Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by seebrandyread
A Wild Swan: And Other Tales by Michael Cunningham
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I love fairytales, but I think I love retold fairytales even more because they often go deeper into an overlooked perspective and bring the old stories more fully into the modern world. Not to mention, retellings are usually better written. So it's a real treat when a Pulitzer winning author like Michael Cunningham gives us his take on classic stories like Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk, and all beautifully illustrated by Yuko Shimizu.
Most of these stories are rewritten to focus on the POV of a different character, often the villain like the witch from Hansel and Gretel or Prince Charming from Snow White. Villains are almost always more interesting than heroes and heroines anyway. In some stories, Cunningham changes the angle just enough to make us question the goodness of other characters. Jack is no better than the giant in his greed. Was the Beast's seduction of Beauty part of his plan all along?
Other stories aren't altered so much as fleshed out. We learn more about the brother left with one wing from The Six Swans and the family's horror at the awful power of The Monkey's Paw. We find out what happens after the end of Snow White and Rapunzel, how the princes and princesses navigate their relationships and sex lives given the bizarre ways in which they're brought together.
I most enjoyed the stories in this collection that gave more of the full story rather than an in-depth character study. There's a beautiful version of the Tin Soldier told with the soldier as a regular human man in the regular human world and what his relationship with the "ballerina" would look like there. I'm not entirely sure which fairytale the last story is based on, but it goes into detail of what "happily ever after" might realistically look like in the fairytale universe.
I wish more "adult" books were illustrated. Shimizu's artwork is almost better than the stories themselves and are key to the tone and cohesion of the collection because not only do they make the magical more real, they hearken back to our childhood reading which was a magic of its own.
Most of these stories are rewritten to focus on the POV of a different character, often the villain like the witch from Hansel and Gretel or Prince Charming from Snow White. Villains are almost always more interesting than heroes and heroines anyway. In some stories, Cunningham changes the angle just enough to make us question the goodness of other characters. Jack is no better than the giant in his greed. Was the Beast's seduction of Beauty part of his plan all along?
Other stories aren't altered so much as fleshed out. We learn more about the brother left with one wing from The Six Swans and the family's horror at the awful power of The Monkey's Paw. We find out what happens after the end of Snow White and Rapunzel, how the princes and princesses navigate their relationships and sex lives given the bizarre ways in which they're brought together.
I most enjoyed the stories in this collection that gave more of the full story rather than an in-depth character study. There's a beautiful version of the Tin Soldier told with the soldier as a regular human man in the regular human world and what his relationship with the "ballerina" would look like there. I'm not entirely sure which fairytale the last story is based on, but it goes into detail of what "happily ever after" might realistically look like in the fairytale universe.
I wish more "adult" books were illustrated. Shimizu's artwork is almost better than the stories themselves and are key to the tone and cohesion of the collection because not only do they make the magical more real, they hearken back to our childhood reading which was a magic of its own.