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brookfieldbee's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review
4.0
It's now over an hour ago that I closed and finished this book and my mind is still trying to grasp everything it has read. I love fairytales, I live fairytales and I breathe fairytales. They are the heart of my soul and the soul of my heart. But mostly because they can be used to get across messages, to say meaningful things, to provoke thoughts, to ask questions, to point out flaws in the system and strengths in the flaws.
And that is exactly what this book is doing. It's challenging and thought provoking and it's not easy to chew on. I think I will have to read those stories again and again and again and then I still think that with each re-read I will discover something new, realise something new and understand something new. Because maybe in these stories it's not so much about what's been said, but about what's not been said, about what's between the lines, hidden from plain sight.
The twists on the fairytales are original. Some fairytales are easier to recognise than others, but it's not about telling the stories as we already know them. It's about using the elements to tell different stories. And wow, what amazing and impressive stories are told. Some made me sick, some made me sad, some made me proud. All made me think. And think some more.
And even if you can't enjoy the stories, you can at least enjoy and appreciate the writing style. It's poetic and lyrical, emotional and pure. It's not a book you can read with a 100 pages an hour. It wouldn't do the book and writing justice. Even more, it's a book to read aloud to grown up daughters or elder mothers. Because I'm sure that read aloud, the words will start to sing even more.
And that is exactly what this book is doing. It's challenging and thought provoking and it's not easy to chew on. I think I will have to read those stories again and again and again and then I still think that with each re-read I will discover something new, realise something new and understand something new. Because maybe in these stories it's not so much about what's been said, but about what's not been said, about what's between the lines, hidden from plain sight.
The twists on the fairytales are original. Some fairytales are easier to recognise than others, but it's not about telling the stories as we already know them. It's about using the elements to tell different stories. And wow, what amazing and impressive stories are told. Some made me sick, some made me sad, some made me proud. All made me think. And think some more.
And even if you can't enjoy the stories, you can at least enjoy and appreciate the writing style. It's poetic and lyrical, emotional and pure. It's not a book you can read with a 100 pages an hour. It wouldn't do the book and writing justice. Even more, it's a book to read aloud to grown up daughters or elder mothers. Because I'm sure that read aloud, the words will start to sing even more.
coffeeandbooked's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book, I read the majority of this book in a couple of hours.
I thought the writing style was very beautiful and poetic, but it did take me a few stories to get into the style. The stories were also written in 2nd person, which was something else I had to get into, as I don't usually read in 2nd person.
The fairy tales were dark re-tellings, there were 13 in total. All were told from a female POV whereas the last, extra story for the paperback edition is written in a male POV.
My favourite stories were
You shall not suffer (Hansel and Gretel)
The Tender Weight (Bluebeard)
Beauty and the Board (Beauty and the Beast)
Waking Beauty (Sleeping Beauty)
I have another Deirdre Sullivan book is on my TBR so I am excited to read this after reading these short fairy tale re-tellings.
These stories are also illustrated by Karen Vaughan, these are gorgeous illustrations really capture the stories perfectly.
I thought the writing style was very beautiful and poetic, but it did take me a few stories to get into the style. The stories were also written in 2nd person, which was something else I had to get into, as I don't usually read in 2nd person.
The fairy tales were dark re-tellings, there were 13 in total. All were told from a female POV whereas the last, extra story for the paperback edition is written in a male POV.
My favourite stories were
You shall not suffer (Hansel and Gretel)
The Tender Weight (Bluebeard)
Beauty and the Board (Beauty and the Beast)
Waking Beauty (Sleeping Beauty)
I have another Deirdre Sullivan book is on my TBR so I am excited to read this after reading these short fairy tale re-tellings.
These stories are also illustrated by Karen Vaughan, these are gorgeous illustrations really capture the stories perfectly.
david_clince's review
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
belbookandacuppa's review against another edition
challenging
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
bee_vee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
4.25
Some good, some scary, some downright weird. I'd love to write slightly unhinged fairy tales like these.
Content Warnings
Minor: Incest, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual harassment
victoria_catherine_shaw's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
book_gal's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
crypticspren's review
3.0
Tangleweed and Brine is a collection of feminist retellings of fairytales we all know and love. Some of these retellings were beautifully written and captivating. Others were a little confusing or uncomfortable to read. Let’s break this up a little...
Writing: Writing in the second person is difficult to perfect, but some of these stories do a great job. The first story is a retelling of Cinderella, and the use of second person is enticing and meaningful. This retelling focuses on Cinderella’s place in the world and the expectations she has of herself. It’s about fitting a mould you dictate for yourself, rather than fitting the desires of a man.
However, in other places, the use of second person is a bit laborious and gets tiring quickly. I would rather there was a focus on clarity than use of second person.
Content: The stories are hit and miss. I adored some, but some felt a little pointless, or didn’t bring anything ‘new’ as a retailing should. One perfect example was the Rapunzel retelling. It ‘retold’ the story of why Rapunzel’s mother ended up losing her to a witch. There wasn’t really anything new here and it was a bit annoying. However, the Bluebeard retelling as a bittersweet love story was such a pleasure to read.
Illustration: it’s not often I get to include an illustration comment but my goodness, the art in this book is BEAUTIFUL! It fits each story perfectly and they are all beautiful and unique representations of the characters of which we are most familiar with Disney version. It was a wonderful addition to the book.
Overall, I think I sort of liked this? A bit? Or at least bits of it? It had some highs and some lows, but I applaud it for attempting some difficult styles, concepts, and themes. It wasn’t bad, and I have tried to review this without bias, but I don’t think I’d ever re-read this. It was too weird, and laborious to read. Also rape isn’t poetic....
Writing: Writing in the second person is difficult to perfect, but some of these stories do a great job. The first story is a retelling of Cinderella, and the use of second person is enticing and meaningful. This retelling focuses on Cinderella’s place in the world and the expectations she has of herself. It’s about fitting a mould you dictate for yourself, rather than fitting the desires of a man.
However, in other places, the use of second person is a bit laborious and gets tiring quickly. I would rather there was a focus on clarity than use of second person.
Content: The stories are hit and miss. I adored some, but some felt a little pointless, or didn’t bring anything ‘new’ as a retailing should. One perfect example was the Rapunzel retelling. It ‘retold’ the story of why Rapunzel’s mother ended up losing her to a witch. There wasn’t really anything new here and it was a bit annoying. However, the Bluebeard retelling as a bittersweet love story was such a pleasure to read.
Illustration: it’s not often I get to include an illustration comment but my goodness, the art in this book is BEAUTIFUL! It fits each story perfectly and they are all beautiful and unique representations of the characters of which we are most familiar with Disney version. It was a wonderful addition to the book.
Overall, I think I sort of liked this? A bit? Or at least bits of it? It had some highs and some lows, but I applaud it for attempting some difficult styles, concepts, and themes. It wasn’t bad, and I have tried to review this without bias, but I don’t think I’d ever re-read this. It was too weird, and laborious to read. Also rape isn’t poetic....
unlikelyplaces's review against another edition
dark
emotional
3.0
I listened to Savage Her Reply by this author last year and it was one of my favourites of the year so I was excited when I saw that my library had the audio for this one as well but I probably should have predicted that this one wouldn’t work as well for me.
I would describe this as somewhere in between a short story and poetry collection of retellings of classic fairytales. Now I know for a lot of people that sounds like the dream and to those people I would absolutely recommend this book.
However for me, although I love mythology retellings, for some reason I’m really not a fan of fairytale retellings (which I realise does not make much sense, I can’t explain it) and I often struggle with an overly poetic writing style.
However for me, although I love mythology retellings, for some reason I’m really not a fan of fairytale retellings (which I realise does not make much sense, I can’t explain it) and I often struggle with an overly poetic writing style.
I think my main issue with this was that I didn’t always understand the point the stories were trying to make. The book has obvious feminist themes and in some of the stories the author’s message was clear, but there were a few that either I just missed it or it was unclear what was happening and what the point was. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I didn’t know all of the original stories so when the author was taking just one character or a snippet of the story, I didn’t have the context for it which made it difficult to follow at times.
This book did cover a wide range of stories and a lot of them have very heavy and difficult subject matter (as do many of the original tales) and there were definitely some that I liked more than others. Please do check for trigger warnings if you feel like you need to as there are many.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fairytale retellings, especially with a feminist lens, and who likes poetic writing. This was definitely a case of “it’s a me problem” but I actually think this was very well written and would work for a lot of people.
Content warnings (I’m not sure if I’ve got all of them as I didn’t follow all of the stories very well so there may be some missing from this list): Gore, sxual abuse, child abuse, domestic abuse, incst, binge eating, alcoholism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Eating disorder, and Incest