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apalershadeofwhite's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This collection as a whole was pretty middle-of-the-road. There were some tales I really enjoyed, some I didn't like at all, and some that weren't bad but were pretty forgettable. It was especially a bit difficult to want to read in the middle, where a lot of the tales were pretty repetitive, but it did pick up a little towards the end.
So many of the tales in this collection were basically the same story but wrapped in a different package! There was an insane amount of repetition with the content within the tales and most often had the same ending, just with differently named characters and a different locale. It made the reading process a bit monotonous.
Don't get me wrong, though, there was still some good writing in here! They just felt a bit like finding a pearl in the sea haha. I specifically liked the focus on symbolism and metaphors as I'm a sucker for these in any narrative I read. Although, there were a lot of grim (ha) inclusions in the tales that sometimes were a bit odd. There was, on the other hand, quite a few really funny bits within this collection. I'm unsure if they were all intentional, but they made me laugh either way so it's a plus.
There were, however, massive racist undertones. The tales often talked of women being "black and ugly as sin" but other being "white and beautiful" which was awful to read, to be honest. And I felt like all of the messages to girls in these tales were to just sit and be pretty.
I found that the overarching morals throughout the tales were: honesty versus deceit, selfishness versus compassion, jealously, and equality and equity.
So many of the tales in this collection were basically the same story but wrapped in a different package! There was an insane amount of repetition with the content within the tales and most often had the same ending, just with differently named characters and a different locale. It made the reading process a bit monotonous.
Don't get me wrong, though, there was still some good writing in here! They just felt a bit like finding a pearl in the sea haha. I specifically liked the focus on symbolism and metaphors as I'm a sucker for these in any narrative I read. Although, there were a lot of grim (ha) inclusions in the tales that sometimes were a bit odd. There was, on the other hand, quite a few really funny bits within this collection. I'm unsure if they were all intentional, but they made me laugh either way so it's a plus.
There were, however, massive racist undertones. The tales often talked of women being "black and ugly as sin" but other being "white and beautiful" which was awful to read, to be honest. And I felt like all of the messages to girls in these tales were to just sit and be pretty.
I found that the overarching morals throughout the tales were: honesty versus deceit, selfishness versus compassion, jealously, and equality and equity.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Bullying, Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Ableism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Violence
marissasa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
2.5
I originally planned to read over 101 days, reading one short story a night before bed, but ofc that didn't happen and I instead would read a bunch at once and forget for weeks. In the end I finished in 103 days, and ranked every story from 1-5 stars coming to a final average of 2.5 stars. Many stories were short, repetitive, or basically the same as other stories with different magical objects or different settings so most of those got ranked lowly. There were 5 favorites that I gave 5 stars, being "The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids", "The Bremen Town-Musicians", "Little Snow White", "The Dog and the Sparrow", and "Clever Gretel". Overall I'm glad I read these classic fairy tales and it definitely gave me more insight into the notoriously dark origin of the well-known adaptations in media today, as the evil characters in the stories would often perish either cruel deaths or injuries and banishment. I can also see how the standout stories that weren't repetitive or re-skinned copies of the others were the ones that got reimagined as Disney movies or as their own children's books. Some of the stories, especially those mentioning religion or religious people, felt preachy, but I get the purpose of the fairy tales was to entertain and warn children about the consequences of behaving badly.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Classism, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Blood, Child abuse, Animal death, and Death
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