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Apr 06, 2011

karen rated it:

this is a book that concerns itself with damage and healing. and i think it is a very powerful book filled with Important Lessons. my only problem with it is that there are too many voices, too many characters, which i think makes for a strained and disjointed read. there were so many voices, it became hard to care about any one of them individually.this is not always a problem for me in fiction- i love sprawling narratives, but in this book, i think the real strength of perspective was found in More...

22 comments like (32 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2008

Sarah rated it:

Once upon a time, the skeleton of this story was called Snow-White and Rose-Red. Like all fairy tales, it left much unexplained. Too much. Well, Margo Lanagan took those bones and added muscle and guts, bracing the loose joints of the plot with her characters' emotions, motivations, and histories. That's the secret of successful retellings: fleshing out the gaps that relied almost entirely on the readers' willful ignorance or suspension of belief, yet still leaving room for the existence of mag More...

6 comments like (31 people liked it)

May 14, 2010

Tatiana rated it:

Evidently, Tender Morsels is a modern retelling of Brothers Grimm's fairy tale Rose Red and Snow White: A Grimms Fairy Tale. If I have to look for an analogy among better known fairy tale retellings, Tender Morsels is closer in its audacity to Anne Rice's version of Sleeping Beauty - The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty than to Robin McKinley's Spindle's End. Is Tender Morsels a remarkable work of literature? Yes. Does it cross the boundaries of what is YA appropriate? Yes, again.

Liga has More...

21 comments like (26 people liked it)

Jun 19, 2010

Nancy rated it:

Tender Morsels is a modern retelling of Grimms’ Snow White and Rose Red. Liga had a painful past and was magicked away to another world where she was safe and could raise her two daughters free of violence and the small-mindedness of the villagers in the town she once inhabited. Once the security of their safe world was breached, Liga and her daughters had to learn to adapt to living in the real world.

Beautifully written, rich, disturbing, compelling, yet hopeful, with vividly dr More...

6 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

Valerie rated it:

At first, Tender Morsels drew me in, but the middle kind of lost me (it seemed a little tedious to me).

Lately, I've been hearing "If you don't like a book, put it down. There are too many other good books out there you could be reading."

But I'm not very good at that. If I see the tiniest bit of merit in a book, I'll keep plugging away. And I saw that in this book. The end did actually pull me back in, but mainly because it did a good job of tying up all the loos More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Hazel rated it:

I'm enjoying this. Lanagan is skilled enough with her prose that I find myself noting particular phrases, or rereading some paragraphs. She's good enough with plot and pacing that I've been reading fast, eager to know what happens next. I don't remember the story of Snow-White and Rose-Red, so I can't say if she's true to it, but she does weave the fairy tale/folk elements into a gritty story of childhood sexual abuse and violence against women. The weaving isn't seamless. Indeed, I thought at f More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2008

Lynn rated it:

Tender Morsels. WOW! Let me say that again- WOW! I
finished this one this morning and I have been thinking about it
nonstop. This is a full length novel, a fantasy, and, unlike her short
stories, uses a fairly conventional narrative style so it may be more
accessible for many readers. It is still a very challenging book
however and demanding of its readers in a different way. The emotional
wallop is extremely intense, especially in the first 70 pages of the
More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2008

Monica rated it:

Whew, this is an amazing book. I started it a while ago and stopped because it was too intense. After reading other enthusiastic reviews I returned to it and I'm glad I did. It all feels so fresh and original. While the world Lanagan has created is a familiar one of fairy, it stands alone--- the language, living, and magic feel completely unique.

How Lanagan pulled off the shifting points of view is impressive. I still can feel and smell and hear what it must have been like to be More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

I hardly know what to say about this book. I’m not even going to try to describe the plot. A plot description really doesn’t tell you anything. Each moment of this book illuminated nothing but the moment before it, nothing forward, so that the book was completely unpredictable the entire way through. Nothing I’d read – no review, no book description – prepared me for what I was going to meet at any step of the way. And because I can’t possibly convey to you how beautiful this book is, I’m simply More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 05, 2009

Rose rated it:

I want to recommend this book to survivors, but I must clarify lest they pick it up thinking my recommendation means it is safe to read. Do not read this without a support system in place, if you have even ever once had a flashback.

The book starts out with an accurate and well-described incest and rape situation involving a young teen and her widower father. It is realistic, not otherworldly, though set in the Middle Ages somewhere. He soon dies, but it's still a very realistic tr More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Stacey rated it:

Tender Morsels is dark and disturbing... and a fairy tale. The Brothers Grimm would be proud. The story has it all - fairy godmothers, princesses, transmogrification, violence, joy, sadness, death, babies, magic and murder. It is not for the faint of heart.

This is one of the most beautifully written novels I've read this year, the imagery is vivid, the characters have form and emotion, and the plot is complex, and yet, still a fairy story. Lovely.

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2009

46milestogo rated it:

This has gotten fantastic reviews, but I think it's horribly overwritten. In addition, the only people reading this, as far as I can tell, are librarians. I've talked three teens into checking it out, and the farthest any of them made was halfway through.

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2010

Kat rated it:

I actually had no expectations of this book. I suppose, since I already knew about a few of the more disturbing things about this book, that I was already prepared to face it.

What I wasn't prepared for was how utterly bored I'd be. It was quite infuriating really. There were many characters I severely disliked and the plot was very awkward.

I made it about half way through the book before I threw my hands up in disgust and gave up. It just didn't seem to be going anyw More...

8 comments like (8 people liked it)

Apr 21, 2009

SheWunders rated it:

Cross-posted from my blog E.M.Reads.

After 200 pages of Tender Morsels I just can't continue. I mean I'm half way there and I just can't plow through. I'm searching for the plausible chain of events that binds the plot. I understand that this is fantasy and plausibility isn't exactly necessary, but I need to be able to tie together these events with some semblance of belief. After 200 pages I just feel disconnected from the story. I'm sure in the last 50 pages Ms. Lanagan will t More...

8 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2009

Emilie rated it:

my review of this book is at:
http://www.amazon.com/Tender-Morsels-Mar...

and pasted here,
“born to make a real life however it cracks your heart”
Margo Lanagan’s retelling of the fairy tale, Snow White, Rose Red is a novel that succeeds in the way that the most compelling of fairy tale retellings or fantasy novels do: through using the fantastic/magickal elements to tell a story that feels more real and believable then if the reader imagines the story without these ele More...

10 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 20, 2011

Gloria rated it:

I have to admit that the thing that first attracted me to this book was the wonderful cover art. However, for once, it appears that I was right to judge a book by its cover. Tender Morsels is a retelling of the Snow White and Rose Red story and, as fairytales go, it is decidedly of the Brothers Grimm variety, dark, vivid and brutal, so do not expect it to be full of sunshine, rainbows and unicorns.

When we meet the main character, Liga, she is 13 years old, living with h More...

6 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Kristen rated it:

So far, it is horrible. By page 50, the main character has been raped multiple times by at least six different men, one being her father. She has been pregnant two different times, both her father's children.

After I wrote this review, I tried to continue but just couldn't. I didn't finish the book - I stopped on page 83. If someone actually gets through it and likes it, let me know!

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 21, 2008

Jonathan rated it:

I've liked Lanagan's short story collections, BLACK JUICE and RED SPIKES in particular, but they've never aroused as much of a visceral reaction in me as they seem to in other people, but this one is a different story. It started off a bit tedious for me, but grew on me as I read, and by the end, I was sure I was reading one of the best books of the year--perhaps *THE* best.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2010

Lizz rated it:

The words and phrasings flow through this book much like the title implies, like tender morsels of the most bitter pain imaginable, the greatest joy a heart can experience, the sweetest hurts of the heart and the sense experiences that accompany the magic and reality of being human.

I read this book slower than I've ever read any. The reasons varied: at times the narrative got stuck for me (but much like flies get stuck to honey), the plotline too painful to read quickly or too lovely More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 15, 2008

Andrew rated it:

This is a rich, visceral novel, that taps into the primal essence of humanity that we find at the heart of every folk fairy tale, and fleshes it out into a fully-fledged masterpiece.

It's not necessarily for the faint-hearted... but the faint-hearted could probably learn a lot from reading it. :)

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

William Herschel rated it:

Alright. I initially wanted to read this for two reasons:

1. The cover.
2. Something light to read between the expanses of Infinite Jest.

But mostly the cover. And I was not disappointed in that regard. There are lots of bear hugs and cuddling in Tender Morsels. But the delight of that was kind of ruined when, you know, you find out the bear you're hugging is a man from the real-world who is only trying to fumble at your skirts in his new bear-form.

What?

More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Carter rated it:

Wow, oh wow! While this one is definitely not a book for everyone, nor is it a "quick" read; it's incredible for what it is.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2010

Lady Moorchild added it

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

Joanna rated it:

So much to say about this book! First, someone somewhere decided it is for young adults. Could be, but they would be much tougher young adults than I ever was. If this were a movie it would be rated R++ for intense and sustained sexual violence. Second, this is a retelling of the Grimms' brothers tale "Snow White and Rose Red," so there is lots of magic set in a world much like pre-industrial Europe. Third, I admire the writing immensely. The strange and bewitching tone is maintained f More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

David rated it:

"Tender Morsels" lê-se demasiado como aquilo que é: uma história curta ampliada de modo artificial para o tamanho de um romance. Enquanto variação da fábula "Schneeweisschen und Rosenrot" dos Irmãos Grimm, este livro contém alegorias muito bem conseguidas - e intrigantes - sobre o crescimento e o amadurecimento sexual dos jovens e as diferenças entre o mundo masculino e o feminino, mas é quando tenta partir daí para algo maior que o resultado deixa de ser animador. As persona More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 20, 2010

Megan rated it:

Tender Morsels is a hard book to review. I wanted to like it sooo much! After all, I like the writing, the world Margo Lanagan created, the magic and even the disquieting nature of the story. I've always had a fascination with the older, more violent and more disturbing versions of Grimms fairytales, so this book seemed to be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it had too many issues for me to over look.

What comes to mind, first and foremost is the fact that this book is geared toward More...

16 comments like (12 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2011

M— rated it:

Eh, fine. I had high hopes for this one, and I found the reading of it a bit disappointing. This book should have suited me to a tee with my love for fairy tales, retellings, and fantasy-shading-to-horror; but it fell rather flat.

While I liked how Lanagan trimmed and embroidered the tale of Snow White and Rose Red to suit herself, some of the details she changed seemed inexplicable. Sure, Snow White marries her bear prince, but it was her mother who spent the book in love with him? More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 01, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Summary: Liga Longfield has been through hell. So when she stumbles upon her own personal heaven, she doesn’t ask questions. But her heaven isn’t as isolated as she thought. Will she have to face her hell again?

Review: This Printz Honor Book is not for the squeamish. I didn’t read much about the book before starting it, and the cover led me to believe it was going to be fairy tale-ish.

It does contain magic, but this book also deals with some pretty heavy topics. Incest, r More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Jeanette rated it:

After enduring many unspeakable cruelties, Liga is granted a magical safe haven to live in and raise her two daughters. They live in this alternate reality free from anyone or anything cruel or unkind. Others begin to find ways of entering this magic haven and soon the barrier between the two worlds begins to break.
I heard so much praise about this book that I was very eager to read it. Unfortunately, this book turned out to be one that I did not enjoy at all and really probably should hav More...

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 19, 2009

Sara rated it:

Oh, those first 50 pages! Spectacular. Not just because of the crazy-beautiful writing, and the dare-you-to-stay-with-me portrayal of a raw, ugly situation, but because I was really and truly convinced that I was inside Liga's head.

As the novel expanded to encompass more lives, I found myself less entranced. It wasn't the difficult but brilliant language choices; it wasn't the raunchy but highly original portrayal of bears; it wasn't the shifting multiple viewpoints. All of that, I More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)