mayaschmerf's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and War
safsaf28's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
coops456's review against another edition
3.0
Funny and bawdy. The vaudeville entertainers the Chance sisters are growing old disgracefully. The more Shakespeare you know, the more you'll get from it.
bookishwendy's review against another edition
3.0
I suspected that this book would contain more magical realism than I usually prefer, and I was right. It reminded me of [b:The Passion|15047|The Passion|Jeanette Winterson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388187737s/15047.jpg|864738] by [a:Jeanette Winterson|9399|Jeanette Winterson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1406177070p2/9399.jpg] (published just four years earlier) for its eccentric cast cavorting in endless circles through life's bawdy carnival, chock full of memorable imagery and lovely prose. In the end, it provoked in me a scrap of emotional resonance, a similar melancholy I might feel for the drooping elephants and faded acrobats in a seedy circus act. Juxtaposing topless dance numbers and overacted Shakespeare sounds fun in theory, but this book is such a cluttered mess (intentionally, symbolically so) of non-chronological vignettes and tangled family webs that I felt more annoyed than engaged until the suitably Shakespearean climax.
catsforlenny's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
smblanc1793's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I associate Angela Carter with a more fantastical kind of writing, and while her prose in this book was equally witty, bawdy, and bold, I think it just wasn’t what I expected. Perhaps I just don’t know enough about Shakespeare—or don’t care enough—to truly appreciate the plays on Shakespearean tropes that appear within this book. Maybe I was just not in the right headspace. But this was just not particularly gripping to me, though Carter’s writing, as always, dazzles.
tilda_mellor's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
monikapuff's review against another edition
5.0
How can you not like novel narrated by 75 year old perky granny, Shakespeare, illegitimate twins and incest? I like the unreliability of Dora Chance, her avoiding certain details and forgetting them, too. The ending was shocking but kinda expected, and there were feels and laughs and everything. Definitely one of the faves.