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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
I received an advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you've read The Toast (dot net may she rest in power), you've read Mallory's weird, twisted, unforgettable Children's Stories Made Horrific. Some of the previously published entries are in this book, and the rest of the stories are new (at least to me).
Mallory's skill with words is hard to deny-- she has a way of tweaking a sentence to take it from mundane to something that invokes dread in you, whether it's because of the character's sudden and distinct lack of humanity, or the terrible and dispassionate response of a god. In these stories, she not only turns fairy tales on their heads, she also plays with the ideas of gender, gender roles, friendship, and love. Her Frog and Toad story continues to terrify me, and her Little Mermaid is fantastic.
This was a solid four star book for me, and I encourage anyone who appreciates the weird (or The Toast) to pick this up.
If you've read The Toast (dot net may she rest in power), you've read Mallory's weird, twisted, unforgettable Children's Stories Made Horrific. Some of the previously published entries are in this book, and the rest of the stories are new (at least to me).
Mallory's skill with words is hard to deny-- she has a way of tweaking a sentence to take it from mundane to something that invokes dread in you, whether it's because of the character's sudden and distinct lack of humanity, or the terrible and dispassionate response of a god. In these stories, she not only turns fairy tales on their heads, she also plays with the ideas of gender, gender roles, friendship, and love. Her Frog and Toad story continues to terrify me, and her Little Mermaid is fantastic.
This was a solid four star book for me, and I encourage anyone who appreciates the weird (or The Toast) to pick this up.
01/29/2018
3.5 stars, RTC
03/15/2018
(This review can also be found on my blog.)
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
I know that retellings are getting old for some people, but Daniel really does a magnificent job with this collection. As with any short story compilation, some fell a little short for me, but overall I was highly impressed with what he had done. All of the stories here are inspired by “fairytales” of some kind, but they aren’t necessarily what you’ll be expecting. They’re the perfect blend of creepy and thoughtful.
“Someday, I think,” she said, her voice muffled under the tub, “I would like to meet someone I have not caused any pain.”
My rating for each story:
The Daughter Cells ⭐⭐⭐
The Thankless Child ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fear Not: An Incident Log ⭐⭐⭐
The Six Boy-Coffins ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Rabbit ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Merry Spinster ⭐⭐⭐
The Wedding Party ⭐⭐⭐
Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr. Toad ⭐⭐
Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters ⭐⭐⭐
The Frog’s Princess ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors ⭐⭐⭐⭐
She was beginning to learn the danger of silence, and that someone who wishes to hear a yes will not go out of his way to listen for a no.
In total, these scores averaged out to 3.36, which I’ve rounded up to a 3.5. I thought they were very well-written, and was particularly excited to see a lot of gender non-conformity in the stories. Gendered pronouns and titles were essentially meaningless in some of the stories, which was an interesting and much appreciated route to take. I’d definitely recommend this collection to anyone interested.
She was reluctant to offer any of her children, even Beauty, to something so monstrous and polite but she was even more reluctant to be shot, and mothers have given their children to monsters before.
3.5 stars, RTC
03/15/2018
(This review can also be found on my blog.)
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
I know that retellings are getting old for some people, but Daniel really does a magnificent job with this collection. As with any short story compilation, some fell a little short for me, but overall I was highly impressed with what he had done. All of the stories here are inspired by “fairytales” of some kind, but they aren’t necessarily what you’ll be expecting. They’re the perfect blend of creepy and thoughtful.
“Someday, I think,” she said, her voice muffled under the tub, “I would like to meet someone I have not caused any pain.”
My rating for each story:
The Daughter Cells ⭐⭐⭐
The Thankless Child ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fear Not: An Incident Log ⭐⭐⭐
The Six Boy-Coffins ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Rabbit ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Merry Spinster ⭐⭐⭐
The Wedding Party ⭐⭐⭐
Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr. Toad ⭐⭐
Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters ⭐⭐⭐
The Frog’s Princess ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors ⭐⭐⭐⭐
She was beginning to learn the danger of silence, and that someone who wishes to hear a yes will not go out of his way to listen for a no.
In total, these scores averaged out to 3.36, which I’ve rounded up to a 3.5. I thought they were very well-written, and was particularly excited to see a lot of gender non-conformity in the stories. Gendered pronouns and titles were essentially meaningless in some of the stories, which was an interesting and much appreciated route to take. I’d definitely recommend this collection to anyone interested.
She was reluctant to offer any of her children, even Beauty, to something so monstrous and polite but she was even more reluctant to be shot, and mothers have given their children to monsters before.
This was a mixed bag. Some stories, like "The Six-Boy Coffins" and "The Rabbit," I really enjoyed and others either fell flat or I genuinely did not get the point. A big emphasis on gender and gender roles and specifically the separation between what we perceive as gendered roles (like daughters or princesses or husbands or wives) and how these stories understand them.
But overall, this did not move me from my general position of: not a huge fan of short stories.
But overall, this did not move me from my general position of: not a huge fan of short stories.
Ortberg does write a lovely turn of phrase, but most of these stories left me a bit flat. Some felt like fairly typical retellings, and while they were eerie and atmospheric, didn't offer much over the originals.
There were a few gems, and the book is short enough to make it worth it. The Rabbit is wonderfully creepy, and the retelling of Beauty and the Beast made me crave a full-length novel focused on Belle's family.
There were a few gems, and the book is short enough to make it worth it. The Rabbit is wonderfully creepy, and the retelling of Beauty and the Beast made me crave a full-length novel focused on Belle's family.
Did not enjoy this books as much as I’d hoped. A lot of the stories just didn’t have quite enough energy to be engaging, and often suffered from clunky writing trying too hard to be clever. Interesting, but ultimately not very satisfying.
I just couldn't get past the tone of "oh, isn't this a clever little tale. I'M SO CLEVER."
I will preface this by saying I am an enormous fan of Daniel Mallory Ortberg's work but that I have never been particularly taken with fairy tales; I think someone who quite likes both fairy tales and the space between the profoundly horrifying and the uncanny would love this collection. I was torn between 3 and 4 stars and ultimately went with 3.
As is often the case with short story collections, not all the stories are created equal. The first three were underwhelming for me, but things picked up as I went on and I read the back half of the book all in one sitting. My favorite stories fell in the middle: particularly "The Rabbit" and "The Merry Spinster," but I thoroughly enjoyed"The Wedding Party" and "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr. Toad" as well. The last three stories were satisfying to read, with spots of absolutely brilliant humor, but didn't stand out to me.
Ortberg's writing is taut and impressive, and I enjoyed the inversions of gender in many of the stories. That said, I sometimes felt I didn't have the literary background to fully appreciate the content of the tales...which was a weird way to feel because I am familiar with pretty much all of the source material. I can't pinpoint exactly what it was. Many of the stories ended abruptly -- occasionally this was to their merit, but often I found myself wanting a neater ending.
I don't know when I'll return to re-read this book, but I'm glad I did and it certainly gave me much to think about.
As is often the case with short story collections, not all the stories are created equal. The first three were underwhelming for me, but things picked up as I went on and I read the back half of the book all in one sitting. My favorite stories fell in the middle: particularly "The Rabbit" and "The Merry Spinster," but I thoroughly enjoyed"The Wedding Party" and "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr. Toad" as well. The last three stories were satisfying to read, with spots of absolutely brilliant humor, but didn't stand out to me.
Ortberg's writing is taut and impressive, and I enjoyed the inversions of gender in many of the stories. That said, I sometimes felt I didn't have the literary background to fully appreciate the content of the tales...which was a weird way to feel because I am familiar with pretty much all of the source material. I can't pinpoint exactly what it was. Many of the stories ended abruptly -- occasionally this was to their merit, but often I found myself wanting a neater ending.
I don't know when I'll return to re-read this book, but I'm glad I did and it certainly gave me much to think about.
I enjoyed most of the retellings in The Merry Spinster; they reminded me of some of my favorites of Ortberg's contributions to The Toast. The looseness with pronouns/familial roles made a few of the stories confusing until I got the hang of it (and I had to figure it out anew with each story) and a couple of the stories didn't work for me—I wouldn't have missed "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr. Toad" and "The Frog's Princess" if they'd been cut from the collection—but I loved a few of them and liked almost all of the rest.
There's a list of source material in the back of the book, which I found helpful. Sometimes I didn't know the original stories well enough to get all the jokes/references in the twisted versions, but I could still enjoy the writing. This was most noticeable in "The Wedding Party," which is built from a few stories I don't recognize; there's a lot of referential dialogue between the two main characters that I just didn't get, but it has a great ending so I was glad I stuck with it.
I was also happy to see a story that referred to Biblical characters in the mix, because I love a remixed Bible story almost as much as I love a remixed fairy tale (not quite, but close) and I couldn't help but highlight lines like these:
There's a definite Very Clever vibe going on here, but I don't mind it too much. I feel like Ortberg has the talent to back it up.
(three and a half stars)
There's a list of source material in the back of the book, which I found helpful. Sometimes I didn't know the original stories well enough to get all the jokes/references in the twisted versions, but I could still enjoy the writing. This was most noticeable in "The Wedding Party," which is built from a few stories I don't recognize; there's a lot of referential dialogue between the two main characters that I just didn't get, but it has a great ending so I was glad I stuck with it.
I was also happy to see a story that referred to Biblical characters in the mix, because I love a remixed Bible story almost as much as I love a remixed fairy tale (not quite, but close) and I couldn't help but highlight lines like these:
[T]he making of the world caused a great noise that has not stopped resounding yet, and all of us have had a ringing in our ears ever since. The Voice of God, once heard, is not easily unheard. The sun burned the sky by day, and the moon spoiled the darkness by night. I don’t mean to make it sound like I didn’t like them, only that it was an adjustment.
There's a definite Very Clever vibe going on here, but I don't mind it too much. I feel like Ortberg has the talent to back it up.
(three and a half stars)
Short story collections are hard to rate. There always seems to be at least one high point and at least one low point and a lot of stories that fall somewhere in the middle. This collection is no different. There were some stories that I really enjoyed: "The Rabbit," "The Six Boy-Coffins," "The Daughter Cells." And there were others that just weren't my thing: "The Wedding Party," "Fear Not," "The Thankless Child." I'd still recommend it to anyone who is thinking about reading it. Maybe not all the stories will be for you, but there's probably going to be at least one that sticks with you.
If I wanted to read about horrible people doing horrible things and receiving no comeuppance whatsoever, I'd spend two minutes on Twitter.