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nadiafleur's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
isabellediggle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Carter is the master of the short story. Her slow and thoughful adventures in Japan were captivating and gave an insight to her worldview, supporting the other stories in the collection. The rest were pure Carterian fantasy, dark and disturbing with beautiful prose. The theme of incest was very strong in this collection which was often jarring but a further read might expose a deeper meaning. The strong imagery of these tales will be enduring within me.
jesssicawho's review against another edition
2.0
It just isn't compelling me. I'll put it down and try again at a later time.
sheeprustler's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
yourfriendtorie's review against another edition
4.0
I realized that there are pieces of Angela Carter's writing, which I have only discovered in her short stories, where her prose takes on a florid, swooning quality similar to that of Anais Nin's, whose writing I don't appreciate. It annoyed me to no end that one of my favorite writers was revealing this quality to me, but when I came to the last few stories in the book (Master, Reflections, and Elegy for a Freelance), at last the Ms. Carter I love arrived. Her fangs came out, so to speak. In her storytelling, she is at her best plying a kind of gothic surrealism. "We live in gothic times," she writes in the afterword. And it was like she was speaking to me from beyond the grave, here in 2007, as San Diego is on fire, and beyond, the state of the world is like a bad dream.
nadyaduck's review against another edition
3.0
That was harder than it should have been! Very wordy. Beautifully written but I only absorbed about three out of the nine stories. Really enjoyed the ones I did absorb, though. Most of the stories are unsettling at best, and grotesque at worst.
tashaw's review against another edition
2.0
I adored Wise Children and The Bloody Chamber, but these stories did not leave much of an impression after those.