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themis_biblos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, and Murder
ciebeanie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
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’.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal cruelty
rowanelisa's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
katie0528's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Sexual content, and Blood
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Confinement
soniajoy98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Sexual harassment
mericat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, and Gaslighting
jovianjournals's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.25
Claiming to create a retelling of fairy tales, Angela Carter writes stories showing how women can take back some of the power in those fairy tales. Her ideas are great; the execution is horrifying and downright disappointing.
While she may have been going for a "Satire" approach, these short stories go too far and do not seem feminist to me in the least bit. Describing a girl's first period as being started because "a wolf... must have nibbled her cunt while she was sleeping" serves absolutely no purpose, and you cannot claim that the story is about "women taking their agency back" when half the stories are about teenagers or pre-pubescent teenagers willingly having sex with adult men/monsters.
Some reviews have claimed that these books are supposed to be read as the men's sexual desires actually representing the women's inner desires; thus, when the characters give in to the male's advances, they are really giving into their own. Through her stories featuring bestiality, pedophilia, incest, Carter basically asks the question "what if the claim that girls are really asking for it when they are raped were true?"
Furthermore, from a writing perspective I found her stories to be boring and not well written. Many praise her elaborate writing style, but it seems as though she is trying to hide the lack of substance in her stories with flowery writing. Some of the descriptions felt pulled straight out of a fanfiction. The plots of each short story are also severely lacking; even the stories which otherwise do better trying to present her messages fail due to disuse of characters and plot points.
This book should be marketed as erotica. If it were marketed as such, I'd say it's fine. But this is not a masterful genre-defying book of feminist prose; it's a collection of erotic rewrites of fairy tales. Some have a bit more meaning, but for the most part, it's just erotica. If you enjoy that, I'd encourage reading it! She certainly goes in depth describing the sex, and it probably composes at least a third of the book. But if you're looking for what the book markets itself as, I'd look elsewhere - though I do always encourage people to read things for themselves to decide.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence
breamfish1138's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Blood, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual assault
It's super gory and messed up and weird. Would not recommend use as actual bedtime stories. And it doesn't TECHNICALLY count as cannibalism but a lot of people do get eaten.heartofhorrors's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Minor: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
alysian_fields's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Incest, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault