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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
i looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooved "the bloody chamber" and some of the other fairytale re-imaginings from that particular collection but a lot of the other stories didn't really grab me. carter is a fantastical, brilliant writer tho and i'd be happy to revisit the other stuff separately.
challenging
dark
mysterious
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:
Complicated
First of all, don't do what I did and read this cover to cover. I'd advise reading The Bloody Chamber and Black Venus first, then go back and read the older collections and the most recent one. It was really hard to get into the first stories without having a solid formulation in my head of how Angela Carter writes, because a lot of those earlier stories feel a little half-formed, like she's working out ideas and doesn't quite have a handle on where the stories are going. It would be much more interesting to have read her great pieces and then to go back and see where her work started. I'm going to do a sort of mini-review of each collection.
Early Work, 1962-6 I barely remember these stories. "The Man Who Loved a Double Bass" is okay, but these three stories don't feel developed.
Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces The ending of the second story of the collection, "The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter" is the first moment I was like, oh, OH OH this is what Angela Carter is all about. It's a horrifying tale of what a man with power can do. "The Loves of Lady Purple" and "Master" are both solid stories about women taking revenge of the men who use them. "Reflections" is truly wild, I have no idea what it is about, but it's worth reading just for the wtf-ness of it.
The Bloody Chamber Brilliant retelling of fairy tales, especially the titular story, "The Lady of the House of Love" and "The Company of Wolves." This is where I think Carter really perfected her very eloquent and descriptive style in a way that worked with the stories and didn't get too tedious to read.
Black Venus Again, the titular story is the best, and I think I may have enjoyed this collection more than The Bloody Chamber. It's an imagining of various women throughout history.
American Ghosts and Old World Wonders I was a bit ambivalent about this collection, I think "Lizzie's Tiger" and "Gun for the Devil" are the strongest stories.
Uncollected Stories, 1970-81 Nothing to write home about.
I'll definitely revisit The Bloody Chamber and Black Venus at some point.
Early Work, 1962-6 I barely remember these stories. "The Man Who Loved a Double Bass" is okay, but these three stories don't feel developed.
Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces The ending of the second story of the collection, "The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter" is the first moment I was like, oh, OH OH this is what Angela Carter is all about. It's a horrifying tale of what a man with power can do. "The Loves of Lady Purple" and "Master" are both solid stories about women taking revenge of the men who use them. "Reflections" is truly wild, I have no idea what it is about, but it's worth reading just for the wtf-ness of it.
The Bloody Chamber Brilliant retelling of fairy tales, especially the titular story, "The Lady of the House of Love" and "The Company of Wolves." This is where I think Carter really perfected her very eloquent and descriptive style in a way that worked with the stories and didn't get too tedious to read.
Black Venus Again, the titular story is the best, and I think I may have enjoyed this collection more than The Bloody Chamber. It's an imagining of various women throughout history.
American Ghosts and Old World Wonders I was a bit ambivalent about this collection, I think "Lizzie's Tiger" and "Gun for the Devil" are the strongest stories.
Uncollected Stories, 1970-81 Nothing to write home about.
I'll definitely revisit The Bloody Chamber and Black Venus at some point.
Took a long time to get through. The first few stories were pretty slow going, but they did get better.
Her essays were way better. If I'd bought this first, I probably wouldn't have tried the essays, and that would have been a shame.
Her essays were way better. If I'd bought this first, I probably wouldn't have tried the essays, and that would have been a shame.
Not the easiest read.... But the descriptive prose (in some places) is incredibly vivid. I couldn't help feeling that some of the stories were obnoxious just for the sake of it though....
Angela Carter takes care to explain that she writes 'tales,' not 'short stories.' They don't try to portray a scene from every-day life. Rather they grab hold of some Gothic symbol dredged up from the deep unconscious and move through its own improbable but inevitable story arc.
I loved these stories. I love the patchwork forays they make into the interior realms and collective unconscious. Carter once explained her work by saying "We live in Gothic times." Amid all the fluorescent office lighting and bone-dry corporate bureaucracies, I feel this too, that this is an unacknowledged Gothic time, with uncanny horror always close to the surface.
I loved these stories. I love the patchwork forays they make into the interior realms and collective unconscious. Carter once explained her work by saying "We live in Gothic times." Amid all the fluorescent office lighting and bone-dry corporate bureaucracies, I feel this too, that this is an unacknowledged Gothic time, with uncanny horror always close to the surface.
I liked the re-tellings of the fairy tales best.
I would've been a big fan of her prose 5-10 years ago, right now I just find it kind of pretentious, especially her earlier stories.
I would've been a big fan of her prose 5-10 years ago, right now I just find it kind of pretentious, especially her earlier stories.
A collection of stories that read at times like discourse on the idea of stories, deconstructed as they go - so at times difficult and laboured. Also: smoky, purple, repetitive, othering, verbose.
but there is so much in them and they keep giving.
but there is so much in them and they keep giving.