Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber

Claire sent me a copy of The Bloody Chamber last month, and I resisted opening it 'til the Angela Carter month kicked off. My previous experience with Angela Carter's short stories collection wasn't great, so despite the great things I've read about this collection, I was ever so slightly ambivalent about it. Nonetheless, my fears (if I may call the ambivalence so) were quickly allayed as I lost myself in the title story, The Bloody Chamber - a story that starts in an almost "happily-ever-after" fairytale-esque manner. Yet, a combination of the title and familiarity with Angela Carter's writing was reason enough to believe that the story would take a gothic turn. And so it did. I couldn't peel my eyes away from the story for even a second though, and it was enough to believe that this collection of short stories would be more enjoyable, less random.

The other stories followed suit; re-vamped fairy tales, re-invented characters, but these stories aren't just re-told in a different voice. That would be the most unfair assessment of all. These stories are original, picking up on some of the latent themes prevalent in the classic fairytales we've known and loved, and improvising on them to create dark depraved tales which delighted and shocked me.

Beauty and the Beast is one of the stories that make an appearance in this collection, and despite being a big fan of the original (who didn't love the Disney movie?), I was thoroughly wowed by Carter's more adult version. Abundant with vice and a hint of sexuality, the re-working of this story seemed almost real, while simultaneously being totally fantastical.

While I did love most of the stories in this collection, a couple did leave me feeling indifferent. Puss in Boots was one of them, and annoyingly enough, I can't really pinpoint what I didn't really enjoy about it. It just didn't grab me like the others did. Is that good enough a reason? I don't know, but, it's all I've got.

It's a provocative gothic collection, surreal as always (and these are fairy tales, so the surrealism element automatically gets incremented), but totally captivating. I recommend it highly, simply because it takes the safe happy world of fairy tales, and turns it upside down, while teasing you and making you beg for more; be it the re-working of Sleeping Beauty, or the overhauling of Red Riding Hood.

Again, thanks Claire for the giveaway. I'm really happy I won! :)

Have you read any gothic fairy tales? Which ones would you recommend?

PS: I recently finished The Book Of Lost Things which also has fairy-tales twisted and re-told in the narrative. I was very impressed by it as well, and despite Connolly being no Angela Carter, I thoroughly loved it, so it's something else I'd rate quite highly.

Eudora Welty - The Robber Bridegroom

I stumbled upon The Robber Bridegroom in a second hand bookstore, and was intrigued immediately, by the  quote on the cover:

A Gothic fairy tale set in the eighteenth century Mississippi.

I like Gothic fairy tales, most of the time, and this was no exception. It had all the key ingredients, worthy of a Grimm tale: a rich plantation owner, a beautiful daughter, the evil step mother, the bandits, and the neighbour's pesky son.

Rosamond Musgrove lives with her father, a plantation owner, and her evil stepmother, Salome. While the father dotes on Rosamond, the typical step mother sends her to the far sides of the woods to get herbs, hoping some ill will fall upon her. She even hires the neighbour's idiot son to harm her step daughter... And, one day, harm does befall the naive innocent daughter, when she meets a bandit while running errands, and from that point, things change...

When I first finished this book, packed with interesting characters, and a couple of parallel stories (including tales about Little Harp and Mike Fink), I was disappointed. I thought the characters hadn't really been developed, and the book was superficial. Now, though, I think I appreciate its subtleties a lot more: be it the interaction between the bandits, the choices made by Rosamond, or the varying emotions that carry the book. Barring a couple of scenes, the book is practically suitable for children, and through the entire book, you do wonder when the fairy god mother is going to emerge to wave her wand, and make it all okay.

Rating: C

Angela Carter - The Magic Toyshop

I'll say it, right at the very outset. Straight. This is one of the best books I've ever read, and, believe it or not, the cover is equally fantastic. I did judge the book by its cover, and I am still astounded by how incredible this book is, and I can continue staring at its cover for hours unending. The plot, in a nutshell, revolves around Melanie, a fifteen year old who plays grown-up one evening, by wearing her mother's wedding dress. The next morning, a telegram arrives informing her, her two siblings and their housekeeper of the children's parents' demise. The children are forced to pack up and leave their life of luxury, and move in with their Uncle Philip, who they've never really known.

Life at Uncle Philip is diametrically different from 'home' - there is no toilet paper, no hot water, there's community shampoo, and there are the "red" people - Uncle Philip's mute wife, and her two brothers: Francis and Finn. Her Uncle, who owns a puppet and toy shop, seems to spend most of his energy on his 'art' and less on his family, but nonetheless being an oppressive tyrant, who everyone in the house fears. He comes across as this abominable puppet master, a sadist, a jealous mean miser, who hates Christmas, and resents people who aren't puppets.

The story focuses on the horrible Uncle, but it's also about how Melanie comes of age, settles into the family, and finds love and affection for her Aunt, and her Aunt's brothers - brothers who her Uncle despises, and never fails to remind that they need to earn their keep. It's Melanie's story, out and out, from the moment the book starts, with her discovering her own sexuality, and fearing dying a virgin, to, her almost bursting into tears looking at the bathroom at her Uncle's place (and comparing it to her old one), to, falling in love, and finally, growing up at the tender age of fifteen going on sixteen. It's a story that starts off at the brink of losing innocence, and progresses with the protagonist falling into a whirlwind of darkness, knowing that life as she knows it is over - and it's never coming back.

This is a beautifully written, heartbreaking tragedy. It's descriptive, magical (pun unintended), and almost scary. Life changes in the blink of an eye, and three children are forced to suffer the consequences, and subjugate themselves to a life they have no control over.

They stood on the step and waited for the taxi with black bands on their arms and suitcases in their hands, forlorn passengers from a wrecked ship, clutching a few haphazardly salvaged possessions, and staring in dismay at the choppy sea to which they must commit themselves.

The metaphors, dark imagery, graphic descriptions and quasi-hallucinatory story makes this gothic fairy tale superb. The vivid scenes, be it Leda-Zeus (Melanie and the Swan puppet), or the jubilation of the entire family when Uncle Philip is away, blows the reader's mind away, and at the end of the book, I was just craving for more.

...And, I don't think my review has done this phenomenal piece of work any justice whatsoever.

Rating: 5+ {If you stumble upon this book, grab it and hug it tight, and never let it go}

PS: I've half thought that Claire @ PaperbackReader can have a blog dedicated to Angela Carter and The Magic Toyshop, and some of its stunning covers. If she ever goes down that road, I'll be happy to join her / follow each and every post! :)