but...greed essentially played the greatest role. // Rumplestiltskin went from being a hobgoblin to a dwarf in reference... I'm sure there are differences between the two. // As for the old woman in the chair of the "murderers' lair" how did we know she could be trusted? Why hadn't she been killed? Was she too old? Was she somehow involved? The men listened to her when she said they should stop looking for the finger. Why? Had she helped them before? Was the idea for the girl to marry and take the old woman's place? If they had wanted to kill her there would have been many opportunities. Why go to the trouble of getting married just to kill someone? In fairy tale it seems quite odd. The other girl killed was just a bound and gagged stranger - as far as we know. Her death could have been to see if the fiancée stepped in to help the girl or if she was happy to go along with the murder. She wasn't asked to explain why she didn't turn up for the party; maybe they knew she was there, really. The old woman could have escaped any time the men were out, she didn't need a sleeping draught to do that. What happened to her after? // At a certain point, the tales stopped being thought-provoking and in the end it became a drag.