I love fairy tales and reworkings of fairy tales, and sometimes it's good to get back to basics. Here Angela Carter presents her translations of Charles Perrault's fairy tales. There's a good introduction by Jack Zipes too, detailing the backgrounds of both Perrault and Carter, and illustrating how Carter's own agenda and beliefs suffuse the translations.

I picked this collection up on a whim from the library, as I was in the mood for more Angela Carter as well as a quick read. And I did enjoy this collection - although I'm not a massive fan of fairytales in general, I was familiar with a lot of the stories in this collection (Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, etc.) to enjoy returning to them. However, I'm a little confused about Angela Carter's input on this one.

I wasn't altogether sure whether I was reading Charles Perrault's original stories, collected by Angela Carter, or re-written versions by Carter herself. They didn't contain the written flair and style of Carter's other collection of fairytale retellings I'd read, The Bloody Chamber, and in the afterword she did mention Charles Perrault's habit of writing morals after each story, which were included in this volume. I had assumed these were witty modern anecdotes on Carter's part, but now I'm not so sure.

Regardless, I did enjoy this collection - it was a fun, quick read, and there were some new stories in here (Donkey Skin being one amongst a fair few) that I had not heard of before, and thoroughly enjoyed reading. However, I think I've barely scratched the surface of Carter's writing still, and I will need to check out some of her original works before I make up my mind on whether or not her work is for me.

Randomly started reading this after finishing [b: Children of Time|25499718|Children of Time (Children of Time #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431014197l/25499718._SY75_.jpg|45276208] and got it all done in one sitting in the library! I'd been meaning to read Angela Carter for a long while and this happened to be on the shelves. Having read this, I do still want to read more from her, but more of [b: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories|49011|The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories|Angela Carter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388633104l/49011._SY75_.jpg|47950] variety, since this was literally just retellings without much else to them? Well-written, and came across some Fairy Tales I'd never heard of, but fell short of expectations.
Below I'm just going to put in all of the stories, along with star ratings, along with spoilery thoughts for each!

Little Red Riding Hood - 3 stars

Spoiler

Your bog-standard Little Red Riding Hood story. Girl goes into the woods to go see her grandmother, comes across a wolf who tricks her into telling him where she's going, goes to her grandmother and gobbles her up, then eats Little Red Riding Hood when she arrives. What I did like was seeing all the morals - both Carter's and Perrault's. I'd never really thought about it as a story warning girls to be wary of men who were preying on them - I've only ever seen the story as a cautionary tale to not talk to strangers regardless of gender or age. I didn't like that the onus was on women to be wary but it was eye-opening to see how the construction of this tale came about.

Bluebeard - 3 stars

Spoiler

All I remember is that there was this dude with a blue beard, who kept killing his wives when they went into a forbidden room? I don't even remember how this one ended - I think I was intrigued which is why I've kept the 3 stars there, but obviously wasn't memorable enough to stick around in my head.

Puss in Boots - 3.5 stars

Spoiler

Ah, so sue me, the only reason this is getting a slightly higher rating than the previous two is that it stars a cat and a Shrek character. Weird little tale but meh.

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood - 2 stars

Spoiler

I've never really been a fan of Sleeping Beauty as a story. I always thought Aurora was one of the prettiest Disney princesses of the lot, and I was given an Aurora doll when I was little, but there's just so little that we know about her despite her being the eponymous character. I don't get the insta-love between her and the prince, and honestly the only character I actually felt mildly interested by was the bad fairy.

The Fairies - 2.5 stars

Spoiler

I quite liked the premise but I actually forgot that this was a story until I googled it just now. I also find it odd that gems and stuff kept coming out of her mouth whenever she spoke, I swear that would get super annoying? Might not be slugs like what happened to Ron Weasley in Chamber of Secrets, but still, can't see why anyone would want that.

Cinderella: or, The Little Glass Slipper- 3 stars

Spoiler

Again, it's your standard Cinderella fairy-tale. It was alright but, I think as with most fairytales, I would rather just watch the movie, and the live-action one at that because that one actually has interesting characters. This one wasn't bad but it was exactly as expected.

Ricky with the Tuft - 2 stars

Spoiler

One of the stories I'd never heard of before, I didn't really get the point of the story and I thought it was sad that the love interest only got back with Ricky because of the smarts and looks he promised her. I think the moral said something about beauty being in the eye of the beholder and the power of it to make the one you love seem incredibly beautiful and clever, but this story seemed like it was presenting us with a couple where one person was only in the relationship because of the gains to be made from her partner.

Hop o' My Thumb - 4 stars

Spoiler

Another one I'd never come across, but definitely one of my favourites in the collection. Follows the youngest of seven sons as he tries to keep all his brothers safe when their parents banish them from their home, twice over. I didn't like that they went back to the parents but loved how dark this story got and the smarts of the little kid.

The Foolish Wishes - 1.5 stars

Spoiler

I just didn't care for it and was such a meh story to the point of complete boredom within just 3 pages.

Donkey Skin - 4 stars

Spoiler

Another favourite, and another story I've not read before. It was a weird one, but I liked that I didn't know what to expect, and it was just such an odd little tale that I couldn't help but like the eccentricity of a donkey skin hiding the true nature of a long-lost princess.

So in all, it was a bit of a mixed bag - a couple I really liked, a couple I really didn't, and the majority were just somewhere in the middle. I'm hoping I enjoy other short story collections better, and that I enjoy Angela Carter's other works to a much greater extent, but this one was a disappointment - 2.5-3 stars.