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A review by richardleis
Horse, Flower, Bird by Kate Bernheimer
5.0
Disclaimer: I'm currently taking a couple classes taught by Kate Bernheimer, so I'm biased. But this book is incredible.
I love these dark fairy tales and how they appear on the page. Each paragraph gets its own page, often leaving plenty of whitespace so that you can imagine or even draw an illustration that might go along with the passage. Some of the stories seem to be set many years ago, while a story like "A Star Wars Tale" is obviously modern and a story like "Whitework" seems to be timeless. Death generally contributes the dark tone and there does not seem to be any happy endings, which often makes these stories strangely allegoric and realistic. Unlike Grimm Brothers fairy tales, sometimes Bernheimer's fairy tales are a bit opaque, suggesting multiple possible meanings. They are told in a straightforward, beautiful, and musical sounding way. Other fairy tale techniques include narrators who suddenly impose themselves in the telling, flatness of characters, abstractions, and little or no explanation for how magic happens.
I love these dark fairy tales and how they appear on the page. Each paragraph gets its own page, often leaving plenty of whitespace so that you can imagine or even draw an illustration that might go along with the passage. Some of the stories seem to be set many years ago, while a story like "A Star Wars Tale" is obviously modern and a story like "Whitework" seems to be timeless. Death generally contributes the dark tone and there does not seem to be any happy endings, which often makes these stories strangely allegoric and realistic. Unlike Grimm Brothers fairy tales, sometimes Bernheimer's fairy tales are a bit opaque, suggesting multiple possible meanings. They are told in a straightforward, beautiful, and musical sounding way. Other fairy tale techniques include narrators who suddenly impose themselves in the telling, flatness of characters, abstractions, and little or no explanation for how magic happens.