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A review by crypticspren
Tangleweed and Brine by Deirdre Sullivan
3.0
Tangleweed and Brine is a collection of feminist retellings of fairytales we all know and love. Some of these retellings were beautifully written and captivating. Others were a little confusing or uncomfortable to read. Let’s break this up a little...
Writing: Writing in the second person is difficult to perfect, but some of these stories do a great job. The first story is a retelling of Cinderella, and the use of second person is enticing and meaningful. This retelling focuses on Cinderella’s place in the world and the expectations she has of herself. It’s about fitting a mould you dictate for yourself, rather than fitting the desires of a man.
However, in other places, the use of second person is a bit laborious and gets tiring quickly. I would rather there was a focus on clarity than use of second person.
Content: The stories are hit and miss. I adored some, but some felt a little pointless, or didn’t bring anything ‘new’ as a retailing should. One perfect example was the Rapunzel retelling. It ‘retold’ the story of why Rapunzel’s mother ended up losing her to a witch. There wasn’t really anything new here and it was a bit annoying. However, the Bluebeard retelling as a bittersweet love story was such a pleasure to read.
Illustration: it’s not often I get to include an illustration comment but my goodness, the art in this book is BEAUTIFUL! It fits each story perfectly and they are all beautiful and unique representations of the characters of which we are most familiar with Disney version. It was a wonderful addition to the book.
Overall, I think I sort of liked this? A bit? Or at least bits of it? It had some highs and some lows, but I applaud it for attempting some difficult styles, concepts, and themes. It wasn’t bad, and I have tried to review this without bias, but I don’t think I’d ever re-read this. It was too weird, and laborious to read. Also rape isn’t poetic....
Writing: Writing in the second person is difficult to perfect, but some of these stories do a great job. The first story is a retelling of Cinderella, and the use of second person is enticing and meaningful. This retelling focuses on Cinderella’s place in the world and the expectations she has of herself. It’s about fitting a mould you dictate for yourself, rather than fitting the desires of a man.
However, in other places, the use of second person is a bit laborious and gets tiring quickly. I would rather there was a focus on clarity than use of second person.
Content: The stories are hit and miss. I adored some, but some felt a little pointless, or didn’t bring anything ‘new’ as a retailing should. One perfect example was the Rapunzel retelling. It ‘retold’ the story of why Rapunzel’s mother ended up losing her to a witch. There wasn’t really anything new here and it was a bit annoying. However, the Bluebeard retelling as a bittersweet love story was such a pleasure to read.
Illustration: it’s not often I get to include an illustration comment but my goodness, the art in this book is BEAUTIFUL! It fits each story perfectly and they are all beautiful and unique representations of the characters of which we are most familiar with Disney version. It was a wonderful addition to the book.
Overall, I think I sort of liked this? A bit? Or at least bits of it? It had some highs and some lows, but I applaud it for attempting some difficult styles, concepts, and themes. It wasn’t bad, and I have tried to review this without bias, but I don’t think I’d ever re-read this. It was too weird, and laborious to read. Also rape isn’t poetic....