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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
A very detailed selection of Grimm's tales with insightful notes by Philip Pullman. I sped through the book enjoying each tale. Worth keeping in your library. My only drawback is aesthetic, that is, the ink of the hardback began dissolving with my hands in the summer heat causing the front and back cover to fade.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
This was such a fun read! I laughed a lot of this and it was very different for me but I will deffo be revisiting
I find it hard to rate a collection of short stories as I loved some more than others but overall very enjoyable
I find it hard to rate a collection of short stories as I loved some more than others but overall very enjoyable
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I can’t really have a definitive opinion on Pullman’s ‘Grimm Tales’. It is a collection of fifty fairy tales compiled by the Brothers Grimm from the well known Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood to the likes of The Brave Little Tailor or The Cat and the Fat. They often had moral lessons and similar tropes, so in some areas were repetitive and also frequently made little sense, just pausing as I read and thinking ‘what on earth…’ I assumed that the ‘Grimm Tales’ were much more violent renditions of the tales told to children today, whereas to my surprise in most cases the violent realities weren’t far from what is now told and many weren’t actually brutal at all, though there are many notable instances of mutilation, eye-gorging and incest in some. In the nature of Fairy Tales, majority of characters were stock characters, Princes and Princesses, Wise Women and Witches, and this did get repetitive but I can’t really criticise Fairy Tales for using stock characters. Every princess was however “the most beautiful woman in all the land” somehow though, and I still can’t understand what it meant by the frequently repeated phrase that “each of his daughters more beautiful than all the rest” as it is impossible for each of the 12 princesses to be more beautiful than the other 11. Descriptions are limited and where they exist also the same, something is always “as white as snow and as red as blood”. Whilst the repetitions and use of stock can’t be used as a criticism, I did get annoyed by ‘beauty’ often being the only defining factor, and the lack of individual agency in majority of the female figures. My favourite tales were ‘The Moon’, a short fable explaining why the moon goes through phases, and ‘The Musicians of Bremen’ about a Donkey, Cat, Dog and Cockerel in search of work as musicians which was a wholesome little story. If I were judging the book on its characters, writing style or plot like the large majority of books, it wouldn’t score well however in the nature of the collection being a translation of the fairy tales that have be prevalent in everyones childhood, I can only justify a neutral rating, for I cannot penalise the elements that make the stories ‘fairy tales’.
Historie mojego dzieciństwa, cieszę się, że mogłam je sobie przypomnieć i odświeżyć.
Ho trovato le storie interessanti e inquietanti allo stesso tempo, ma la parte che più mi è piaciuta del libro erano le note alla fine di ogni favola, con dettagli sulle loro origini e su come sono state adoperate dopo i Grimm.
heaven in book form. beautifully written, a must have book
Heerlijk om te lezen!
De 'originele' sprookjes van Grimm zijn karakteristiek kort door de bocht. Soms zo kort dat het ronduit grappig wordt. Veel sprookjes kende ik niet.
De 'originele' sprookjes van Grimm zijn karakteristiek kort door de bocht. Soms zo kort dat het ronduit grappig wordt. Veel sprookjes kende ik niet.