Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Dec 03, 2007

Hilary rated it:

Fantastic wild, funny, clever, bawdy writing. Angela Carter knows and loves Shakespeare and uses him to examine people and their plotting as well as the Bard does. One of my very favorite books of all time.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2010

Suna rated it:

Ey-Op, Sunny Jim, this story's a merry jape!
Top us up our gin. 'S All a laugh, innit?

And ruddy infectious for the gravelly Lundun accent of its female narrator, as she looks back on her Vaudeville life with her twin sister on their seventy-fifth birthday.
Or 'hoofers' as she calls what they were; dancers treading the boards.

As far as Carter stories go, this one is decidedly more earthy in tone, none of that elusive surrealism that laces her writing normally.
It' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 26, 2009

Steve rated it:

Wise Children.
“Hope for the best, expect the worst.”

The motto of Grandma Chance, the guardian of the central characters in Angela Carter’s final novel. Written as a memoir by one woman from a pair of twin sisters, this story follows the history of a family of actors over the course of nearly a century. It contains many witty observations on the thespian trade, and the journey to the “wood” is one of the funniest commentaries on the film-making business that I have read in a long time. If you More...

0 comments like

Jun 06, 2010

Thom rated it:

There is way too much to this book to cover in one little review; there are so many different reactions you can have to this book when you read it. When I first read it, I just felt at home with Dora, the narrator, (though I made the wise choice of skimming through the first 20 or so pages, which is basically a massive run down of the family history, and far easier to understand once you've got through the novel once). Dora talks to you like a good friend, like you're sitting with her in Grandma More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2010

Christy rated it:

Dora tells the story of her and her twin, Nora, unrecognized illegitimate daughters of the great Shakespearean actor, Melchior Hazard, from their birth at the beginning of the century, to Melchior’s hundredth birthday party, a narrative that progresses chronologically, but with jags and with hints and clues which remind us that we are dealing with that tricky stuff, living memory.

Apart from referring to Shakespeare and his plays, Carter cleverly adds as much Shakespearean twists into More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2011

Candy added it

According to the narrator of this highly theatrical novel, “Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.” Angela Carter draws on several Shakespearean motifs: the plethora of twins, potentially tragic conflicts within families, even a five-chapter structure. But it’s a comic novel, not a tragic play. The narrator and her identical twin sister, Dora and Nora Chance, are the unacknowledged daughters of famed actor Melchior Hazard, and they are invited to his 100th birthday party, which also hap More...

0 comments like

Jan 31, 2011

Teresa rated it:

I read my first Angela Carter novel last year, The Magic Toyshop, reviewed here http://www.lovelytreez.com/?p=50 and it was such an enjoyable reading experience I fully intended to read Wise Children soon afterwards...well, better late than never and what a wondrous ride it was.

Wise Children is narrated by Dora Chance, twin sister to Nora and illegitimate daughter of Melchior Hazard, the renowned Shakespearean actor. It's the twins' 75th birthday and Dora takes this opportunity to r More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2011

Amy rated it:

I loved this book very much! As the story progressed I grew more and more involved with the characters of Dora, the narrator, and her twin sister Nora, and more and more caught up in their stories until I could not put it down. It's not a traditional page-turner in that it's not particularly suspenseful or mysterious, and it's not "high literature" in that the plot revolves almost solely around familial melodrama, love, and sex, but the prose is very witty and delightful to read, inven More...

0 comments like

Dec 03, 2011

Isabel rated it:

There is still magic in this novel even though it is a more realistic story than some of Angela Carter's others; it is filled with the glamour of show business and the magic of the theatre. Dora and Nora are identical twins, the illegitimate offspring of a famous Shakespearean actor whose family contains an abundance of twins, both identical and fraternal. On the 100th birthday of the father who has never acknowledged them, letting it be believed that they are the daughter's of his own twin brot More...

0 comments like

Oct 20, 2010

Joel rated it:

I don't think this is everyone's kind of book, but I really liked it. In fact, I'm wavering between 4 and 5 stars. Carter's wordplay; her incorporation of Shakespearean elements, allusions, references, etc.; her sassy narrator and epic story all really worked for me. It's been a long time since I've been just enjoyed a narrator's personality quite so much, and Dora Chance was just a lot of fun.

That said, she is a bit crass at times, and the plentiful references to sex and bastardry More...

0 comments like

May 13, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

Oh, why did it take me so long to read this? Books like this one, sitting on my shelves gathering dust because I once thought they sounded interesting enough to buy, but then never got around to reading them, are exactly why I am undertaking this project and reading the books that I have instead of buying anything new.

I loved this book a lot, obviously. It’s the kind of book I want to read again for fun, but it also makes me want to go back to school, to read or reread all of Shakesp More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2012

Angie rated it:

‘Hope for the best, expect the worst’.

This is the motto of Grandma Chance, the cheery Cockney who has brought up her two grand-daughters, Nora and our narrator Dora Chance (known professionally as the Lucky Chances, former stars of music hall, stage and as we learn at one time, on the silver screen).

Her words crop up throughout Dora’s story and prove wise advice to her two much loved girls. As the story unfolds the ‘girls’ are now 75 and are about to attend the 100th birt More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 29, 2011

Vasha7 rated it:

To quote an author who's constantly alluded to in this novel, all the world's a stage; and the show that is the lives of Dora and Nora Chance, dancers, is of the flashy and sensational sort. They're the unacknowledged, unloved illegitimate children of Melchior Hazard, the most famous Shakespearian actor of the 20th century; they're constantly "on the left hand side" of society and the theater. This a very tangled tale of family ties and family love; but played out histrionically, in pu More...

0 comments like

Aug 27, 2011

Francine rated it:

I read this book for the first time in college when I was about 21. I try and read it every 5 or so years because it is just magical. This is the first time I'm reading it after having written my own work of fiction and lots of new and wonderful surprises are jumping out at me this time! Told from the point of view of Dora Chance on her 75th birthday, it recounts the life and history of a British "theatrical royalty" family--both the legitimate and illegitimate members, with twins in e More...

0 comments like

Jun 18, 2011

Angie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Apr 09, 2010

Janet rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Mar 12, 2010

Jason rated it:

What happens to twin girls raised outside of the Oedipal paradigm by a mother that is not biologically related to them, a father figure that is not their father (nor romantically linked to the mother figure), a father famous for his Shakespearean roles who has completely denied his role as father and a career in the theatre in the aftermath of WWII England? This book, that's what. Carter is a brilliant writer and the book is written with verve and vigor and one can plow through it in no time at More...

0 comments like

Mar 16, 2009

Rena rated it:

I thought this would be a good chick flick to read. For my taste, there were too many characters to try and remember (though I didn't notice until I got to the end that there was a cheat sheet in the back of the book). Also, there were a lot of references to British slang which I wasn't familiar with, so sometimes I had to guess at what was being said by the context. Obviously this would not be an issue for a British reader! I also found myself a little unwilling to suspend my disbelief at s More...

0 comments like

Feb 11, 2012

Philip rated it:

Great fun. 'Life is a carnival' is quoted in the book and just about sums it up. No magic in this Angela Carter but once again she narrates the lives of performers - in this case a 4 generations of a theatrical family who cover everything from burlesque to Shakespeare. There are lots of sets of twins - we concentrate on Dora and Nora who are born on the wrong side of the sheets and so are condemned to make their living in the music halls. There are lots of references to Shakespeare and misunders More...

0 comments like

Sep 23, 2010

Julie rated it:

Rollicking, ribald, over-the-top story of the Chance sisters (twins Nora and Dora--other sets of twins figure prominently in this book), who were born on the wrong side of the blanket into a scandal-ridden theatrical family in Great Britain. Narrated by 75 year old Dora, it's the story of their family (or who they think their family is), their careers as chorus dancers (they are always on the fringes of legitimacy), and life-long quest to get their true father to acknowledge them. Vivid, eccen More...

0 comments like

Dec 12, 2011

Patricia rated it:

Here I was at home on a stormy Saturday morning binging on a generous helping of television for breakfast when I thought Modern Family’s got nothing on the tangles, scrapes and shockers of the Hazards and the Chances.

In an animated voice peppered with the language of a garrulous sailor, Angela Carter introduces us to one of the most bizarre and chaotic family trees in fiction: that of the stage-loving, dynastic Hazards and their unofficial off-shoots, the Chance girls.

E More...

0 comments like

Jan 16, 2010

Chris rated it:

The first book I ever read by Angela Carter was The Bloody Chamber, which I read because Ellen Datlow &Terri Windling listed it as one of the most read fairy tale based books. (As an aside, I discovered a great many writers and books much sooner than I would've thanks to D&W. Thanks ladies, from the bottom of my heart).

While I love Chamber in particular the title story, I now think that my favorite Carter work is this book.

What really makes this book is the narrat More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 29, 2008

Ciara rated it:

i think this book is brilliant! it's no secret that i love angela carter, as a general rule. she's such a great writer. she has this incredibly rich, verbose style, but it strikes the perfect note every time. it doesn't sound over-worked or clunky. this is the story of two twins born to a poor woman in a boardinghouse. they are the illegitmate children of england's greatest shakespearean actor, a wealthy man who is married & has children from that marriage, who live in the lap of luxury. these g More...

0 comments like

Aug 04, 2008

Roxy rated it:

What can I say? She's done it again- Angela Carter worked her magic and spellbound me into another fairytale of a story. Wise Children may be the most impressive story I have read of hers so far- it has everything- a thick, topsy-turvying and adventurous plotline, a wide array and of characters that the reader can get to know and love, and a flair of magical realism, sexuality, and splendor that is difficult to match. Carter died only one year after publishing this book, but thankfully the story More...

0 comments like

Nov 30, 2008

Laurie rated it:

This was a truly delightful book, the story and the language were wonderful, and it altered my expressions for the duration of the reading. Toot sweet, in want of, and other such things have been flying out of my mouth. It has been the cause of a few puzzled looks.

Everything in this novel was perfectly portioned. The characterizations never wavered, you never felt like you had to take a leap out of the ordinary for any character, they stayed rich, alive, and true blue. The songs the More...

0 comments like

Apr 28, 2008

Alison rated it:

This will be the last Angela Carter novel in my Angela Carter adventure, because I've finished the volume of three novels that I've been dutifully plugging through for the past two months. Why? Because each novel was sufficiently entertaining to make me keep reading. And sufficiently weird in its narrative choices to make me say, "Huh, I wasn't expecting that," every time I thought I might just put them down without finishing them; Carter had a lively interest in lots of things, and More...

3 comments like

Mar 12, 2008

Brenda rated it:

Angela Carter's name came off the magical realism list, however this book does not seem to fall into that genre. As it was not what I expected, the pleasant surprise I felt for the story was a nice bonus.

The book chronicles the life of un-parented twin sister starlettes from London in the 40's and 50's as reminisced from the present day. The girls' mother died in childbirth and their father, a famous Shakespearean actor turned cabaret and eventually media star, never acknowledges h More...

0 comments like

Feb 06, 2012

Beverly rated it:

All right, so the ending is a bit far fetched and the writing meanders, but the latter is due to unreliable narrator. I enjoyed this book, as Dora is quite an entertaining narrator for all her faults, and part of the appeal is that she holds nothing back. She tells everything as she sees it, though perhaps embellishing a bit, and we can see, especially at the end, the family as it truly is.

Maybe it was just me, but despite the fact the book had a happy (and incredulous) ending, I found More...

0 comments like

Jan 28, 2008

Alice rated it:

A gem of a book. I adored it! The tale of the two Chance sisters and their complicated familiy is narrated by Dora Chance, a bubbly and addictive stroy teller. The novel races along through music halls, Brixton, Hollywood and several clandestine flings. There are various sets of twins with dubious paternities and identities. The story is not always told in chronological order, which adds to the overall quality of the book. The use of language is clever and clearly evokes the excitement and fun More...

0 comments like

Aug 21, 2011

Ruthiella rated it:

Don’t let my two stars deter you from reading this book. It just isn’t my cup of tea, but you may love it. Farce isn't my strong suit. It was very amusing and clever; a madcap, often vulgar, farce recounting the complicated family tree of a fictional acting dynasty (think the Barrymores or the Redgraves, but even more scandalous and with legitimate and illegitimate children who come in pairs). Former showgirls and twins, Nora and Dora were born on the wrong side of the blanket in the late 19th c More...

0 comments like

reviews