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bananathebookbestie's review
What a weird little book. I loved it. Though it sort of felt unfinished to me? All of the nods to fairy tales were so cool. I loved this concept a lot.
emilye's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Abandonment
okbuthearmeout's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
melloftheball's review
4.0
I wanted a little more from this, but I also thought it was really well done. I appreciated the overarching theme of telling our stories to cope with trauma for sure. And I thought the author did a great job of translating these fairytales to modern life.
leopoldbeyonce's review
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
jester_reviews's review
3.75
I felt torn between giving this book a 3.75 and a 4, but ultimately, I'm happy where it ended up. Don't let the rating fool you, though. I enjoyed this book.
Modernizing fairy tails isn't new here, and I don't believe Adelmann broke new ground in that regard. Nevertheless, we still got an enjoyable anthology-esque story where (mostly) each story had something unique to say. There was a Barbie movie-esque monologue on one page that felt...shoehorned in. After the stories that legitimately explored interesting topics and had something smart to say, it felt like a letdown.
Overall, this book felt like a mashup of two different stories: the one we were promised with the fairy tale retellings and a critique on reality TV. The former is genuinely the best part of the book. Bernice, Ruby, and Gretel's stories were captivating and unique, and I could immediately tell which myths they were supposed to be based on. There was enough weird shit that seemed fairy tale inspired for me to go, "Yeah, that checks," and move on with my life. I felt Gretel was the weakest of the three, but she was the most intriguing character besides Ruby. Where she lacked in her backstory, her complexity and trauma and how she tried to heal made up for it.
I was partially through Ashlee's chapter when I thought I was going crazy. After looking at other reviews here, I'm glad to say I'm not. It feels like half way through writing this story, Adelmann wanted to do reality TV commentary even though a lot of it is...most of what we know? Maybe I'm biased because part of my master's degree was on studying Reality TV, but it felt so...basic. Yes, we know Reality TV is bad and manufactured, and the editors manipulate storylines, and women tend to be vilified after the show, but like...there's so much more you can do with it. Reality TV isn't just limited to The Bachelor (called The One in this world); it's all kinds of shows. Competition, paranormal, cooking, home improvement, character studies, you name it. You can do way more if you want to comment on this television genre. You could do a whole thing on how contestants of all kinds are routinely dehumanized, and their personality is taken out of context. Reality TV shows are geared towards certain genders (ex, look at the difference in the framing of The Pioneer Woman and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). Competition shows that exploit a specific aspect of a culture and defang it so it's palatable to the broader audience??? If Adelmann wanted to delve into that discourse, she should have saved it for another book. Raina's chapter honestly did fine with that, considering it touched on other aspects, such as classism (one of the themes expertly woven throughout the book and didn't feel shoehorned in). Ashlee's chapter also had nothing magical or weird going on, making it feel out of place. It felt like a simple, too-realistic nightmare scenario for a reality TV show contestant.
The ending was just. Weird. I knew something strange was going on with Will, and it would pay off later, but...seriously? It's just. The dude running the reality TV show? This again feels like Adelmann changed topics midway into the book and just went with it. The end climax is also incredibly short and mostly musters up to nothing. We get an epilogue that mentions where each character is now, but it all feels so short. Honestly, I'm fine with the epilogue we got, but I wish the overall ending was different, you know? Ugh. It's weird
This is, overall, a good book. I think a lot of people would benefit from reading it. Many parts genuinely made me stop and think and that was what I looked for in this book. Maybe Bernice and Ruby's parts were so fantastic I felt let down by the rest. Still, coming off my last two reads, this was a breath of fresh air.
Modernizing fairy tails isn't new here, and I don't believe Adelmann broke new ground in that regard. Nevertheless, we still got an enjoyable anthology-esque story where (mostly) each story had something unique to say. There was a Barbie movie-esque monologue on one page that felt...shoehorned in. After the stories that legitimately explored interesting topics and had something smart to say, it felt like a letdown.
Overall, this book felt like a mashup of two different stories: the one we were promised with the fairy tale retellings and a critique on reality TV. The former is genuinely the best part of the book. Bernice, Ruby, and Gretel's stories were captivating and unique, and I could immediately tell which myths they were supposed to be based on. There was enough weird shit that seemed fairy tale inspired for me to go, "Yeah, that checks," and move on with my life. I felt Gretel was the weakest of the three, but she was the most intriguing character besides Ruby. Where she lacked in her backstory, her complexity and trauma and how she tried to heal made up for it.
I was partially through Ashlee's chapter when I thought I was going crazy. After looking at other reviews here, I'm glad to say I'm not. It feels like half way through writing this story, Adelmann wanted to do reality TV commentary even though a lot of it is...most of what we know? Maybe I'm biased because part of my master's degree was on studying Reality TV, but it felt so...basic. Yes, we know Reality TV is bad and manufactured, and the editors manipulate storylines, and women tend to be vilified after the show, but like...there's so much more you can do with it. Reality TV isn't just limited to The Bachelor (called The One in this world); it's all kinds of shows. Competition, paranormal, cooking, home improvement, character studies, you name it. You can do way more if you want to comment on this television genre. You could do a whole thing on how contestants of all kinds are routinely dehumanized, and their personality is taken out of context. Reality TV shows are geared towards certain genders (ex, look at the difference in the framing of The Pioneer Woman and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). Competition shows that exploit a specific aspect of a culture and defang it so it's palatable to the broader audience??? If Adelmann wanted to delve into that discourse, she should have saved it for another book. Raina's chapter honestly did fine with that, considering it touched on other aspects, such as classism (one of the themes expertly woven throughout the book and didn't feel shoehorned in). Ashlee's chapter also had nothing magical or weird going on, making it feel out of place. It felt like a simple, too-realistic nightmare scenario for a reality TV show contestant.
This is, overall, a good book. I think a lot of people would benefit from reading it. Many parts genuinely made me stop and think and that was what I looked for in this book. Maybe Bernice and Ruby's parts were so fantastic I felt let down by the rest. Still, coming off my last two reads, this was a breath of fresh air.
sagicarrius's review
3.0
I really wanted to like this based off premise alone. And I think I liked where they were potentially going with this one, it just never quite hit the mark. One, I really hate to say this about these characters because obviously they’ve experienced their own horrible trauma’s but I didn’t like any of the characters, nothing about them made me really care. Two, this was not a smooth version of magical realism. I would be reading along, relatively invested in what was going on and then the fantastical parts would just absolutely snap me out of the story. Three, by the end of the sessions what was the damn point?! Honestly, even more so after the twist is revealed, what really was the whole point of the book?
Now having said all that I do not think this is a bad book. It kept me entertained enough that I finished it in about three sittings. The writing style (besides the awkward magical realism parts) was good and I liked how the tone of the writing changed according to which woman was telling her story. As weird as it sounds, I thought Ashlee’s POV was the most entertaining, I could hear her much more in my head then the other’s. I also think a lot of the right people could really love this book.
Now having said all that I do not think this is a bad book. It kept me entertained enough that I finished it in about three sittings. The writing style (besides the awkward magical realism parts) was good and I liked how the tone of the writing changed according to which woman was telling her story. As weird as it sounds, I thought Ashlee’s POV was the most entertaining, I could hear her much more in my head then the other’s. I also think a lot of the right people could really love this book.
camdelo96's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25