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.

This edition includes a good introduction by Jack Zipes that looks at how Carter's translation influences her and how she changes the morals at the end of the stories. If you loved Carters The Bloody Chamber then you have to read this to see how she was influenced by Perrault.

3? 2.5? Interesting read. I don't know what to rate it so I will leave it blank.

Had to read this for my fantasy paper and it is certainly interesting.

Overall I liked several of the stories. Namely 'Donkey-Skin', 'The Fairies', and 'Ricky with the Tuft' because I had never heard of these before. I also didn't mind 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

I really loved the story of 'The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood' though because it was just very good. Sleeping Beauty is a tale I'm most familiar with through Disney so I really liked to see the changes and I much preferred the 'original' (not sure which tale their version is based off, but probably the Grimms).

The fact that the Prince did not need to kiss her was great news to me, as that bit is always a bit iffy. In fact he just fell down because he was so stunned by her beauty and the curse was lifted! And then they talked for hours and it was very sweet.

The reasoning behind the evil fairy (Maleficent) was much more humorous here too. She wasn't invited because she had been reclusive for fifteen years and everyone thought she was dead lol. I found that very funny.

Also there is a twist with an ogre mother-in-law who likes to eat children that I /DID NOT/ expect but that just made the story better for me because my goodness surprises abound.

I think that 'Sleeping Beauty' is honestly a big part of why I enjoyed this.

The choice of the introduction is a questionable one as it seems to paint Carter's translation in a negative light, pointing out that she is "misinterpret[ing]" his words to fit her own agenda. In that way it is interesting to examine her own biases, but the intro author has a lot to say about the misinterpretation of his character as well. It just is a bit confusing is all. I mean I'm glad there is that insight as to 'remember this is a translation, and so will be biased' but it was just a bit confusing overall I found.

Overall yeah it was interesting. I think it will be more interesting once I've properly studied it though because right now I am not well versed in the history of Carter or Perrault, or at least not enough to properly appreciate this work in an academic sense I think. Still, interesting. Recommend reading 'The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood'.

I just sat in the library reading this because it's only 70ish pages long. Love fairy tales.

As an avid reader of fairy tales, I enjoyed both the familiar and less familiar stories in this collection. Although the slightly dry narrative style made them slightly less of a joy than they would otherwise have been, I still found myself wishing for more stories when I reached the end! If you're hoping for a large collection, this is not the book for you.

This slim volume caught my eye because the author listed on the cover is Angela Carter. I didn't read the synopsis on the back really...other than that she adapted Perrault's fairy tales. Being relatively familiar with Carter's other work, I was hoping for more scintillating and perverse adaptations, but these seemed pretty much run-of-the-mill to me. In that respect, this was just OK. However, there were a few of the fairy tales with which I was not familiar, so that was nice to add to the ol' backlog. I hadn't given much thought to how long it has been since I've read any fairy tales until I read this book, and I found the sometimes-inconsistent themes and sometimes-meandering plots pretty fascinating over and above the sometimes-goofy morals included at the end of each story. I know that folklore was often intended to serve as some sort of mandate on behavior and moral code for children (once upon a time), but I wonder anymore if these "oldies" are just too quaint to scare a child into obeying his or her parents or to never talk to strangers. I certainly can't recall learning any real life lessons from reading fairy tales as a child--I loved them, but they were pretty much just wild entertainment for me. Of course, the wisdom intended in some of the stories is obvious, but after reading this, I am kind of tempted to read up on the psychology and sociology that might not appear so glaringly.... (*sigh* all I need is another self-imposed homework assignment)

Not quite what I was expecting but still quite useful