Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm

4 reviews

linnylionheart's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Terminal illness and Blood

purplehulk713's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Jacob and Wilhelm certainly loved their tales of horror. I was rather relieved to be done, honestly, because even though I enjoyed it, it felt very repetitive with many similar plots and tropes. But the sinister and at times evil nature of the tales is spooky and tantalizing. Classic and familiar, this was quite enjoyable, but often so in small doses as one might grow tired of similar tales. But it is a cultural staple, and it gives so much more significance to these stories’ successors. It’s something everyone should read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Violence, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Torture, Slavery, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, and Death of parent

purplehulk713's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Dark and lovely, like the sinister forests in which so many of these stories take place. These are classic tales, though so many of them in a row felt kind of repetitive. There are a lot of castles, forests, witches, princes, kings, queens, princesses, and a lot of deals with the Devil. Usually though, they come to a more or less peaceful (if not happy) end, though often by grim means. It can’t be reviewed so much because it’s a collection, and the stories were written to be read separately. It’s only repetitive because they’re all compiled. However, some stories deviate entirely from these norms, which is quite refreshing. Prepare yourself for curses, blood, and beautiful wickedness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, 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. 

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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