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danicamidlil's review against another edition
1.0
Just wow. He beat the evilness from his wife. Nope. Not gonna be reading this to my kiddos, Mr. Pyle. Sorry. Pictures were, of course, beautiful, but then Trina Schart Hyman can do no wrong.
clairetrellahill's review against another edition
4.0
BEAUTIFUL PICTURES. I don’t know that I care for the story.
aloysiuss's review against another edition
2.0
good illustration, story is a bit yikes. all that trouble to marry the princess (aka: serial executioner witch) when the drummer could have just married king stork who was already acting like a sugar daddy, and is a bird king... he seemed like a pretty chill dude idk.
lara_lleverino's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fantastic fairy tale to read to teach about similes, metaphors, and the use of figurative language. This edition illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman is fabulous! You can read it for free on www.internetarchive.org. I think however if I was reading this with a child we would have discussions about what truly makes a hero? Some of the actions of the Drummer in this story seem laud worthy but some (beating his new wife to make her good) need to be discussed and considered against a different moral code.
readingthroughthelists's review
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The illustrations are quite fun but the story is a bit (well, more than a bit) yikes.
The fairytale motifs used here are easily recognizable and are all, on their own, very solid additions to any fairy story. However, here they are strung together in such a way to produce a highly misogynistic and honestly quite unpleasant tale. Essentially Tam Lin, but if Tam Lin ended with Janet beating the crap out of her new husband in order to turn him into a better man.
The fairytale motifs used here are easily recognizable and are all, on their own, very solid additions to any fairy story. However, here they are strung together in such a way to produce a highly misogynistic and honestly quite unpleasant tale. Essentially Tam Lin, but if Tam Lin ended with Janet beating the crap out of her new husband in order to turn him into a better man.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Physical abuse
doriastories's review against another edition
3.0
This book is lavishly and rather erotically illustrated by the late Trina Schart Hyman, one of the most brilliant illustrators whose work I’ve had the pleasure to see. Unfortunately, the tale is told from a misogynistic vantage point, relentlessly pitting men against women, with total victory through violence scored by the former against the latter. This pretty well spoils the happily-ever-after ending for me.
Luckily, the illustrations are so detailed, so expressive, and so full of implied movement, that they can practically tell the story themselves. The violence described by the author is not depicted by the illustrator, leaving us to draw our own conclusions about the story, and about her interpretation of it.
Luckily, the illustrations are so detailed, so expressive, and so full of implied movement, that they can practically tell the story themselves. The violence described by the author is not depicted by the illustrator, leaving us to draw our own conclusions about the story, and about her interpretation of it.
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