This is the retelling of some fairytales with a slightly subverted female role in them. I’ve read ‘academics’ saying it’s feminist. Its description is magic realism. But, for me, it was boring and I failed to see the point of it. Maybe that’s my failing and not the book’s. I don’t know. Either way, it’s most definitely not for me. I read this for the 52 in 52 challenge.

(I remember this book being on the reading list when I was at uni. I think, maybe, the Modernism & Post-Modernism module? I only got a few pages in back then without giving up. I’m proud to say, this time, I persevered and read the whole book.)

People who enjoy dark fantasy. People who have lots of time to be able to think about the symbolism and other 'academic' features of the book.

Nope. Nothing.

Where to start? I think, the worst thing for me was the lack of a story in any of the stories.

Never, ever read any Angela Carter again.

Angry. Bored.

Angela Carter. From Amazon: "Angela Carter was born in 1940. She lived in Japan, the United States and Australia. Her first novel, Shadow Dance, was published in 1965. Her next book, The Magic Toyshop, won the John Llewllyn Rhys Prize and the next, Several Perceptions, the Somerset Maugham Award. She died in February 1992."

It felt pretentious to me. The kind of book everyone who wants to be seen as having a high literary intellect will say they adored because of the imagination and wonderful language. But, in actuality, few people will be able to tell you what it's really about.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories: 75th-Anniversary Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)   from Amazon.Com!

Created Mar 22, 2025 at 6:11am • Submit your own review...