Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Bloody Chamber

for perspective i did this collection for my a-level coursework and to this day i still go back and reread it. despite the pain it caused me i routinely return!

angela carter is a master of prose. she revels in the dark, the gory and the sexual and boy does she do it well - these short stories will leave you thinking about them for weeks. deeply entwined with the second wave of feminism and themes of female identity and sexuality, carter’s work is unrestrained and shines brilliantly because of it, even in all of its complexity. the deeper you start to dive into these stories, the more you find, though they’re certainly enjoyable as surface-level fairy tales, too!

my personal favourites are ‘the bloody chamber’, ‘the erl king’ and ‘the tiger’s bride’. ~~if you’re a fan of british band~~ ~~wolf alice~~~~, this collection is where they got their name from.~~

i would very heavily recommend carter’s essay ‘the sadeian woman’ as an accompaniment to this collection, as it explores more explicitly her thoughts on pornography and women’s sexuality. speaking of which - this book does not shy away from darker topics, though it does handle them with grace, complexity and thought (and the occasional bite of humour to balance the equation). carter was master of her craft and this is arguably her magnum opus - enjoy!

Content Warnings

james1star's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Really didn’t like this all that much. It’s somewhat well written but also confusing, things do happen but it’s hard to fully know why/how and what the point of it is. This made it rather convoluted and I needed to revisit parts to try and get any semblance of what’s going on. It’s billed as a feminist adult retelling of folkish tales but honesty a lot of the time women were being controlled in some way by men, bowing to them, and really didn’t do much. At times they have sexual agency but was very meh. The best story was the titular one but still nothing much to write home about. I have sadly been put off wanting to read anything else by Carter, at least for the near future, but it may change.

These are my thoughts on each story, I’ve tried to avoid spoilers but it’s my initial notes:

The bloody chamber - 17 yo marries older man, honeymoon in his childhood castle by French coast, he goes to USA, finds his dungeon and previous 3 wives dead, what will happen to her, slightly vampiric? Bluebeard retelling - 3.5

My Lyon - ‘modern’ beauty and the beast retelling but he’s a lion - 3

Tigers bride - woman’s dad bets with her and loses so goes to a desolated palace later finding out this person is a tiger - 2

Puss-in-Boots - cat helps his master contact a woman he’s become in love with who’s trapped in a bad marriage, very camp - 2

Erl-King - lovely nature writing but no clue on the plot, think it’s an allegory about a woman losing her virginity or emotional abuse in a relationship? Confusing - 2.5

Snow child - started great about a count dreaming up a child (was getting snow white vibes) who appears in the snow but his wife wants rid, girl falls after pricking her finger on a rose and then he ‘unfastened his breeches and thrust his virile member into the dead girl.’ I’m sorry what? How tf did it get there - 1 star worst thing I’ve ever read! Would gladly give it less if I could! Dis-gust-ing!!

Lady of the house of love - queen of the vampires lives in an old ruined château feasting on young men her mistress brings, then a soldier arrives and possibly breaks her ‘spell’ but at what cost…? - 3

Werewolf - girl set to visit grandma but encounters a wolf, chops off the hand and finds out her grandma is a witch who’s also that werewolf so town turn on her, potential but too convoluted and quick - 2.25

Company of wolves - red riding hood kinda but make it confusing, felt uncomfortable reading it, possibly making reference to the beastliest of man in the way some turn into/are (were)wolfs? - 2

Wolf-Alice - [note: why three werewolf stories all tougher?!] feral child ‘raised’ by wolves is a mix, stays with ‘another werewolf’ (?), starts puberty and the stress/unknowing of her first period, confusing and boring - 2

Average 2.33 ⭐️ but because of that vile snow child one I’m manually downgrading to a straight 2.

Content Warnings

bookishlucy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was a trip lol
Angela Carter has a unique mind for these kinds of stories and her remarkable take on classic stories that have been told repeatedly was very entertaining to read.

Content Warnings

sleepy_stardust's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The Bloody Chamber is good, but you really need to stick with it. It's very slow, but if you're willing to sift through the (almost) unbearably dense prose, it has some very meaningful takes about the power struggle of women in a patriarchal society.

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rowanelisa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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oirving44's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

Note to self: don't read anything else by Angela Carter

Content Warnings

blueshirt's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Beautifully written. A few of the stories I did not really understand. Like, I didn't get the message of "The Snow Child" beyond my initial (and superficial) "man suck" reaction. But that's more on me as a reader than Angela as a writer.

Content Warnings

chefboyavi's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

These are fine. I think I’m a bit jaded as a former English major because I’ve read a lot of stuff like this. I’m also at a point in my life where if I'm gonna read modern fairytales, they better be gay otherwise what’s the point.

The most interesting thing in reading these stories is that I also happened to be reading Tell Me I’m Worthless by Allison Rumfitt at the same time, which name drops Carter and The Bloody Chamber, so that was a weird coincidence.

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