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A review by jenpaul13
Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville
4.0
Stories have a way of distracting us from the realities of life, often the harshest ones. Weaving together two tales in Gretel and the Dark Eliza Granville demonstrates the power that stories wield.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
When a young woman is found in an unfavorable location and in unfortunate circumstances in Vienna in 1899, a respected psychoanalyst, Josef Breuer, takes her into his home. Amid her odd behavior, claims of being a machine with no name or feelings, and the surprising appearance of butterflies in her presence, Josef tries to uncover her identity and what happened to her. Many years later, in Nazi-controlled Germany, a young, stubborn girl named Krysta spends time playing alongside her father, unaware of the horrors of the infirmary where her father works. After his death, Krysta's fate becomes just as horrific as the fairy tales she clings to, making her imagination a safe refuge from the terrors taking place around and to her.
Evocative of the otherworldiness that fairy tales offer, these stories include snippets of storytelling that directly relay portions of fairy tales, as well as narrative descriptions of places, such as towers and fields, and characters, some of whom are described as monsters and witches, to round out the comparison while exploring reality's harsher nature. There are two disparate, yet intricately connected, narratives that are slowly woven together into one larger story, which, while well-crafted and highlighting historical truths, did have a discordant feeling with the rather unconnected timelines and my anticipation for the reveal of how the narrative threads finally come together. In the sheer amount of material, historical and literary, that the stories raise and address, the novel serves as a good discussion piece as there are likely many interpretations that could be gleaned from the text.
Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
When a young woman is found in an unfavorable location and in unfortunate circumstances in Vienna in 1899, a respected psychoanalyst, Josef Breuer, takes her into his home. Amid her odd behavior, claims of being a machine with no name or feelings, and the surprising appearance of butterflies in her presence, Josef tries to uncover her identity and what happened to her. Many years later, in Nazi-controlled Germany, a young, stubborn girl named Krysta spends time playing alongside her father, unaware of the horrors of the infirmary where her father works. After his death, Krysta's fate becomes just as horrific as the fairy tales she clings to, making her imagination a safe refuge from the terrors taking place around and to her.
Evocative of the otherworldiness that fairy tales offer, these stories include snippets of storytelling that directly relay portions of fairy tales, as well as narrative descriptions of places, such as towers and fields, and characters, some of whom are described as monsters and witches, to round out the comparison while exploring reality's harsher nature. There are two disparate, yet intricately connected, narratives that are slowly woven together into one larger story, which, while well-crafted and highlighting historical truths, did have a discordant feeling with the rather unconnected timelines and my anticipation for the reveal of how the narrative threads finally come together. In the sheer amount of material, historical and literary, that the stories raise and address, the novel serves as a good discussion piece as there are likely many interpretations that could be gleaned from the text.
Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.