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A review by brookenomicon
Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
3.0
I am conflicted about this collection as a whole. There were stories I had read before in other books, usually simplified for much younger readers. I enjoyed reading the original translations, but on the whole... these are not great stories. I've read a lot of fairy tales over the years, and these were by far the worst collection I've had the displeasure of trudging through. The stories were neither fun nor clever, and I ended up bored more than not.
There was a lot more Christianity involved in the stories than I was expecting (literal angels appear in one story, the spirit of a dead priest in another, and several stories are solved by faith and/or literal divine intervention), and Anderson had a weird fascination with Egyptians and the Chinese that somehow needles its way into several stories. Many of the stories dragged on too long and were extremely boring. Others left me thinking "what the fuck did I just read". Most of the "lessons" boiled down to "be a good, quiet, obedient Christian, and everything will be fine."
I'm giving it three stars because some of the stories were enjoyable from an academic/analysis standpoint (comparing the originals to the adaptations), but all in all, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a pleasure read.
There was a lot more Christianity involved in the stories than I was expecting (literal angels appear in one story, the spirit of a dead priest in another, and several stories are solved by faith and/or literal divine intervention), and Anderson had a weird fascination with Egyptians and the Chinese that somehow needles its way into several stories. Many of the stories dragged on too long and were extremely boring. Others left me thinking "what the fuck did I just read". Most of the "lessons" boiled down to "be a good, quiet, obedient Christian, and everything will be fine."
I'm giving it three stars because some of the stories were enjoyable from an academic/analysis standpoint (comparing the originals to the adaptations), but all in all, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a pleasure read.