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beckyramone 's review for:
Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories
by Angela Carter
First of all, don't do what I did and read this cover to cover. I'd advise reading The Bloody Chamber and Black Venus first, then go back and read the older collections and the most recent one. It was really hard to get into the first stories without having a solid formulation in my head of how Angela Carter writes, because a lot of those earlier stories feel a little half-formed, like she's working out ideas and doesn't quite have a handle on where the stories are going. It would be much more interesting to have read her great pieces and then to go back and see where her work started. I'm going to do a sort of mini-review of each collection.
Early Work, 1962-6 I barely remember these stories. "The Man Who Loved a Double Bass" is okay, but these three stories don't feel developed.
Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces The ending of the second story of the collection, "The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter" is the first moment I was like, oh, OH OH this is what Angela Carter is all about. It's a horrifying tale of what a man with power can do. "The Loves of Lady Purple" and "Master" are both solid stories about women taking revenge of the men who use them. "Reflections" is truly wild, I have no idea what it is about, but it's worth reading just for the wtf-ness of it.
The Bloody Chamber Brilliant retelling of fairy tales, especially the titular story, "The Lady of the House of Love" and "The Company of Wolves." This is where I think Carter really perfected her very eloquent and descriptive style in a way that worked with the stories and didn't get too tedious to read.
Black Venus Again, the titular story is the best, and I think I may have enjoyed this collection more than The Bloody Chamber. It's an imagining of various women throughout history.
American Ghosts and Old World Wonders I was a bit ambivalent about this collection, I think "Lizzie's Tiger" and "Gun for the Devil" are the strongest stories.
Uncollected Stories, 1970-81 Nothing to write home about.
I'll definitely revisit The Bloody Chamber and Black Venus at some point.
Early Work, 1962-6 I barely remember these stories. "The Man Who Loved a Double Bass" is okay, but these three stories don't feel developed.
Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces The ending of the second story of the collection, "The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter" is the first moment I was like, oh, OH OH this is what Angela Carter is all about. It's a horrifying tale of what a man with power can do. "The Loves of Lady Purple" and "Master" are both solid stories about women taking revenge of the men who use them. "Reflections" is truly wild, I have no idea what it is about, but it's worth reading just for the wtf-ness of it.
The Bloody Chamber Brilliant retelling of fairy tales, especially the titular story, "The Lady of the House of Love" and "The Company of Wolves." This is where I think Carter really perfected her very eloquent and descriptive style in a way that worked with the stories and didn't get too tedious to read.
Black Venus Again, the titular story is the best, and I think I may have enjoyed this collection more than The Bloody Chamber. It's an imagining of various women throughout history.
American Ghosts and Old World Wonders I was a bit ambivalent about this collection, I think "Lizzie's Tiger" and "Gun for the Devil" are the strongest stories.
Uncollected Stories, 1970-81 Nothing to write home about.
I'll definitely revisit The Bloody Chamber and Black Venus at some point.