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The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Angela Carter

Why we're reading this: Creepy fairytale retellings for adults only!
[close] Creepy fairytale retellings for adults only!

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What Members Thought

Feb 08, 2010 martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction, short-stories, year-2011

I've been obsessed with retold fairy tales since, oh, early elementary school. These are NOT for elementary schoolers, but they're fantastic: dark, gorgeous, horrifying, scintillating, gory, smart, feminist, and really really well written. The first story, the Blackbeard retelling, was definitely the best, I think. ...more

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Jan 29, 2010 Megan Reichelt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: myth-and-fables, fairy-tale-adaptations

This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I take back what I said about short stories. Angela Carter uses exactly the amount of text she needs, no more, no less, to convey a compelling story in its satisfying entirety.

In these fairy tales re-told, she explores the juxtaposition of human and beast: a beast who turns into a man, a man who turns into a beast, a feral girl, a puss in boots. Sometimes she tells a well-known story in several different ways to explore new aspects of it ...more

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Aug 22, 2015 Kate rated it did not like it

Shelves: books-read-in-2016

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not finish this book, but I read the first 3 stories. While that may not sound like a lot, the first story encompasses almost half the pages in the book, so I think I did give this a solid enough effort that I'm able to give my opinion.

The content of the stories was fine and original, but I really just could not get into or enjoy the author's writing style, which makes me sure it was the right decision to stop reading this since, because it was her writi ...more

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