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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I actually would give this 3.5 stars if I could - it was just a fun and quirky set of retold fairy tales, some with modern twists, some with the usual tale but told from a different perspective. I also really enjoyed the illustrations to go along with it - they match the tone of the stories perfectly.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love fairytales, but I think I love retold fairytales even more because they often go deeper into an overlooked perspective and bring the old stories more fully into the modern world. Not to mention, retellings are usually better written. So it's a real treat when a Pulitzer winning author like Michael Cunningham gives us his take on classic stories like Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk, and all beautifully illustrated by Yuko Shimizu.
Most of these stories are rewritten to focus on the POV of a different character, often the villain like the witch from Hansel and Gretel or Prince Charming from Snow White. Villains are almost always more interesting than heroes and heroines anyway. In some stories, Cunningham changes the angle just enough to make us question the goodness of other characters. Jack is no better than the giant in his greed. Was the Beast's seduction of Beauty part of his plan all along?
Other stories aren't altered so much as fleshed out. We learn more about the brother left with one wing from The Six Swans and the family's horror at the awful power of The Monkey's Paw. We find out what happens after the end of Snow White and Rapunzel, how the princes and princesses navigate their relationships and sex lives given the bizarre ways in which they're brought together.
I most enjoyed the stories in this collection that gave more of the full story rather than an in-depth character study. There's a beautiful version of the Tin Soldier told with the soldier as a regular human man in the regular human world and what his relationship with the "ballerina" would look like there. I'm not entirely sure which fairytale the last story is based on, but it goes into detail of what "happily ever after" might realistically look like in the fairytale universe.
I wish more "adult" books were illustrated. Shimizu's artwork is almost better than the stories themselves and are key to the tone and cohesion of the collection because not only do they make the magical more real, they hearken back to our childhood reading which was a magic of its own.
Most of these stories are rewritten to focus on the POV of a different character, often the villain like the witch from Hansel and Gretel or Prince Charming from Snow White. Villains are almost always more interesting than heroes and heroines anyway. In some stories, Cunningham changes the angle just enough to make us question the goodness of other characters. Jack is no better than the giant in his greed. Was the Beast's seduction of Beauty part of his plan all along?
Other stories aren't altered so much as fleshed out. We learn more about the brother left with one wing from The Six Swans and the family's horror at the awful power of The Monkey's Paw. We find out what happens after the end of Snow White and Rapunzel, how the princes and princesses navigate their relationships and sex lives given the bizarre ways in which they're brought together.
I most enjoyed the stories in this collection that gave more of the full story rather than an in-depth character study. There's a beautiful version of the Tin Soldier told with the soldier as a regular human man in the regular human world and what his relationship with the "ballerina" would look like there. I'm not entirely sure which fairytale the last story is based on, but it goes into detail of what "happily ever after" might realistically look like in the fairytale universe.
I wish more "adult" books were illustrated. Shimizu's artwork is almost better than the stories themselves and are key to the tone and cohesion of the collection because not only do they make the magical more real, they hearken back to our childhood reading which was a magic of its own.
Refreshing, playful prose lets these beautifully odd stories speak for themselves. Drips of knife-sharp humour only serve to amplify how moving the collection can be, and that combination creates an enchantingly unpredictable tone. Comparisons to Angela Carter are inevitable, and it's certainly worthy of them.
A Wild Swan, Poisoned, Little Man and Steadfast; Tin are my personal favourites - and Ever/After is the perfect curtain call.
As a bonus, Yuko Shimizu's incredible art is the perfect accompaniment.
A Wild Swan, Poisoned, Little Man and Steadfast; Tin are my personal favourites - and Ever/After is the perfect curtain call.
As a bonus, Yuko Shimizu's incredible art is the perfect accompaniment.
Più che una raccolta di riscritture delle favole classiche, si tratta di un corso accelerato di cinismo...
dark
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
A stunning version of the fairy tale re-tool. All of the stories are chilling and dark. There aren't any stereotypical monsters, no gore, no sheer terror. And yet you just can't shake that nightmare feeling. The Grimm Brothers would be proud.
Addressing some of our most well-known tales (Snow White and Beauty and the Beast) makes one realize how difficult it is to remove those tales from their Disney-fied versions. And yet there is something new here, particularly in the character of the "charming" princes.
Other favorites are twisted in viewpoint: Hansel and Gretel from the witch; Jack and the Beanstalk from the mother (and, somewhat, the Giant's Wife.) Hansel and Gretel further twists and introduces Cunningham's attempt at second-person narrative (which occurs again later) and, despite being pretty much the one-trick pony of writing (Choose-Your-Own-Adventures, anyone?) it works! It is surprisingly successful in strong-arming the reader to participate in the tale(s) and, somehow, unobtrusive to the story.
The not-as-familiar tales (or maybe I should say, the cult classic tales) - Monkey's Paw, Rumpelstiltskin, Six Swans, Rapunzel - are the standouts of the collection. Partially because they are so wonderfully dark and damaged, partially because it is less likely the reader has too many preconceived ideas. Or maybe the preconceived ideas/images were just better to begin with (sorry, Disney!)
Steadfast Tin Soldier does stand alone. It doesn't speak in the same way, but it is the closest to an actual Cunningham novel that we will get in this collection. And while read in that context I probably would love it, I wasn't prepared for it in the midst of the nightmare atmosphere of this book.
Several of the tales limit themselves to snippets of a viewpoint, or a small interaction - a microcosm of what we already know - keeping the story fresh. The illustrations that accompany the stories are glorious making it a really nice little gift book for anyone who loves disturbed and dank.
Highly recommend.
Note: I've used the common tale name in my review. With the exception of Monkey's Paw, Cunningham has different titles for all these stories in his collection, although they aren't hard to interpret:
Dis. Enchant. (no tale; introduction)
A Wild Swan (Six Swans)
Crazy Old Lady (Hansel and Gretel)
Jacked (Jack and the Beanstalk)
Poisoned (Snow White)
A Monkey's Paw (as is)
Little Man (Rumpelstiltskin)
Steadfast; Tin (The Steadfast Tin Soldier)
Beasts (Beauty and the Beast)
Her Hair (Rapunzel)
Ever/After (If this is an actual tale I don't know it. Assume Afterword)
1/22/16 - http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/20/fairytales-much-older-than-previously-thought-say-researchers
Addressing some of our most well-known tales (Snow White and Beauty and the Beast) makes one realize how difficult it is to remove those tales from their Disney-fied versions. And yet there is something new here, particularly in the character of the "charming" princes.
Other favorites are twisted in viewpoint: Hansel and Gretel from the witch; Jack and the Beanstalk from the mother (and, somewhat, the Giant's Wife.) Hansel and Gretel further twists and introduces Cunningham's attempt at second-person narrative (which occurs again later) and, despite being pretty much the one-trick pony of writing (Choose-Your-Own-Adventures, anyone?) it works! It is surprisingly successful in strong-arming the reader to participate in the tale(s) and, somehow, unobtrusive to the story.
The not-as-familiar tales (or maybe I should say, the cult classic tales) - Monkey's Paw, Rumpelstiltskin, Six Swans, Rapunzel - are the standouts of the collection. Partially because they are so wonderfully dark and damaged, partially because it is less likely the reader has too many preconceived ideas. Or maybe the preconceived ideas/images were just better to begin with (sorry, Disney!)
Steadfast Tin Soldier does stand alone. It doesn't speak in the same way, but it is the closest to an actual Cunningham novel that we will get in this collection. And while read in that context I probably would love it, I wasn't prepared for it in the midst of the nightmare atmosphere of this book.
Several of the tales limit themselves to snippets of a viewpoint, or a small interaction - a microcosm of what we already know - keeping the story fresh. The illustrations that accompany the stories are glorious making it a really nice little gift book for anyone who loves disturbed and dank.
Highly recommend.
Note: I've used the common tale name in my review. With the exception of Monkey's Paw, Cunningham has different titles for all these stories in his collection, although they aren't hard to interpret:
Dis. Enchant. (no tale; introduction)
A Wild Swan (Six Swans)
Crazy Old Lady (Hansel and Gretel)
Jacked (Jack and the Beanstalk)
Poisoned (Snow White)
A Monkey's Paw (as is)
Little Man (Rumpelstiltskin)
Steadfast; Tin (The Steadfast Tin Soldier)
Beasts (Beauty and the Beast)
Her Hair (Rapunzel)
Ever/After (If this is an actual tale I don't know it. Assume Afterword)
1/22/16 - http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/20/fairytales-much-older-than-previously-thought-say-researchers
Interesting, modern, dark. Quite a joy to read if not for the too many second person narration.
As others have noted, this reshaping of traditional fairy tales in itself is nothing new, and the book starts out with several tales that hardly rate as re workings --Cunningham's The Monkey's Paw in particular doesn't deviate at all from the way I remember the classic tale. But there is a subtlety to his re-imaginings and an accumulative effect of the tales as you move through the book that worked in the end to make me glad I'd read it. The beautiful illustrations work well with the stories in creating a unique and contemporary tone.